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On the second day, I was a believer.

It helped that the tortured treadmill test had led to an explanation for a host of disparate health problems that had long puzzled my regular doctors. That’s how I discovered that I — a healthy 42-year-old who couldn’t understand why tennis teammates nearly twice my age were circling me on the court — had had the coronavirus for a long time. Then, on day three, my physical therapist relieved years of constant neck pain by quickly realigning my pelvis.

For many wealthy travelers, a $20,000 vacation might mean a private jet to a remote tropical island, or a luxury villa suspended above a sparkling turquoise ocean. Four days in the Arizona desert (in my case, furnished by the ranch to showcase the show) may not seem worth a five-figure price tag, but the cost starts to look very different when you consider it a down payment on your long-term health.

Longevity has become big business in the United States and around the world. Human life expectancy has increased by nearly three decades over the past century, but for many the focus has shifted to the “healthy range,” defined as the part of our lives in which we are free of serious disease. On average, we have nine years of life left once our good health runs out, according to a 2021 Mayo Clinic study.

Now, the health and wellness sector driven by advances in biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and preventative health is testing the outer limits of what we can do to live longer, healthier lives. The longevity industry, as it has become known, is expected to reach $8 trillion by 2030, according to UBS.

Players run the gamut from quick treatment clinics and spas to products and supplements aimed at slowing the ravages of aging. The sector has produced new celebrities such as bio-hacker Brian Johnson, who sells nutritional supplements under the brand name Blueprint, with the slogan “Don’t Die.” And veterans of the self-help world, like motivational speaker Tony Robbins, are in on the game, too. Robbins has opened a series of longevity-themed clinics, Fountain Life, and is expanding the concept by debuting The Estate in 2026, a collection of luxury longevity resorts and residences. The first location is scheduled to open in Century City, Los Angeles, with a price tag of $35,000 for an annual membership.

Canyon Ranch, the holistic wellness resort founded in 1979, will launch the Longevity8 program at its flagship Tucson location in 2024, naming the program for the eight principles it embraces: integrative medicine, flexibility and fitness, nutrition, sleep, spiritual wellness, mental and emotional health, outdoor activity, and strength and endurance. It’s the brainchild of CEO Mark Rivers, who, approaching his 60th birthday, was wondering how he could extend not only his lifespan but his health. Through 18 individual consultations, doctors measure more than 250 critical vital indicators.

Canyon Ranch’s program is special, but few other luxury vacations focused on longevity can be found around the world. Six Senses Ibiza, Lanserhof Resorts in Europe and Three Forks Ranch in Colorado offer genetic testing, disease screening and advanced treatment along with pampering at luxury spas. The Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore houses the ChiLongevity Clinic, the first of its kind in Asia. Her flagship program starts at $14,000 and includes consultations and sessions with a nutritionist and psychiatrist, as well as a battery of medical, physical and cognitive tests.

It’s the latest version of the spa holiday, a tradition that has been popular among those who can afford it for thousands of years – from ancient Greeks crossing the Mediterranean to Epidaurus and Indians climbing the Himalayas for yogic healing, to medieval British travelers flocking to the therapeutic mineral waters of Bath and 19th-century European residents seeking high-altitude spas in the Swiss Alps.

The Canyon Ranch approach has taken off among entrepreneurs on the cusp of burnout. “I’ve learned in my 34 years of working here that Canyon Ranch tends to attract a AAA-type personality,” Mike Siemens, the property’s director of fit performance sciences, told my congregation. “This can be great for the business world — but all-or-nothing perfectionism is lousy when it comes to exercise.”

Together, 11 of us—three mothers and daughters who own a women’s adventure travel company, a long-married couple, and six solo participants (including me)—took a journey into the unknown, sharing gorgeous but subtle meals, sweat sessions, and angst. We’ve become attached to the constant screaming of our smartphones, which – thanks to the stock of Bluetooth-enabled devices we’re given every day – measure everything from the quality of our sleep to the amount of sugar we eat.

“I’ve probably done more for my health in any one day here than I did in two and a half years,” Jack Kramer, an Indiana attorney, said in our group’s finale. “I have hope now. There’s a tiger inside me that just wants to take over the world by the horns, and I feel like that man again.”

At the end of the program, we were each provided with a personal file that carefully organized the collection of medical data and test results we had produced. We were also assigned a personal “board of directors” for each of us, including all the experts we saw, from nutritionists to doctors to mental health providers.

After the participants leave, this board meets at the conference table to pore over each volume of medical findings and “what you shared with us in terms of your intentions, your goals and your challenges,” explained Dr. Stephen Brewer, medical director at Canyon Ranch Tucson, calling it “an amazing moment.” Long after they return home, participants continue to receive advice and ideas.

Siemens said the most important thing to learn from the program is mentality. “If you only take home one thing, make it this,” he told us. “Stay in the game. Don’t be a perfectionist.”

Live long, but make it luxurious

Longevity-focused vacation resorts are starting to take off around the world

Three Forks Farm: A luxury, all-inclusive resort outside Steamboat Springs, Colorado, offers a longevity assessment, which includes an AI predictive EKG and a blood test for early multi-cancer detection of more than 50 active, early-stage cancers. From $1,995.

Rosebar: A dedicated, state-of-the-art longevity clinic is located within the Six Senses Ibiza resort in Spain. His six-day program includes medical consultations, NAD+ drops, automated ice baths, hyperbaric chambers, and advanced machines equipped with red light panels for cell regeneration. From $5600.

Lanserhof: A world leader in holistic medicine, it operates medical spas in Germany, Austria and, from 2026, Spain. The Lanserhof concept combines medical science with alternative healing. There’s also a London outpost within the city’s members-only arts club. From $3400.

This article appears in the February/March 2026 issue of luck.