How To Live Longer, Healthier
Our conception of what age is, is in fact wrong.
We think it’s something we can’t do anything about, which is false. Eighty percent of it is all in our heads.
Our genes don’t determine our destiny. You could say whilst our genes load the gun it’s our environment which pulls the trigger.
This is about cultivating a longevity mindset. I firmly believe we can convince ourselves of anything and perhaps one the most influential ways we can determine a better future is how we think about it.
Better still what we will do about it.
I was speaking with a client last week about my philosophy on this. I told him how my mother-in-law will consider herself lucky to make it to 80, she is 70 now.
About a couple of months ago when she was visiting, I happened to say my goal is to get to 100 and be healthy and when I go I want to go quick. After all who wants to suffer a long painful death.
She was adamant I’m deluded, that when I get to 70, I’ll have a completely different perspective and realise it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
I wish I could help her see it’s not too late. Even at 70, if you’ve never done anything just applying some of the concepts outlined below we can quite literally add some years to our biological clock.
The fact is the lifestyle choices we make today have a huge influence on our biological clock tomorrow, when we make the right choices consistently, we can in fact reverse the ageing process.
The problem is, some people simply don’t want to accept the consequences of the decisions they make. They are able to come up with all sorts of excuses for their inactivity or inaction.
We are inherently lazy by nature and often seek comfort for our sedentary loving subconscious which is very clever at stacking the odds against us enjoying a long healthy vibrant life.
There’s plenty of research both randomised control studies and observational which show the positive association between exercise and longevity is strong.
For example, a meta-analysis assessing the effect on disease and lifespan from a sample of some 232k people and almost 26k age-related deaths found running was associated with a 27% lower risk of all-cause mortality, a 30% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and 23% fewer cancer related deaths when compared to the groups that did not run.
Whilst this might not prove exercise extends lifespan it’s pretty hard to deny there’s a plausible link.
Despite the science, we find ourselves faced with a global pandemic of chronic preventable disease and yet the mass populous has a total disregard for how to act to save their future selves.
Maybe, it’s just easier to do nothing. After all being healthy requires effort both physical and mental and it requires time. A commodity most think they lack. Which is sort of ironic!
Since you’re reading this, I’ll presume you're keen to know how to live longer and better and how to achieve it.
What we want to achieve is to activate our longevity defence pathways this can be achieved through exercise, intermittent fasting, low protein diets and cold exposure.
Science calls this Hormesis – which is a process a cell exhibits in response to stressors which generally lead to a favourable outcome.
Here are 4 interventions you can implement right-away.
#1 Get moving – since humans have existed, we have needed to move to survive. This extends beyond your training sessions to engaging in moving frequently during the day. I recommend you get yourself a stand-up desk or if not improvise. As we get older, we need to push ourselves.
Can you guess the amount of people over 65 who do some kind of physical activity regularly?
Just 10%!
The good news is people who run only 4-5m a week – approx. 30-40mins every other day reduce their chances of heart attack by 40% and from all other chronic disease by 45%.
That’s massive!
Better still including a HIIT (high intensity interval training) session once a week acts to rejuvenate our protein-building factories in the cells known as ribosomes plus it boosts the energy-producing capacity of our cell powerhouses called the mitochondria.
As we get older the ability of our mitochondria to generate energy dwindles. Research suggests HIIT can help reverse the age-related changes seen in mitochondria.
A favourite session of mine which I do myself and with clients is following a proper warm-up of dynamic mobility and 10mins of easy running I’ll then do 6-8 x 30secs sprints with 3min recoveries followed by 5mins walking to flush the lymphatic system and let the heart rate return to resting levels.
If you are not sure or don’t train regularly you should first seek medical advice and work to build an aerobic base for at least 8-10 weeks 4-5x a week.
#2 Eat Less Often
Fasting is not new or revolutionary. Even Hippocrates espoused its benefits. By occasionally being in a state of hunger we can derive huge benefits for our health and longevity.
For example, 2 times a week I will not eat until late morning or early lunch having trained beforehand.
#3 Eat Stressed Plants
Look for plants which are grown under less than ideal conditions for example organic, small farm, locally grown.
Stressed plants tend to have more colour. This is the results of anthocyanins which are produced under adverse conditions. The adverse conditions help the plants to produce health-promoting molecules, the idea is because the plants have been stressed we sense these chemicals as a sort of early warning system to hunker down and survive.
#4 Cold Exposure
Exposing ourselves to cold seems to activate the mitochondria in our brown fat. See this TEDMED talk from Ray Cronise a former NASA scientist turned expert in nutrition and bioenergetics.
If you want to improve the quality in the years you have, focusing on achieving better sleep, moving more, meditation, eating better food and less often is way we can all look after our future self.