What’s your investment plan for your body?
Continuing the Independence Day theme, an underrated form of freedom is being able-bodied and healthy. Since I turned 50 this month, I’ve been thinking about how I will stay strong and healthy as I age.
To help plan for that, I read Peter Attia’s Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, where he shares what he recommends to increase one’s healthy years. It’s an interesting read, as he explores how to avoid the “Four Horsemen” of heart disease, cancer, neurogenerative disease or type 2 diabetes while investing in our bodies so we can do the activities we want as we age.
There wasn’t much surprising in the way of recommendations, though.
— Eat healthier, with more protein and veggies and less carbs.
— Exercise with an aim to increase functional strength, aerobic capacity and stability.
— Optimize for good sleep each night.
— Invest in your emotional health and resilience, because what’s the point of living longer if you’re miserable?
My main insight from the book was how much harder it is to build strength as we age. Most people lose 10-20% of strength each decade after 50, so if I want to lift a 30 pound grandkid over my head when I’m 80, I need to be lifting 50 pounds now and regularly training strength to keep that capacity.
Even though the advice wasn’t surprising, it did inspire me to make several changes in my life, so I appreciate the push. But if you just want the summary advice, I shared it in my blog post at https://lnkd.in/gNiUmcra
What are you doing to invest in your body and health for the long-term? Attia makes the analogy to saving via compound interest – it’s better to do a little each day and let benefits compound, than to try to catch up later.