Munich, a freezing cold Friday night. The early start of the winter certainly didn't deter the community, as over 80 people gathered at the Google Office for the event "Mental Health in the Digital Age: Perspectives from Experts."
With a waitlist of over 100 people, it was clear that the topic resonated with the community. Inside, the atmosphere was warm, with attendees networking over food and drinks before the presentations began.
The theme of the evening focused on an area often overlooked in the longevity field, but which we believe is just as important: how does the digital life impact our mental wellbeing, and what can we do to keep thriving?
To answer this question, we gathered three experts: Daniela Ullmann, Claudia von Uckermann and Dr. Axel Schumacher. Here is a recap from their sessions:
1. Daniela Ullmann: The Reset You Didn’t Know You Needed
The first talk was by Daniela Ullmann, a Speaker, Health Coach and Mindful Performance Expert, who specializes in helping individuals build sustainable energy, mental clarity, and emotional resilience in the digital age. Her message was simple but powerful: health is not a goal, but a lifestyle you build through intention and awareness.
She began by sharing some stats on the invisible epidemic affecting workers:
- 64% of employees feel they don’t have enough time and energy to do their work.
- One hour of daily distraction equals nearly six weeks of lost productivity per year.
- People in Germany spend ~150 minutes per day on their smartphones, excluding work use.
The main culprits include notifications, always-on expectations, fear of missing out and fear of performance monitoring. The consequence is what she calls “Popcorn Brain”: an overstimulated mind constantly craving novelty and unable to focus deeply.
From there, she introduced her 3-R framework for reclaiming control in a world of distractions:
- Remove, means eliminating unnecessary triggers such as notifications and email overload.
- Replace, encourages replacing stress-inducing habits (like mindless scrolling) with restorative actions.
- Reclaim stands for setting digital boundaries, such as creating a nightly “digital sunset,” scheduling focused work intervals, and saying “no” more often.
She went on to share some work tips:
- Mental relaxation breaks (stretching, hydration, short resets)
- Notification-Free Fridays
- Grayscale mode to reduce the addictive pull of apps
- Outlook offline mode for protected deep-work time
We also learned about simple evening rituals that promote better sleep and nervous system balance: light digital hygiene, the 3-2-1 sleep method (3 hours before bed: stop eating; 2 hours before: stop working; 1 hour before: no screen time), and a 4-7-8 breathing technique to reset the mind in just one minute, which we tried out during her talk.
Daniela closed with a powerful idea: energy is the new currency. Time is fixed, but energy is renewable, and protecting it determines how we show up in our work, relationships, and personal growth.
A simple reminder, and a needed reset for all of us.
2. Claudia von Uckermann: From Artificial Intelligence to Intuitive Intelligence
The second talk was by Claudia von Uckermann, a somatic therapist and licensed naturopath for psychotherapy who guides high performers back into the present moment. She explored the belief that Artificial Intelligence is beneficial for us and emphasizes the importance of conscious embodiment.
Several mental health challenges may necessitate a path toward resetting the nervous system, including anxiety, eating disorders, depression, alcohol & drugs dependence, burnout, sleep disorders and chronic stress.
She suggested three main pathways to "reset"and navigate toward conscious embodiment:
- Feel your emotions: Emotions are described as visitors that should be invited in, met, and then allowed to leave.
- Connect with nature and sync with light: The advice is to "Love nature, stay close to nature & study nature; it will never fail you". Syncing with light involves recognizing how the sunrise light spectrum signals the hypothalamus (brain) via the retina (eyes) that "The day begins". This signal leads to a cortisol increase and a melatonin decrease.
- Be part of a movement: This emphasizes the power of the present moment to reconnect the body, mind, and spirit. A key principle highlighted is that "Your body hears every word your mind speaks". One recommendation from Claudia is to try out alternative therapies and see what works best for you, an example being her face therapy.
Claudia concluded her session by letting us experience singing bowls. As the host of the event, I was feeling a bit nervous throughout the evening, but this simple session made me feel so much calmer.
3. Dr. Axel Schumacher: The Social Connectome
The last session was by Dr. Axel Schumacher, a longevity scientist, founder, startup advisor, futurist, and host of the 'Inside the Dating Mind' podcast, specializing in developing solutions to help people overcome loneliness and build meaningful connections.
Axel argued that while the focus of biohackers is on measuring various biomarkers, the strongest predictor of a long and healthy life is the quality of our relationships, and this remains untracked. He then introduced the Social Connectivity Value (SCV) as a new, vital metric for tracking how well and how long we live.
- Relationships are key: The quality of our relationships is the single most important predictor of long-term happiness and health.
- Loneliness is lethal: Loneliness is described as being as powerful and dangerous to health as smoking or alcoholism.
- Life Extension: Good relationships correlate with a significant increase in lifespan: +5 to 12 years for women and +7 to 17 years for men (+17-23 years compared to lonely people).
The presentation highlights a concerning trend of a "Massive Global Loneliness Epidemic," with young adults particularly affected. Young adults are twice as likely to feel lonely (79% compared to 41% overall). Online dating in particular has "broke the dating market" and that sexual inactivity is on the rise, with over 33% of men and over 21% of women (ages 18-30) reporting no sex in the past year.
His advice regarding modern dating and relationships is:
- Closure over Confusion: When ending a potential romantic connection, rejection offers closure, whereas ghosting offers confusion. The advice is to "Make a decision!" and communicate clearly if a romantic future is not intended.
- Cut ties with toxic relationships: these are more damaging than having no relationship.
- Improve your friendships: your SCV can be largely increased through friends. It's not all about a romantic relationship!
- Look for super Connectors: these are friends who have many other connections and are more likely to introduce you to someone new
Axel presented a method to measure your SCV. This deserves an article of its own, so look out for a new post about this from him!
Overall, it was an awesome evening, filled with great conversations and new connections. It was great to see so many people interested in joining the Longevity Germany community and helping out with the project. We are grateful to Daniela, Claudia and Axel for sharing their insights with us and look forward to the next event!
