I cared whether I could still carry my groceries. Climb stairs. Finish a sentence without losing the thread

I cared how many good years I had left.

Not lifespan. Healthspan.

I wanted to know how long I could stay sharp, strong, and independent. Not just alive, but thriving. So I started asking a new question of my patients, my research, and myself:

What’s the one blood test that tells me how fast I’m aging?

Most people think it’s cholesterol. Or maybe blood sugar. But those are lagging indicators. They tell you what’s broken, not what’s brewing.

The test I care about most now?

Hs-CRP.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein.

Hs-CRP levels predict more than inflammation — they can forecast your future health. The higher the number, the shorter the path to chronic disease.

It’s not flashy. It doesn’t trend on social media.

However, it may be the most important number you’re not tracking.

Why Inflammation Matters More Than You Think

Hs-CRP is a marker of inflammation.

And inflammation, more than almost anything else, is what turns time into damage.

Chronic inflammation accelerates heart disease. It promotes cancer. It fuels Alzheimer’s, frailty, and age-related decline.

You don’t need a PhD to understand this: aging well means inflaming less.

Hs-CRP doesn’t measure one disease. It measures your body’s silent alarm system.

And when it’s elevated, things are already smoldering.

In healthy adults, hs-CRP should be below 1.0 mg/L.

Between 1 and 3 is a moderate risk. Anything above 3 is a warning sign.

Here’s the problem: Most people don’t know their number. And most doctors don’t order it unless you’ve already had a heart attack.

But if you care about your healthspan, you should.

Ask your doctor to add hs-CRP to your next blood panel. It could change how you age.

Why Most Doctors Don’t Order This Test

Medicine tends to focus on what’s urgent, not what’s important.

Hs-CRP doesn’t diagnose a specific disease. It doesn’t tell you what organ is failing. It just whispers: something’s wrong.

And in modern medicine, whispers get ignored.

In the U.S., insurance may not routinely cover it unless you’re already at high cardiovascular risk.

Clinical guidelines don’t push it for prevention.

And most physicians are too busy putting out fires to go looking for smoke.

But that’s exactly what this test reveals: slow, quiet inflammation that may not make headlines, but shortens your healthspan all the same.

Can You Order hs-CRP Without a Doctor? Yes — in most U.S. states, you can. Services like Ulta Lab Tests, Request A Test, or Walk-In Lab allow you to order an hs-CRP online for $30–$70. You choose a local draw site, such as Quest or Labcorp. No doctor visit required. Exceptions: New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island restrict consumer lab orders.

What My Patients Taught Me

Some of my fittest-looking patients had elevated hs-CRP.

Not because they were overweight.

But because they were inflamed.

Sleep deprivation. Chronic stress. Processed foods. Environmental toxins. Dental infections. Even loneliness.

Inflammation has many faces.

And that’s what makes hs-CRP so powerful: it doesn’t just reflect one system. It integrates them all.

The gut. The immune system. The heart. Even the brain.

Want more patient insights? Read What Dying Patients Taught Me About Living.

The Science Behind CRP and Aging

The liver makes C-reactive protein in response to inflammation. But it’s not just a random flare-up detector — it’s a proxy for systemic stress.

Numerous studies have shown that oxidative stress is linked to accelerated telomere shortening and dysfunction. Oxidative stress caused by inflammation, cell factors, or environmental exposures contributes to degenerative diseases and cancer.

The lower your inflammation, the slower your biological clock.

What Happened When I Lowered Mine

The first time I measured my hs-CRP, it was 2.9.

I was sleeping 5 hours a night, skipping meals between consults, and not drinking enough water.

Nothing looked wrong on paper. But I felt off—mentally slower, physically stiff, emotionally flat.

Six months later, I made three changes:

• I walked every morning before checking my phone.
• I swapped protein bars for real food.
• I prioritized sleep as if it were a prescription.

My hs-CRP dropped to 0.7.

My brain felt clearer.

My joints were less inflamed.

Even my mood improved.

One number, many ripple effects.

Lowering Your hs-CRP (and Raising Your Healthspan)

No drug magically cures inflammation. But lifestyle can.

What works?

• Fiber (especially soluble fiber from legumes, chia seeds, oats, and vegetables
• Omega-3s (like those from fish or algae oil)
• Sleep (7–8 hours, not negotiable)
• Walking (daily, ideally in nature)
• Resistance training (2–3x/week)
• Social connection (yes, seriously)
• Oral hygiene (brush, floss, and keep your mouth free of inflammation — it’s your body’s open door to systemic disease)
• Screen-free wind-down time (to calm your nervous system)

You don’t need to be perfect. But you do need to be in rhythm.

I check my hs-CRP every 6 months now. Not because I’m afraid of dying.

But because I want to live well.

The Textbook Answer

For most healthy individuals, routine C-reactive protein (CRP) testing is not necessary.

However, there are some exceptions where it can be useful, especially high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), which can assess chronic, low-grade inflammation, a known risk factor for heart disease and other conditions.

Here’s a breakdown of when it might be useful:

You might consider hs-CRP testing if you:

• Have a family history of heart disease or early cardiovascular events.
• Have metabolic syndrome or multiple cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, obesity).
• Have autoimmune symptoms (e.g., fatigue, joint pain, skin issues) and your doctor is evaluating for inflammatory conditions.
• You are already diagnosed with heart disease or chronic inflammatory conditions (like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus), and your provider uses CRP to monitor disease activity.

You probably don’t need CRP testing if:

• You’re young, healthy, and asymptomatic with no notable risk factors.
• You’re not going to change your treatment plan based on the result (i.e., no action would be taken).

Final Thoughts

You can’t choose your genes. But you can choose your daily fire level.

Inflammation is optional.

Hs-CRP is the one number I now track more than cholesterol, blood pressure, or glucose.

Because it reveals how much damage I’m silently absorbing.

And how much resilience I still have left.

If you want to extend your healthspan, start by asking for this one test.

Your primary healthcare provider can tell you if it is appropriate for you.

Curious how gut health and inflammation silently erode your health?
Read The Silent Killer in Your Gut — one of my most-read essays.

Scientific Sources

1. Ridker, P.M., Moorthy, M.V., Cook, N.R., Rifai, N., Lee, I.M., & Buring, J.E. (2024). Inflammation, Cholesterol, Lipoprotein(a), and 30-Year Cardiovascular Outcomes in Women. New England Journal of Medicine, 391(9), 2087–2097. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2405182

2. Lassale, C., Batty, G.D., Steptoe, A., Cadar, D., Akbaraly, T.N., Kivimäki, M., & Zaninotto, P. (2019). Association of 10-Year C-Reactive Protein Trajectories With Markers of Healthy Aging: Findings From the English Longitudinal Study of Aging. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 74(2), 195–203. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/gly028

3. Yao, S.-M., Zheng, P.-P., Wan, Y.-H., Dong, W., Miao, G.-B., Wang, H., & Yang, J.-F. (2021). Adding high-sensitivity C-reactive protein to frailty assessment to predict mortality and cardiovascular events in elderly inpatients with cardiovascular disease. Experimental Gerontology, 146, 111235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2021.111235

Want to Lower Inflammation and Extend Healthspan — Without Guesswork?

Want a clear plan to lower your inflammation and extend your healthspan?

I built a doctor-designed guide to lower your inflammation, heal your gut, and extend your healthspan:

Extending Life and Healthspan

Inside, you’ll find:

• The daily habits I use to reduce inflammation
• The #1 longevity lever I recommend to patients (that isn’t a pill)
• What I tell patients who want to age without decline

It’s simple. Practical. And rooted in the science, I trust.

Michael Hunter, MD, is a physician and writer focused on healthspan, helping people live longer, healthier lives — one lab result at a time.

The post The Number That Predicts How Fast You’re Aging appeared first on Medika Life.

The sessions (and meals) – positioned around the exhibit floor were meaty – and welcomely unscripted, offering plenty of time for real-world reflections on the state of health delivery.  Afterward, speakers would mingle on the exhibit floor to answer questions and continue the conversation.  Whether an intended benefit for attendees or not, the meeting structure was a great hit and strengthened ViVE as a go-to community where people can interact and discuss challenges and possibilities. 

The number of attendees was right-sized, where meeting and exchanging thoughts is a priority and at a time when the economy and health system are under a magnifying glass.  The system is broken. That’s a collective given. However, where we go next remains a mystery.

Some 6,000 people were in Nashville for this four-day CHIME intensive, and the schedule of events – official and unofficial – offered plenty of opportunity – need – to catch up.  There were specialty Start-Up, Interop Now, and Cybersecurity Pavilions for the ever-curious and Speed-Connection Forum for deal makers and plenty of action on the exhibit floor.

Some of the add-on gatherings included: the Start-Up Health Transformers Session, UC Davis and FINN Partners Summit on Innovation and the timed release of the Galen Growth Digital Health Report on US Health Provider Systems, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center Evening Meet-Up, and the always fun and welcome Pinksocks Get-Together at the famed Springwater.

MAGIC AROUND THE EXHIBIT HALL

The everyday magic centered around the exhibit hall – home to the mainstage presentations, provided meals, pop-up post-5 PM receptions, and varied entrepreneurial hubs.  That offered plenty of opportunities to connect with innovators who reserved exhibitor space. 

The themed location of exhibits also supported a deep dive for conversation with people looking to improve the flow of information within health systems, better utilize information for preventive care or harness the power of smart tech and wearables.  Most importantly, there was a general acknowledgment from the speakers and vibe that our health system doesn’t lack innovation – it is sorely in need of structural healing. 

ADDRESSING HEALTH ECOSYSTEM PAIN POINTS

In this way, the range of companies appearing on and wandering the exhibit floor made the meeting well worth the time investment.  Many of the companies present at ViVE are worth following (those here are in alphabetical order).  These are among the enterprises that are addressing pain points of the health ecosystem and rallying to pressing patient needs:

• AssureCare, a population-health company connecting payers, providers, pharmacies, and government-sponsored healthcare programs across the US, is taking the long-awaited patient-centric approach using technology to generate better insight through health information. This company is working to converge pharmacists’ and pharmacy data into a bigger population health picture. AssureCare hopes to break down silos in healthcare data sharing from specialty pharmacies to national chains.

• Babson Diagnostics is doing what over-promoted Theranos failed to deliver. Babson is reimagining the diagnostic blood testing experience making routine blood testing less invasive, more convenient, affordable, and empowering people to take charge of their health. The holy grail of patient testing has been to bring it into the retail pharmacy setting using technologies that require one-tenth the sample blood volume of traditional venipuncture methods without sacrificing quality, accuracy, or menu breadth and pushing these diagnostic tests into a well-known setting where convenience corresponds to patients’ upcoming physician visit is in itself a big step in the right direction.

• CereCore® is elevating hospital operational effectiveness.  Its systems are already based in top-performing US hospitals, enabling this health IT enterprise to improve processes, data security and clinical applications. Hospitals remain the most expensive points of care within the US health ecosystem.  Generating insights and learning to mine and apply data earlier in the patient engagement process is key to improving care and reducing costs.  Hospitals cannot go it alone; tapping into a well-proven system is a smart starting point.

• CPSI has combined several companies under its corporate umbrella focusing on health solutions and services for community hospitals, clinics, and post-acute care facilities. These are the health systems that are known to struggle as more and more systems look to align with other, larger entities. The path to system-wide health has been to ensure a better patient care experience, improve financial operations and offer community hospitals and affiliated clinics EHR solutions that can accurately code assignments for reimbursement. While many companies in the field are looking to “innovate,” sometimes the greatest care advances are in strengthening the care system’s capacity to be economically viable.

• eVideon uses smart-room technology to streamline clinical workflow and transform the patient room into an immersive environment. This company enables hospitals and long-term care clinics to integrate EMR and other installed technologies to display real-time information through the in-room Smart TV, digital whiteboard, digital door sign and bedside tablet. The platform is streamlining clinical workflow and reducing the technology burden on clinicians. This system even features in-room surveys and video chat so the patient has a greater real-time voice.

• Harmony Healthcare IT is the data management firm that moves and stores health organizations’ patient, employee and business records. Among the category of veteran players, it continues to pioneer health IT tech in many ways.  Founded in 2006, this company works with more than 550 clinical, financial, and administrative software in the US and Canada.

• HCTec provides services to more than 1,500 academic medical centers, health systems, community hospitals, critical access hospitals, and healthcare provider organizations. While patients are supposedly the health system’s priority, it’s vital to remember that if the care locations are poorly staffed and lack infrastructure, their mission will be severely hampered.  At a time when hospital systems are integrating, getting their staff and EMR systems connected is a mega – even life-saving priority. 

• Interwell Health is a kidney-care management platform in a field that has become one of the most pressing health sector needs.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 37 million Americans are affected by kidney disease, and most are unaware of their progressive condition.  With kidney disease reaching near-epidemic levels, how physicians care for patients and help them navigate a fragmented reimbursement environment is a monumental task. The cascade of care – from diagnosis to dialysis – requires access to practice knowledge and reimbursement.  Learning about an illness is the start of a process and getting the care essential to keeping people on track to prevent additional medical risks is where medical outcomes are judged.

• ixlayer is partnering with payors, retail pharmacies, direct-to-consumer brands, biopharma, health systems, and telehealth providers to create quick and easy diagnostics for common conditions where reducing cost is possible – before an illness is much more severe. This platform “white labels” its tests for major customers with direct patient access and enables numerous testing options and seamless integration with its customers and lab partners. Like many innovation leaders, its goal is to shift engagement to earlier stages when a disease presents and its management has far more cost-effective treatment options.

• Juli was front-and-center at the American Telemedicine Association meeting in San Antonio earlier this year. The consumer-direct platform – available through a convenient app – supports people with chronic health conditions such as asthma, migraine, depression, bipolar disorder, hypertension or chronic pain through several evidence-based approaches. This consumer health empowerment tool integrates information that impacts health and awareness by tracking health responses to environmental data (e.g., weather, air pollution, pollen) through smartphones or popular wearables and aligning health.  The information can help shift the sick-care reactive system to a self-care preventive care approach.

• Lifepoint Health, the Nashville-headquartered provider, has, since its founding, become a national health system serving patients, clinicians, communities and partner organizations across the healthcare continuum.  A spin-out of the pioneering HCA, this system now includes more than 50,000 employees, 62 community hospital campuses, 50 rehabilitation and behavioral health hospitals – plus 200 additional care sites, including managed acute rehabilitation units, outpatient centers, and post-acute care facilities.  It was no surprise that Lifepoint Health was present at ViVE.

• Loyal is among the first companies to offer end-to-end digital and AI-powered solutions tracking the patient journey; its software solutions for improved care utilization can be found within the nation’s top health systems and hospitals. From selecting a provider best suited for treating a specific condition to closing a feedback loop on patient experience, they have demonstrated that feedback is desired and that people who engage their health networks tend to show greater loyalty.

• Sheba Medical Center was part of the expert conversation at ViVE – a surprise for some as Newsweek World’s Best Hospitals five years straight – this medical system sent representatives from more than 6,000 miles away to share insights on how it maximizes technology across its care systems.  Its acute-care hospital, rehabilitation center, research and training programs, medical simulation center, center for disaster response, and the ARC Innovation Center for redesigning global healthcare all tap into the full range of digital and health technologies. At ViVE, its head of innovation spoke about the importance of looking for innovation from within its walls and the benefits of sharing best practices around the globe.  

• Teladoc Health appears to be about accessing care from many locations, but the pandemic demonstrated that the platform could provide much more to improve people’s well-being.  Now, telemedicine has become a given and has shown its value in patient adherence, management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, checking in with people enrolled in clinical trials and dealing with senior care needs.  In post-acute hospital care, telemedicine can support the outpatient process and keep people healing at home.  This global leader in delivering whole-person virtual care – including primary care, mental health, chronic condition management, and more – is the category must-watch innovator.

WHAT’S UP NEXT FOR HEALTH INNOVATORS?

The success of ViVE had many looking forward to April and HIMSS in Chicago, and CNS Summit in Boston this November.  For health innovators planning for 2024, mark your calendars for ViVE February 25 – 28, 2024, in Los Angeles.  If you have already marked your calendar for those dates, it’s a sure sign that #ViVE2023 was a hit!

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