Saying goes: “I could die happy right now.”

What are the factors that go into THAT?

There are so many life expectancy clocks, health span trackers, and bio age calculators available - but what about the measurable variables that go into the unfolding of one’s immediate experience? 

We’ve spent a fortune chasing more time. But what if we’ve been measuring the wrong thing all along? How about something that measures not how long you live, but how fully you show up.

I’m unpacking why the future isn’t about extending years, but expanding presence — and how a new wave of tools could track not just our lifespan, but our aliveness span.

Take a 5 Minute Break…

INSIGHT ^{_{(what we need)}}

Your aliveness is not how long you live. It’s how deep you feel.

We are in a wellness chapter obsessed with life extension: be it the evaluation of lifestyle factors that influence longevity, daily consistent choices that affect health span, or even the eyebrow raising cryogenic ambitions of longtermists obsessed with the moral imperative of preserving humanity in the future. (That’s for another post though).

But what of the Now?
Counting our years, tracking biomarkers, and investing in supplements promising to stretch time like taffy may give us the notion of extending life. But we all know longevity alone isn’t proof of a life well-lived. Scrooge taught us that lesson. Aliveness isn't measured in years — it's measured in depth of connection upwards, inwards, and outwards. 

Ironically, what binds us as humans is not the pursuit of living forever (although our allegories of youth elixirs runs deep) – what binds us is our shared experience of how deeply we can connect to each other (outwards), our present experience (inwards), and our sense of expanded spirit (upwards). However fleeting. True vitality isn’t about preserving the body indefinitely, but about cultivating sovereignty over your inner world and moving beyond self to expand your capacity to sense otherness. The ability to author your experiences, regulate your nervous system, and meet life with presence and compassion is a far more valuable metric of living well than an extended countdown clock.

Quality of moments not quantity of years.
What if we stopped asking how long will I live? and started asking how deeply am I living right now? As somatic psychology, positive affect research, and trauma-informed practices become more mainstream, we’re entering an age where we can measure the quality of our experience — not just the quantity of our years.

Studies in resilience and affective neuroscience point to various combined factors of environment and training that are directly correlated with both longevity and perceived life satisfaction. These are variables that include immune function and epigenetic resilience factors, but also sustained altruistic and compassionate practices that affect the body’s response to stress and sustained ability to flourish. Which means the state of your inner world isn’t just poetry — its data.

We are putting psychometric values to things like somatic expansion: measured by heart rate variability, breath patterns, posture analysis, and micro-expressions to gauge openness and safety in the body. Nervous system regulation is helping people train psychological sovereignty: measured through emotional regulation post triggers, autonomy over choices, and boundaries maintained within relationships. Our ability to sustain positive affect is being measured over time through wearable EEG bands, HR monitors, or biometric proxies to track micro-moments of joy, awe, gratitude, and equanimity over time.

We’re moving from the Age of Longevity to an Age of Aliveness. Just as we measure our bio-age to calculate an arbitrary age to help us sink into the finality of experiencing life, could we not do this exercise in reverse? Instead of designing from fear and calculating our expiration dates, let’s design from presence and calculate our expansion factors. For instance by taking stock of the last few times (if so graced) we entered a sense of timelessness, richness, and expansiveness of experience and becoming more acutely aware of how that’s imprinted as an experience.  

With it may come not tools to track it, but more awareness to experience it on demand.

INSPIRATION ^{_{(what i want)}}

Death Clock: life expectancy calculator based on 17 variables of influence.

Tiago Forte, the productivity pioneer behind Building a Second Brain, introduced a personal experiment he calls The Death Clock. It’s not as grim as it sounds. It’s a dynamic countdown clock he keeps in view that tracks his estimated remaining days based on actuarial life expectancy. The goal? To remind himself that time is precious, finite, and non-refundable.

But instead of using it to optimize for hustle, Forte uses his Death Clock to measure how often he chooses presence over distraction, connection over transaction, and curiosity over control. It’s a beautifully subversive use of a tool designed to quantify decay — and turn it into an invitation for deeper embodiment.

His takeaway: "You remember what matters when you see the clock." It’s less about fearing the end and more about making meaning in the moments between.

INNOVATION ^{_{(what i wish for)}}

Aliveness Factor: a psychometric aggregate of variables that shape your vitality.

Imagine a future where you could wake up and track your Aliveness Factor — a real-time metric of your inner world’s vitality.

• Your Aliveness Factor (AF) is not a numerical score but a glowing caricature of you that is a mirrored reflection of the 15 variables that shape your sense of aliveness.

• Track real-time physiological markers and verbally answer questions about your somatic and embodied experience, your emotional well-being and positive psychology, your sense of meaning and relational depth, and your overall relationship with growth and resilience to affect the caricature’s ‘aliveness’.

• The measurement also tracks the tonal quality of your voice when answering questions to gauge stress levels through ease of communication and clarity.

• At any moment of the day, take 30 seconds out to tap into your AF to get a real-time depiction of your momentary aliveness — archiving snapshots over time.

15 Variables That Shape Your Aliveness Factor

1. Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

   • Indicates autonomic balance and nervous system adaptability—higher HRV correlates with emotional resilience.

2. Postural Awareness & Movement Quality

   • Research shows somatic expansion (mindful body use) enhances self-regulation and proprioceptive clarity. 

3. Restorative Sleep Patterns

   • Quality sleep supports bodily recovery, consistent HRV, mood, and healing capacity.

4. Breath Coherence & Respiratory Depth

   • Regulated breathing fosters calm via vagal tone and emotional equilibrium.

5. Positive Emotions

   • Joy, gratitude, awe—studies show these broaden cognition and build long‑term resilience.

6. Gratitude & Generosity

   • Regular practice enhances life satisfaction, wellbeing and fosters immune resilience.

7. Optimism & Hope

   • Strong predictors of physical health, longevity, and psychological well‑being. 

8. Self-Compassion

   • Buffers stress, builds resilience, and correlates with higher happiness and wellbeing. 

9. Psychological Sovereignty

   • Autonomy, competence, and relatedness motivate growth and emotional freedom (Deci & Ryan).

10. Sense of Purpose

    • Meaningful engagement strengthens health and supports life satisfaction.

11. Quality Relationships

    • Strong social connection enhances emotional health and resilience. 

12. Resilience & Self-Efficacy

    • Correlated with improved adjustment, stress resistance, and steady quality of life.

13. Self-Acceptance & Self-Complexity

    • A multifaceted self-concept fosters emotional stability and buffers stress. 

14. Meaning-Making / Sense of Coherence

    • Ability to interpret and find meaning in life adversity supports spiritual and mental wellness.

15. Nature Connectedness & Mindfulness

    • Even brief nature and mindful exposure boosts vitality, creativity, and prosocial emotions.

Why this matters:

If we started treating those daily affect states and body sensations as vital signs of our future, we would make different choices. Small and big. This wound’t just track how alive you feel, but predict your capacity for love, meaning, and resilience in the years ahead. Effectively increasing your life and health span as a result.

A longevity metric that actually matters. A felt record of your life beyond the visible.