Longevity -It's More Than Living To Be 100
It's a Combination of Lifespan and Health Span
I just finished reading Peter Attia’s book, Outlive: The Science @ Art of Longevity. This YouTube video gives you a sense of his approach.
I added three ideas from his book to my aging well plan and wanted to share them with you.
Point 1. Lifespan is the total number of years we live, and health span is the number of years we remain healthy and disease-free. The two are intertwined. My goal of living to be 100 will not be satisfying if disease plays a significant role.
Point 2. I control four areas of my health that can help me reach my goal: exercise, diet, sleep, and emotional wellness.
Exercise - “I now consider exercise the most potent longevity drug in our arsenal in terms of lifespan and health span” (pg. 47).
Diet - “SAD The Standard American Diet . . what we are really talking about is junk food” (pg. 308).
Sleep - “Good sleep, in terms of not only quantity but quality, is critical to our cognitive function, our memory, and even our emotional equilibrium”(Page 351).
Emotional wellness - “Many people sort of slow-roll into misery and early death via various roundabout routes, letting stress and anger erode their health, or falling into self-medicating addictions to alcohol and drugs, or engaging in other reckless, line-endangering behaviors that mental health professionals call parasuicide” (Pg. 381).
Point 3. Since my goal is to live a long and healthy life, the next logical question must be, how can I accomplish this? In other words, what is my strategy - what do I want to be doing in the last decade of my life, and what must I do now to support it happening?
That means if I want to do certain things in the last years of my life, I have to develop strategies now for being able to do them - healthier ones than I’m currently choosing.
Attia talks about a person’s centenarian decathlon - choosing ten physical tasks I’d like to be able to do at 100 and then reverse engineering the necessary actions in the present to achieve that future. Mine looks something like this.
I’m 85 - what I want to do in the last 15 years of my life if my goal is to reach 100 is.
Live independently in my apartment
Be mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy
Stay out of hospitals and the need for doctor visits
Write and paint
Walk at least a mile daily and play a modified version of pickleball
Take trips with the family
Play with and hold my great-grandchildren
Continue doing what I do now
And what more can I do currently to improve my chances of being able to do those things?
Additional exercise - increase what I already do - more consistent stretching, longer walks, and gentle pickleball
Better sleep habits - stay up later and take short breaks after lunch - not a nap
Manage my stress better by focusing on mindfulness
Continue writing and painting
This article started as an introduction to a book on longevity. Surprisingly, it became a plan to improve my life and health span. The main point is that people must make choices now to have a more satisfying end of life.
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This article started as an introduction to a book on longevity. Surprisingly, it became a plan to improve my life and health span. The main point is that people must make choices now to have a more satisfying end of life.
This is great and you make an extremely important point. The real goal is healthspan and not so much lifespan. For many, a primary care clinician who understands and shares your goals can be a great aid.