Executive health assessment · Johannesburg
You cannot change what you have never measured.
One day. And you will know more about your own physiology than a decade of annual medicals has told you.
LEAN MASS INDEX
The tissue that keeps you independent
VISCERAL FAT
The fat that matters, by DEXA
T-SCORE
Bone density, silent until it is not
ApoB · Lp(a)
True cardiovascular particle risk
HOMA-IR
Insulin resistance, a decade early
VO₂ MAX
Cardiorespiratory fitness to maximal effort
Where are you, actually,
right now?
Most people have never had an honest answer to that question. An annual medical measures blood pressure, weight and a basic cholesterol panel — enough to catch disease that has already arrived, and almost nothing that predicts the disease that is coming.
The Longevity Scan is a full day of executive health assessment built around the measurements that actually forecast how you age: visceral fat rather than weight, lean muscle mass rather than BMI, atherogenic particle count rather than total cholesterol, insulin sensitivity rather than a single glucose reading, and bone density, which almost nobody checks until it is too late.
You leave with a written report, discussed with you in person, and a clear answer on whether anything further is warranted — including when the honest answer is that it is not.
How the day is spent.
Your blood panel is collected ten days beforehand at a partner laboratory in your own city. That single step is what makes a single day work — the day is spent measuring and interpreting rather than waiting on a laboratory, and you leave with a report rather than the promise of one.
Imaging and calorimetry take place at our accredited diagnostic partner nearby, in one accompanied visit. Everything else happens at Vivari. Plan to be with us from early morning until around five in the afternoon.
What we measure, and why.
Every element below is included, VO₂ max testing among them. Nothing on this page is an optional extra.
- Extended blood panel
- Collected ten days before you arrive at a partner laboratory in your own city, so results are interpreted with you rather than emailed afterwards. Fasting glucose and insulin with HOMA-IR, HbA1c, a full lipid profile with ApoB and Lp(a), hs-CRP, liver and kidney function, thyroid, iron studies, vitamin D, B12 and hormonal profile.
- VO₂ max
- A cardiopulmonary exercise test to maximal effort with continuous ECG monitoring, conducted by an exercise physiologist and reported by a physician. Cardiorespiratory fitness is among the strongest measured predictors of all-cause mortality — the gradient between the lowest and highest fitness categories exceeds that of smoking, diabetes or hypertension. It also produces your individual ventilatory thresholds, which is what turns “do more cardio” into an exact heart rate prescription, and doubles as an exercise stress test.
- Body composition by DEXA
- Fat mass, lean muscle mass indexed to your height, and visceral adipose tissue — the fat around your organs that is metabolically active regardless of what the scale says. Weight and BMI conceal all three.
- Bone mineral density
- Captured on the same scan and reported as T-score and Z-score. Reduced bone density is silent until something fractures, and it is common in women approaching menopause and in men with low testosterone or long sedentary histories.
- Grip strength and anthropometry
- Measured at the same visit as your scan, so muscle mass and muscle function are recorded together. Grip strength is validated as an independent predictor of mortality and functional decline, and takes thirty seconds.
- Resting metabolic rate
- Measured directly by indirect calorimetry rather than estimated from a formula — how much energy your body actually uses at rest, and the basis of any nutrition advice that is genuinely yours.
- Cardiovascular screening
- Blood pressure, resting heart rate and a resting 12-lead ECG taken before exercise testing, then read alongside your exercise ECG, ApoB, Lp(a) and inflammatory markers to produce an actual cardiovascular risk picture rather than a single reading.
- VISIA skin analysis
- Multi-spectral imaging quantifying photodamage, pigmentation, vascularity, pore quality and texture, scored against an age-matched reference group. Skin is a genuine ageing organ and the only one you can watch.
- Physician consultation
- Not a results email. An extended consultation in which every measurement is explained: what it means, how it sits against reference ranges for your age and sex, which numbers matter most for you, and precisely what to do about each one.
Where clinically indicated. A CT coronary calcium score is offered to guests whose pre-admission screening questionnaire and blood results point towards it — family history of early cardiac disease, raised Lp(a) or ApoB, or an accumulation of cardiovascular risk factors. It is recommended by your physician rather than selected from a menu, involves a low dose of ionising radiation, and is quoted separately.
Your results. Your next step.
For many guests the Scan is complete in itself — an annual assessment, a plan, and the discipline to act on it. Where your results indicate that supervised intervention would help, your physician will say which programme and why.
Metabolic Reset
Where your panel shows insulin resistance, visceral fat accumulation, fatty liver change or rising inflammatory markers — the window before any of it becomes a diagnosis.
Seven to ten nightsBurnout Recovery
Where exhaustion, sleep disruption and cognitive fatigue are the presenting picture and your screening scores confirm it.
Five nightsLongevity Programme
Where there is no single complaint and the object is healthspan — the years lived well rather than simply the years lived.
Five or seven nightsWhat a day can, and cannot, do.
A day is enough to measure your physiology thoroughly and to leave with a plan built on your own results. It is not an intervention, and nothing about your body will have changed by the time you drive home.
What changes is what you know. For most people that is the missing piece — not motivation, but an accurate picture of which specific things matter for them rather than for the population.
Where your results point to a condition needing investigation or treatment, we will tell you plainly and refer you properly. That happens more often than people expect, and it is among the more valuable outcomes of the day.
Everything above is included.
The pre-arrival blood panel, DEXA body composition and bone density, grip strength and anthropometry, resting metabolic rate, VO₂ max testing with ECG monitoring, cardiovascular screening, VISIA skin analysis, accompanied transfers to the diagnostic partner, breakfast and lunch, hydrotherapy to close the day, your extended physician consultation and your written findings report.
Guests who go on to book a residential programme within three months have the Scan fee credited against it.
Bookings are made at least three weeks in advance so that your blood panel can be collected and processed beforehand, and so that clearance for maximal exercise testing is issued before you travel. Consultations are held in confidence and there is no obligation to proceed further.
Before you book.
Does the Longevity Scan tell me my biological age?
No, and we would rather explain why than sell you a number. Epigenetic clocks that produce a single biological age figure have poor test-retest reliability in individuals – duplicate samples from the same person on the same day can differ by years. We do not offer epigenetic age testing for that reason. What we measure instead are the things that genuinely predict how you age and that you can act on: cardiorespiratory fitness, lean muscle mass, visceral fat, bone density, insulin sensitivity, inflammatory load and atherogenic particle count. Your VISIA result does include a skin score against an age-matched reference group, which is a cosmetic imaging comparison rather than a measure of biological age.
Why are bloods taken ten days before?
So that the day itself is spent measuring and interpreting rather than waiting on a laboratory. Several of the markers on the panel – ApoB, Lp(a), fasting insulin, homocysteine – are not same-day tests anywhere. Collecting early means your physician sits down with a complete picture on the day, and you leave with a report rather than a promise of one.
Do I need to fast?
Yes, for both the pre-arrival blood draw and the morning of your scan. Resting metabolic rate and body composition both require a fasted state, which is why they come first and breakfast comes after. Water is fine and encouraged.
Do I need clearance for the VO₂ max test?
Yes, and it is arranged before you travel. Every guest completes a pre-admission medical screening questionnaire, which is reviewed alongside your pre-arrival blood results by a physician who issues clearance for maximal exercise testing in advance. Where your history or results indicate that a maximal test is not appropriate, we substitute a submaximal assessment and tell you why. A resting 12-lead ECG is also taken on the morning before testing begins.
What is a CT coronary calcium score, and will I need one?
It is a low-dose CT scan that measures calcified plaque in the coronary arteries and produces a score which meaningfully refines cardiovascular risk beyond what bloods alone can show. It is not part of the standard day. Your physician recommends it where your pre-admission screening questionnaire and blood results indicate – a family history of early cardiac disease, raised Lp(a) or ApoB, or several risk factors together. It involves ionising radiation, and like any chest CT it occasionally identifies unrelated findings that require follow-up. We discuss all of that with you before you consent, and it is quoted separately.
What happens if you find something serious?
We tell you plainly, in person, on the day, and we refer you properly. A broad diagnostic net across an apparently healthy population finds things – a critically abnormal result, an osteoporotic T-score, a Lp(a) at the ninety-fifth centile. Where onward investigation or treatment is needed, that is the outcome of the day, and it is worth considerably more than a wellness recommendation.
Is the Longevity Scan enough on its own?
For many people, yes. A number of guests treat it as an annual assessment and act on the plan themselves. Others use it to decide whether a residential programme is warranted and which one. Either is a legitimate use of the day, and we will tell you honestly which we think applies to you.
Is it claimable from medical aid?
Some individual diagnostic components may be claimable depending on your plan and whether a clinical indication exists. We provide itemised documentation for you to submit, but cannot guarantee any outcome.