Switzerland’s history as a longevity hot spot: From Alpine waters to stem cells

Published on May 2, 2025

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People from all over the world have come to Switzerland for centuries in search of the fountain of youth. How did the small Alpine nation become a magnet for longevity seekers?

Longevity is the latest trend to take over social media. Longevity start-ups are raising billions, biohackers are tracking every molecule in their bodies, and longevity clinics are popping up all over the world offering a host of promises.

But long before all of this, people looked to nature for rejuvenating cures. And no place embodied that hope more than Switzerland with its idyllic sceneries and fresh Alpine air. Even more, its thermal baths were explicitly advertised as rejuvenating cures. Did dipping in a pool to emerge younger – as in the "Fountain of Youth" painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder – really work?

Today people still flock to the country in search of the secrets to live longer, healthier lives but not for the same reasons. How did the country become a longevity hot spot? And what does the future hold for it in the face of rapid advances in high-tech treatments and technologies promising to slow down ageing?

We set out on a journey across Switzerland to find out what happened to the country’s “rejuvenating” thermal waters, and how it has maintained its appeal with longevity seekers from all over the world.

00:00:00 Teaser
00:01:07 The golden age of thermal baths
00:01:41 Forum Paracelsus, St Moritz
00:02:12 Swiss sanatoriums in the Alps
00:02:30 The healing bath traditions spreads across the country
00:02:48 Rheinfelden's brine baths attract wealthy guests to the Grand Hôtel des Salines
00:04:27 World Wars change society's habits
00:04:47 Thermal baths advertised as a rejuvenating cure
00:05:50 Selling the myth of living longer
00:06:10 Celebrities choosing rejuvenating cures in Swiss clinics
00:06:21 Clinique La Prairie's cellular therapy
00:07:19 Clinique La Prairie's longevity programme
00:07:47 The hype around longevity reaches Switzerland
00:08:15 Ayun clinic in Zurich
00:09:29 The high price of longevity
00:10:40 Longevity's marketing spin
00:11:10 Thermal resorts converting to longevity clinics
00:11:31 Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
00:12:43 Is Switzerland still a longevity destination?
00:13:15 The US, Saudia Arabia and China's investments in longevity
00:13:48 Switzerland's position in the longevity sector
00:14:12 St Moritz's Health and Longevity Forum
00:14:55 Life expectancy's evolution
00:15:54 The future of living longer
00:16:25 Why are people still coming to Switzerland?
00:17:15 Conclusion

#LongevityClinics #livinglonger #healthspan #longevity #Swissclinic #rejuvenation #biologicalage
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SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

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