Everything a Longevity Doctor Does to Live Her Best Life

Some doctors take a “do as I say, not as I do” approach to their patients’ care. They smoke, they drink, they rarely exercise. Their diets revolve around red meat and highly processed food. They barely sleep (and it shows), yet they’ll do an about-face at work, telling every patient they treat to do the opposite. This is not how Lori Ann Musto operates.

At work, she is a longevity specialist at Musto Medical, taking a holistic approach that prioritizes prevention and healthy living. Dr. Musto, who is in her sixties, embraces the same suggestions in her off hours that she advocates with her patients—there’s no room for hypocrisy in her day-to-day routine. “I implement things with patients that I implement in my own life,” she tells The Daily Beast.

In a simpler world, we could all live long, healthy lives without adjusting our lifestyles too much—no noisy knees, no lower (and middle, and upper) back pain, no matter how awful our posture may be. But the reality is the same hard-to-accept one we all know, and resent, so well: the decisions we make daily can and do impact us for the rest of our lives. The good news is that it’s never too late to start living better, so if you’re looking to make changes (big or small) in your life, here’s how to follow her lead with everything from cold plunges and protein powder to PEMF mats and prayer.

What is a longevity specialist?

First, a quick rundown on Dr. Musto’s unique job title. “Every patient is an individual, so I try to incorporate all of their unique genetics in my practice. There’s no ‘one size fits all,’” Dr. Musto says. “I’ve done research in regenerative medicine and how the body works at a cellular level.”

As with any other specialty—plastic surgery, dermatology, mental health, relationship counseling—social media is filled with self-proclaimed longevity experts with no background in medicine beyond WebMD. Dr. Musto, however, received her training from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “I am a medical doctor—I’ve worked in city hospitals all over Philadelphia and New York,” she says. After moving to Pacific Palisades, California, in 1992, her perspective shifted and expanded.

The doctor says she maintains an up-to-date knowledge of technological innovations in the health and wellness space, emphasizing a consistent, all-inclusive approach to wellbeing. While she does still prescribe medications to patients who need them, of course, she also encourages people to make consistent lifestyle changes, and takes factors like hormone levels and inflammation into account.

A day in the life of a longevity doctor

The day starts early, around 4:30 or 5 a.m. “I’ll drink water with lemon, then take my supplements, which can include super antioxidants to [protect myself] from the environment and inflammation,” Dr. Musto tells The Daily Beast. “I’ll also take a 5,000 international unit (IU) vitamin D, [specifically] with vitamin K to help with absorption."

Vitamin C, which supports a high-functioning immune system, is another supplement Dr. Musto relies upon, as well as DHEA, which can help to “prevent adrenal fatigue.” To top off her morning routine, she takes a multivitamin that “has everything I’m not going to be able to take in nutritionally—through food—during the day.”

At lunch, along with a well-balanced diet high in vitamins and nutrients, Dr. Musto reaches for protein powder. “The whole idea is to [support] a great cellular environment with no inflammatory markers in it,” Dr. Musto tells The Daily Beast.

One of the most significant ways she avoids inflammation and myriad other health challenges is to refrain entirely from consuming substances that could endanger her health. Dr. Musto does not drink or smoke, nor does she use any illicit drugs. “That’s how I’ve lived my entire life,” she says. “I’ve never been inebriated, never done a drug, never smoked a cigarette—those are hugely important things [if you want to] stay young and healthy.”

Many of us grew up seeing back-and-forth studies on alcohol consumption—a glass of red at night was declared beneficial to your heart, only to be contradicted by a different study the following week. Now, though, the evidence is pretty straightforward: drinking, particularly binge drinking but even in low amounts, can be harmful for your health—and your appearance can suffer the consequences of a night (or several) out, too. “People can do all the procedures they want to do, but if they keep drinking, they’re going to keep regressing,” cautions Dr. Musto.

Short workout routine, longer life

Because “the secret to anti-aging is a low-calorie diet and a moderate amount of exercise daily,” Dr. Musto typically works out for 45 minutes to an hour, five days a week, usually on an elliptical, a treadmill, or her Peloton bike, or “old-school aerobics, just jumping around and dancing.” She also attends a weekly Lagree class, a low-impact, full-body workout that combines slow, intentional techniques from Pilates, yoga, and strength training. “The class is just 45 minutes, but it works every single muscle, even the tiniest ones.”

No matter your preferences or challenges, there’s a method of movement that is bound to work for you, and committing to it will have both short- and long-term payoffs. “Movement brings oxygen to all the tissues of your body and blood to your brain,” says Dr. Musto. “It gives me all those positive endorphins, which I need—especially because a doctor’s day is super stressful.”

Time spent on wellness is time well spent

Living well through nutrition and movement is her main priority each day, but Dr. Musto also incorporates a plethora of wellness techniques and treatments, as well as skincare products, into her routine.

In addition to more commonly known practices like cold plunges, the doctor is a wholehearted believer in the power of the PEMF mat ($1295, HigherDose). “At night, after dinner, I try to lie on the PEMF mat with infrared for about 30 minutes,” she says. “It helps get inflammation out of the body and just resets everything—afterward, my muscles feel really good and I’m relaxed for nighttime.”

“PEMF works by penetrating deep into your body while stimulating the mitochondria in your cells,” Lauren Dovey, founder of Heat Healer, previously told The Daily Beast. “Your mitochondria are the powerhouse within your cells and are responsible for producing ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the energy source your cells use to recover and repair.”

On the note of muscles, Dr. Musto also swears by a muscle-pulsating, noninvasive contouring treatment known as Emsculpt Neo by BTL Aesthetics, which she offers at her practice, for “decreasing fat around the stomach area and increasing muscle tone, because I can’t spend hours and hours at the gym.” Once a week, either after hours or during a break from work, she does Emsculpt on herself. She also incorporates Exion, another skin-toning treatment offered at Musto Medical, which is a noninvasive procedure that “combines radiofrequency and ultrasound technology.” (When I saw the doc’s lit-from-within skin, I resolved to try this treatment for myself. Stay tuned.)

Dr. Musto’s must-have skincare

As with the remainder of her outer routine, Dr. Musto prefers to keep her skincare simple, using cotton facial pads to remove makeup and oil. Her favorite product for taking the day off is Neova Radiant Wash ($47, Neova), a cleansing gel that features sodium lactate (an alpha-hydroxy acid) for gentle exfoliation, chamomile extract to reduce inflammation, and fruit extracts to help give the skin a more even texture.

After cleansing, Dr. Musto applies the brand’s DNA Total Repair serum ($125, Neova) and the Daily Moisture cream ($120, Neova), which contains copper and an “amino acid blend.” “Many of Neova’s products have copper in them, which helps regenerate collagen,” Dr. Musto says.

Another brand she keeps in her rotation is AnteAGE, particularly the AnteAGE Serum ($150, AnteAGE). Its formula offers a potent blend of ingredients that help reduce inflammation and redness while minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. “It’s got exosomes, which build up your skin at the collagen level,” Dr. Musto explains. In the mornings and evenings, she takes a pump of the serum. She mixes it with the Biosome Brightener (available in-office) and the AnteAGE Moisturizer ($120, AnteAGE), applying the combination directly to her face with her fingertips. “I don’t use the same skincare every single day, I try to mix different things, but Neova and AnteAGE are my favorites,” she says.

When spending time outdoors, Dr. Musto reaches for Skinbetter Sunbetter Sheer SPF 70 Mineral Sunscreen Lotion ($75, Skin Better). “I don’t use it in the daytime when I’m at work,” she says, “but whenever I’m in the sun, I apply it.”

The power of spiritual fitness

Spirituality, too, is an essential component of the doctor’s life. “I’ll add one more thing: I pray,” Dr. Musto tells me toward the end of our call. “It just centers me.”

For obvious reasons, it is difficult to measure the role prayer plays in people’s lives. Still, it is nevertheless an undeniably huge part of billions of day-to-day experiences, regardless of an individual’s religious beliefs, backgrounds, or methodologies. Plus, it can provide invaluable comfort during difficult times, like when the devastating Palisades Fire tragically destroyed Dr. Musto’s longtime practice on January 7, 2025. Through hard work, faith, and support from her loved ones and community, Dr. Musto was able to reopen her practice in Calabasas, demonstrating her dedication to healing on a whole new level.

“[My relationship with my creator] is like the key to my life,” Dr. Musto says. “It’s important for me to integrate that into my practice every day. That’s where my joy comes from.”