Ensuring Work Life Balance and Getting Over Covid-19

Christian, how come you decided to start testing with GlycanAge?

It was quite a stressful period for me as I had kicked off my tech company and was in the middle of raising investment. Although everything was going well, I was incredibly busy and working through all hours of the day so it meant my diet wasn’t a priority.

I was enjoying pizza, chocolate, and a fair amount of alcohol - essentially a lot of bad sugars.

My partner is very supportive of me and encouraged me to eat better. And though I wasn’t listening at the time, she then further encouraged me to take the GlycanAge test as there were some concerns around what I was eating at the time and how it might impact my health long term. 

I was very curious to understand how much what I was doing to my body would affect me and needed data to support this. I want to continue to be a strong and supportive founder, and that requires me to be healthy, set examples and support my team as well. 

How were your results?

I got tested twice, my initial results were surprisingly positive and were 7 years younger than my actual age.

However, I then really suffered from Covid-19 and my second result showed that I had aged 4 years from my initial results.

Given that your GlycanAge was 21 which is a great result, did you change any of your habits?

Both my partner and I were quite surprised by the results. Given that I had a bad diet for a little while I did anticipate some longer-lasting effects. 

However, after the test, I did start eating healthier as things were settling into a good routine with my company and though Covid-19 was the bigger impact on my age result it was at that time I probably ate (and felt) the healthiest for about 10 years. 

When I got Covid-19, smell wasn’t considered a symptom but I lost my sense of smell for eight weeks. I was working to improve my diet to recover from the virus quicker, as well as decreasing alcohol intake and exercising more. Everything tasted the same, so I took the opportunity to eat more fruit and vegetables, even those I wasn’t a huge fan of like beetroot juice.

I’m glad you’re making healthier choices despite having such a good GlycanAge - do you test regularly?

Definitely - I really enjoy having yearly data as it helps me understand how much of a priority I’ve considered my health. It’s either a pat on the back or helps to understand what to change.

The GlycanAge metric looks at more than just my diet, it considers my stress levels and my working rate, and having that data is definitely useful to review how my behavior impacts me long term. 

When I was working really hard in a given quarter, doing strenuous activity for around six weeks I know when my body is telling me to take time out whereas before I wouldn’t recognise that. So now I'm listening to my body and actually my partner's advice a lot more. 

I know that the timing of testing is important, but I know my age would be higher if I was to be tested during my most stressful time, but knowing that I'm balancing the stress and healthy eating with stress I know my GlycanAge will still be optimal. 

You did a silent retreat. Was this part of your GlycanAge journey?

Yes, it was actually - my partner was open to supporting me through meditation, and how that can help as a lifestyle choice by lowering and having a healthy GlycanAge. 

Every health choice that I've made, of my own volition, has been through the guidance of my partner and GlycanAge. But I am very grateful for it. 

Do you have any advice for others?

Having reliable data is vital for improving anything from business to people's health. Having this kind of accuracy is available, so it’s vital that we all learn from it and use it to our advantage. 

I imagine running a scale-up is stressful. Where can people learn more about Audiomob and what you do?

It can be, but I really enjoy what I do. As a founder I know I can create change and build a whole new ecosystem for both brands and support the development of audio technology. 

For more information visit: https://audiomob.com/