News Flash! David Isn’t Coming to Save Us! Don’t Get Caught Waiting.

David Sinclair is an interesting and pretty high-profile guy recently in the burgeoning conversation on aging. As an Australian-born Ph.D. in molecular genetics and a tenured professor at Harvard Medical School, Sinclair comes down squarely on aging as a disease that we will eventually be able to overcome.

He’s apparently moved the needle a bit with his discovery of the effects of a number of chemicals that appear to slow the aging process. Some view his work – and the work of others – as eventually leading to “magic pills” to solve aging.

Others, like me, are skeptical that this “magic pill” is anywhere close to fruition.

We’ve been talking about this stuff for a very long time.

Don’t get me wrong. I support what Sinclair and his fellow pioneers are doing. Why not? We all stand to benefit from the discoveries that come out of this type of deep research. While it may not lead to us living forever (scarrryyyyy!), the spinoffs from the research may help us live longer and healthier.

We don’t have to wait for Sinclair’s magic to materialize to “delay” the aging process.

We know all we need to know right now to slow the acceleration of our own aging.

But, I sense that we are inclined to want to wait and wish for the magic potion or formula to be revealed rather than take the initiative now to understand and change the “comfortable and convenient” lifestyle habits that are already accelerating our aging.

Take a look at the scoreboard:

  • The five biggest killers in our culture – heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and dementia – haven’t changed in decades. They are all lifestyle diseases and are largely preventable.
  • The average life expectancy in the U.S. peaked in 2010 and has turned down each year after a century of meteoric growth from 47 in 1910 to 80 in 2010. Our biologies didn’t suddenly change but our lifestyle patterns gradually did thus contributing to the downturn. The downturn has been helped along with opioid abuse and our susceptibility to a horrible pandemic. But the downturn started before either of those events. 

Graphic source: Scott Fulton

  • We “live shorter and die longer” in the U.S. than in any other developed country on the planet. We’re 46th out of 193 countries in terms of average longevity and have the longest average period of late-life morbidity.
  • The American male population is 60% overweight, 30% obese.
  • Type 2 diabetes has now become endemic – and it hardly existed 40 years ago.
  • The U.S. population is “verifiably sick” with 88% of Americans walking around with some level of metabolic dysfunction that’s likely gone unrecognized. We haven’t been told because the ones that should be telling us don’t know what to look for.

I’m not waiting for David!

At 79, I can’t afford to wait for the Sinclair cohort to equip me with a magic health wand. So I’ve decided that I can educate myself on how my biology (body and mind) work and what they need to operate optimally and then work to design my lifestyle habits around that knowledge.

My theory is pretty simple: do what I can now to preserve and maximize my health so that I can be around to take advantage of any new bio-science and technology developments that will allow me to extend my healthy life even further – should they develop.

I can hope that David comes through. In the meantime, I’m feeling pretty good and am starting each day vertical. What more can I ask?

A quantum leap.

On the learning front, I responded to a tip from one of my favorite writers, Julia Hubbell, who encourages her readers to read a book entitled “Metabolical” by Dr. Robert Lustig, Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of  Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Julia operates out on the edge of her comfort zone in every corner of her life so I considered the tip worth pursuing.

I’ve plowed through a third of the book and, even as a consistent reader of pretty heady stuff, am challenged and absolutely blown out by the book.

The immediate appeal of the book for me is that Dr. Lustig takes our medical establishment, Big Pharma, and our disastrous food industry to the woodshed and reveals how most everything we think we know (and have learned from these three behemoths) is totally wrong.

And we’re all sick, killing ourselves slowly, and dying early as a result.

I’ve written repeatedly about how we – especially as we move into the “third third” of our lives – must become more self-care literate with the core of that literacy being a fundamental understanding of how we function at the cellular level.

Dr. Lustig takes that understanding to a new level by unpacking detailed cellular functionality and revealing much of the truth that is hidden from us about that functionality.

We can all do this.

Truth is, there isn’t a lot of magic to what our biology asks of us. Our cells, of which we have 35 trillion or so in our bodies, have been doing their thing for billions of years and don’t ask for much beyond oxygen and good glucose to function and not go rogue. 

 

Sure there are exceptions, like start-of-life “blueprint errors”, but nearly all of us start with a birthright of good health. Dr. Lustig goes into incredible biological, endocrinological detail showing how we screw up that birthright – and will continue to do so until we get knowledgeable in the right way.

If you are up for a tough read that will take your awareness to a whole new level on how to stretch your health longevity, buy the book but be prepared to get pissed off and be jolted by how much you’ve been misled.

We’ve proven ourselves, especially in western cultures, to be darn good at screwing up a magnificent 24×7 immune system kludged together from those 35 trillion cells to protect us from nefarious invaders (READ: COVID-19) while equipping us with the energy and smarts to stay vertical and move.

We’re amazingly illiterate about the very vehicle that propels us through life. If we were self-care literate would we –

  1. – take 35% of our meals through the side window of our cars?
  2. – continue to consume sugar in prodigious quantities?
  3. – allow Hormel hot dogs or Johnsonville brats into our refrigerators?
  4. – weigh, on average, 20 lbs more than 20 years ago without growing any taller?
  5. – allow over half of the U.S. population to be pre-diabetic (Psst? 70% don’t know it)?
  6. – spend 40 hours per week being one with our voice-activated remotes and La-Z-Boys?
  7. – waste $35B year-after-year on diets that don’t and can’t work?
  8. – know more about how our lawnmowers work than our bodies?

Fate versus choice

A mere century ago, lots of people died early – before 50, on average. They, within the existing body of knowledge, wrote it off as “God’s will” or “fate.”

We’ve moved past “fate.” We now have “choice.”

We can’t stand behind fate today. We have choices supported by discovery. Discoveries being made by the David Sinclair’s and Robert Lustig’s.

Our healthcare system, Big Pharma, and the food industry don’t want us to pay attention to those discoveries.

So we choose to stay in the dark and maintain our comfortable, convenient, and conformative lifestyles stressing our way through life hoping David and Robert will come through to save our bacon from our wayward ways with a magic pill or formula.

I’m cheering them on fully aware that they, and we, are up against incredibly powerful, wealthy, politically savvy, and profit-driven adversaries that put money before our health.

Let’s take a stand!

I’m digging in and not going to take it anymore!  Lustig is doing that to me.

The aforementioned triumvirate – healthcare, pharma, food – needs to be forced to change. We can’t count on the government because it acquiesced (and partnered) a long time ago.

It’s on us.

Next week – and perhaps a few weeks following, I’m going to unpack how I’m going to wage my one-man battle against these three thieves of healthy longevity.

Tune in, join me, add to my plan. We may add a few healthy days to our – and somebody else’s – life.

Photo by Sammy Williams on Unsplash

Must life go downhill as we age, or do we have a choice?

Yes, life does go downhill, but –

-we have some choices in the matter.

Not with the eventuality of it, but with the starting point and the pace.

The reality is, we took out a death certificate at birth. Or, as retired Stanford geriatric physician, Dr. Walter Bortz once wrote:

“Life is a fatal disease. Once contracted, there is no known cure.”

Our brains will have matured by our early- to mid-twenties. We grow to physical and reproductive peaks in our late twenties. From that point, the gradual, eventual decline begins. Unnoticeable at first, but commencing insidiously and at a pace determined to a significant degree by-

-the lifestyle choices we make in these early years.

Contrast these two simple graphs:

Graph A:

Graph B:

Notwithstanding the rare chance that a person has blue-print errors (genetic defects) at birth, Graph A is, unfortunately, what the life curve becomes for most people across the average lifespan: a peak at mid-life followed by an accelerating downslope, often undetected at first and too often ignored when detected.

The start of this downslope and its severity is impacted significantly by the choices made earlier in life.

The pace and severity of the slope are also impacted by the choices made at mid-life and beyond.

Think of it as a golf game with a Front Nine and Back Nine.

(My thanks to Exercise Physiologist Dan Zeman for this analogy)

The choices made – for example, diet, exercise, stress relief – during the Front Nine lay the foundation for what the Back Nine may look like and what will need to be done to offset the poor choices in the Front Nine.

Continuing the analogy, one could say that age 40 (against the prevailing average lifespan of 80) represents the completion of the Front Nine.

If one starts the Back Nine overweight, sedentary, consuming the Standard American Diet (SAD), and living in a high-stress environment, the work that will need to be done to slow the acceleration of the aging process – that is, to recover – on the Back Nine, can be a challenge.

Professional golfers are knowledgeable enough about their game to sometimes be able to make corrections “at the turn” and recover from a disastrous front nine – perhaps a tweak to the grip, swing tempo, attitude adjustment, listening to their caddy, etc.

For those of us enmeshed in the typical western lifestyle, that type of Back Nine adjustment isn’t so easy because –

-we don’t know how our biology works!

Unlike a pro golfer, most of us enter the Back Nine naive to the “tweaks” that it will take to overcome the Front Nine mishits.

In our comfort, convenience, and comparison-driven western culture, we have little understanding or appreciation for what we do and don’t do to our biologies as we chase our dreams, climb our ladders, keep up with the Joneses.

The result is often a compounding of bad choices which we don’t fully understand to be bad choices until they start manifesting at or around middle age.

For instance-

-over 60% of the American male population is overweight, 25% are obese.

We weigh, on average, 15 pounds more than 20 years ago but we didn’t get any taller, just a lot rounder.

Lifestyle diseases – heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia – continue to increase as the major killers in western culture.

What changed about our biology that would cause that?

NOTHING. But our choices became less supportive of what our biologies need to function optimally over the long term.

We hit 40, 45, 50 and our biological life begins to morph, the degree of which depends on how we honored our birthright of good health in the preceding decades.

Here’s the reality.

In America, we are embarrassingly behind most other developed countries in the length of time that our elderly live in poor health and on our average life expectancy.

Lifestyle choices, before and after mid-life, play a big role in that statistic.

 

Is Graph B possible with a mid-life start?

Yes – or something closer to it than Graph A.

It’s never too late to start but always too early to quit.

Our bodies have amazing recuperative powers. Our collection of 35 trillion cells have been miraculously kludged together into an incredible immune system working 24/7 to fend off nefarious invaders and keep us healthy.

Yet, we ignore and abuse that system in our ignorance of what those simple cells need to do their job.

Once we understand what they need to function optimally and then act on that knowledge, we are on a track to salvage the Back Nine and Live Long and Die Short.

A short, personal story

I’m about to step into my ninth decade (for Kansas City Chief fans, that means I soon turn 80 years old).

Statistically, as an American male, I’m late for my funeral.

I grew up in the 1950s and can lay claim to a pretty crappy front nine. I smoked until age 37. My athletic/physical activities ceased after high school. My diet into my 50s was the SAD.

The lights began to come on June 6, 1979, when I quit smoking and began a slow progression into a lifestyle that remains today one of high levels of aerobic and anaerobic exercise, a departure from SAD and toward a more plant-based diet, and a commitment to avoiding traditional retirement.

I continue to work at what I’m good at and what I enjoy with the awareness that work is a key component of healthy longevity.

Graph B is my goal and my lifestyle choices are aimed at that with an endpoint that exceeds 100 years.

I have no illusions. My chances aren’t good.

I know it could be over tomorrow. My “right” choices started a little late to expect to get past 100. But, given the choice, I’m going for it rather than to accept the average, which I’ve already surpassed.

Avoid the accelerators.

In western culture, we face more “age accelerators” than ever in history. It’s evidenced by the fact that, after 120 years of meteoric improvement, our average lifespans in American have been declining for the last several years.

Source: Scott Fulton

Despite all the scientific and biomedical knowledge we’ve gained, we continue to choose to make bad lifestyle decisions in our pursuit of comfort and convenience and because we “compete to compare.”

We receive no help from a healthcare system that only knows cure and not prevention and a food industry that doesn’t give a rip about our health.

We’re on our own to make better choices based on knowledge.

Here’s an article that may help you make better choices and avoid the more common aging accelerators:

https://makeagingwork.com/2018/04/16/the-dirty-dozen-of-accelerated-aging/

Be “Younger Next Year” and make Graph B a reality.

Graph B comes from the life-changing book “Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy – Until You’re 80 and Beyond.” (paid link)

Make reading it one of your choices.

And adopt the appendix, entitled Harry’s Rules, written by co-author Dr. Henry Lodge:

Harry’s Rules

  1. Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life.
  2. Do serious aerobic exercise four days a week for the rest of your life.
  3. Do serious strength training, with weights, two days a week for the rest of your life.
  4. Spend less than you make.
  5. Quit eating crap!
  6. Care
  7. Connect and commit.

Seven clear choices to avoid the downhill.

D0 you have a plan to enact Graph B. We’d love to hear about it. Leave us a comment below.

Should You Be “Training” for Old Age? You Bet! Here’s Why.

Sometimes dots connect.

I wish it happened more often. You’d think they would for someone who spends as much time thinking and trying to unravel the mess that constantly swirls between my temples.

A few dots connected this week after I read another Julia Hubbel article entitled “Are You in Training for Old Age? Or Just Planning to be Elderly?” and then a Bloomberg Opinion article in our local newspaper that my bride alerted me to entitled “Counting calories helps your retirement account.”

My thoughts then rolled to the concept of a 25-year life plan espoused by Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach and one of the foremost executive coaches on the planet.

Hang on – let me try to connect these for you.

Julia is way outside the bell curve in most things, but particularly in the area of fitness.

 

Schlepping wood. Julia Hubbel

At 69, she’s recovering from shoulder surgery which is part of her preparation for her “training to summit Kilimanjaro for the second time the year I turn 70, ten years to the day after I did it at sixty.”

I don’t ‘spect many of you out there have Kili on your bucket list. I certainly don’t.

So, why on earth?

Let me excerpt from her post to make her point (bolding is mine):

“You and I set ourselves up for Early-onset Elderly when we take lousy care of the skinsuit we’re in. Ultra-processed food, no exercise, and lots of ugly self-talk about how old you feel.

Speaking of BHAGs – –

-Dan Sullivan, the founder of Strategic Coach, has his own version, which he has followed and taught for most of his 40+ years of coaching over 8,000 successful entrepreneurs.

He keeps a rolling 25-year life plan out in front of him – a long game with a motivating, evolving stretch goal always a quarter-century out, regardless of age.

His theory is fundamentally sound. If we set a worthwhile, challenging, and achievable goal, our brain, being a teleological device, will help us get there.

Dan is pretty deep into his 70s which makes his dedication to this plan seem illogical. But, it underscores the fact that goal setting is age-independent. 

The execution of Dan’s plan is where the power and beauty lie. He works backward from the 25-year goal to the current quarter, defines the five things he needs to do that quarter toward that 25-year goal, and then back further to the three things he will do TODAY against those five quarterly goals.

Taking them one at a time, his day is done when those three things are complete, whether it takes an hour or 20 hours.

25 – 5 – 3 – 1 

It’s a beautiful plan for present moment focus that allows one’s brain to work for and not against as it is so inclined to do with fears and regrets as we age.

As an outspoken believer in living well past 100, Dan has been planning for old age most of his life.

Calories and your 401k?

Chew on this:

“A 55-year-old woman with Type 2 diabetes will pay an average of $3,470 more a year in medical-related expenses, or close to $160,000 in total, than if she didn’t have the disease.”

So says the Bloomberg Opinion article 11/28/2021, making the point that “the right food choices over time can have just as much of an impact on retirement savings as market forces and investment decisions.”

The article goes on to emphasize that few retirement planners focus on diet or other lifestyle changes that can help avoid chronic conditions that erode savings.

Medical professionals rarely talk about financial issues related to poor health, let alone any kind of plan. That doesn’t roll up under the prevailing “drug it or cut it out” medical model we inherited.

Both are sadly deficient in helping plan for old age.

Both are content to let becoming elderly be the plan. 

A suggested Early-onset Elderly antidote

Whether you are 50, 60, 70 or beyond, retired or not retired, setting goals still makes sense.

Maybe this will help re-inspire you to keep planning.

Let’s reintroduce the Retirement Planning Wheel. Use it to do an honest assessment of where you are today in each of these 12 areas of your life.

How balanced is your wheel?

Then set a goal in those areas that you feel are out of balance. A weekly goal, an annual goal, and OK – maybe even a 25-year goal.

I’ll let Julia wrap this with a line from her article:

“When life happens, you and I have to happen to life. We can wail woe is me, or we can choose to climb aboard another goal and get going.”

In hopes that I’ve connected some dots, I’m leaving for 24 Hour Fitness. Mondays are 40 minutes of machine circuit and 30 minutes of aerobic with some H-I-I-T.

P.S. I hate it-

-but it’s part of the 25-year plan, I like the results and –

-if I don’t move my body, I can’t really suggest that you move yours. 

Is there a 1,3,5,10, or 25-year plan in your head? Let us know what you think about all this. You can leave a comment below or email us with your thoughts at gary@makeagingwork.com.

On Hot Dogs, Senators, and Prescriptions for Beans, Broccoli, Bananas, and Blueberries.

 

Photo by call me hangry on Unsplash

What’s your reaction when you look at this picture?

My reaction? I’m like a Pavlov dog – I start salivating. Put a brat with mustard on a white bun within a city block of me and I’m off my heath-and-wellness rails in a heartbeat in my clamor to indulge – and I can’t stop at one.

Hey, I’m a health and wellness advocate with an above-average awareness of the ills embedded in our profit-driven food system and an understanding of the long-term ill effects of eating garbage.

OK – yeah! I’m a weak hypocrite!

That picture above, folks, can be found right next to Webster’s definition of garbage in the dictionary. It’s typical of  the garbage that props up the shareholder value of the giants of our presumably benevolent food industry.

What’s happening here?

Aside from my inherent lack of self-discipline, a collection of cells at the back of my tongue were captured and kept captive years ago as I innocently, naively allowed creative food engineers to seize my taste buds with scientifically-crafted, addictive combinations of fat, salt, and sugar.

Home Depot shortened my life!

You’ve probably come across the media announcement that consuming a hot dog takes 36 minutes off your life.

Bummer! There’s goes my goal to hit 112 1/2.

I luv hot dogs!

Especially Home Depot hot dogs.

I went through a multiyear spell of finding any excuse – legit or lame – to visit Home Depot. Often multiple times a week.

You should see my collection of screws and mollies.

Every trip ended with two mustard-lathered hot dogs from the street vendor they allowed at one of the main exits.

They were cheap – $1.50 each. Just good ‘ol plain Hormel tubes of you-don’t-want-to-know ingredients generously injected with salt.

My captive taste buds overrode any semblance of knowledge and common sense!!

Each trip = over an hour off my life.

Washington is coming – fear not!

What are we to do to protect weaklings like me from ourselves?

Why, of course, we call in the politicians. Let’s sic Congress on this one also.

It appears that Senator Cory Booker believes so. I quote the distinguished Senator from a recent article in MedPage Today:

“Currently in the United States, half of the U.S. population is pre-diabetic, or has type 2 diabetes. In 1960, approximately 3% of the U.S. population was obese. Today, more than 40% of Americans are obese and more than 70% of Americans are either obese or overweight.”

“–now we face that second food crisis — one of nutrition insecurity where too many Americans are overfed but undernourished and are seeing these staggering rates of disease and early death.” Although the U.S. is the world’s wealthiest nation, “we have created a food system that relentlessly encourages the overeating of empty calories, literally making us sick and causing us to spend an ever-increasing amount of our taxpayer dollars … on healthcare costs to treat diet-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer, and chronic kidney disease.”

Don’t you love it – this bandwagon game?

And we wonder why Congress has a 27% approval rating.

I’m biting my tongue –

Excuse me, Senator, but how long have we known all this? How long have legions of respected physicians and nutritionists been beating this drum?

How long has our government been issuing unhealthy nutritional guidelines that are heavily influenced by the same food industry that is killing us slowly?

Oh, maybe like nearly forever – or at least a couple of decades.

But that doesn’t deter any able politician from jumping on another band wagon even when the wagon is really late.

Simple – slap a fancy name on the issue, call it nutrition insecurity, and rage against the machine – a machine that fakes its concern about our health and nutrition and rakes in billions by exploiting our biological affinity for sugar, salt, and fat and our bent toward comfort and convenience.

-but, not holding my breath.

We did effect major behavioral change through government action driving smoking cessation.

But, not everybody smoked.

Everybody eats.

Picture warning labels on every Big Mac or bag of fries. Or Big Gulp. Or Hormel hot dog or Johnsonville brat.

Maybe there’s an easier way to turn this messiness around.

Just suppose we started teaching physicians how and why to write prescriptions for beans, broccoli, bananas, and blueberries.

Can you imagine?

Your Primary Care Physician looking up your nose, in your ears, tapping your knees for reflex, doing the deep breaths and the “turn your head and cough” and the rubber glove digital exam thing (sorry ladies – I can’t speak to your physicals – I haven’t been allowed in the room when in progress) then looking up from his computer (if you are lucky) and writing a prescription to fill at your local super market.

No, not at the pharmacy or the middle aisles – along the perimeter in the produce section.

“Here”, he or she says, “fill this list and take several days a week – for the rest of your life. No, your insurance won’t cover the beans, brocolli, bananas, blueberries. But, there’s a good chance you won’t be needing insurance much if you take this prescription as directed.”

Who do we respect and trust more – senators or doctors?

Suppose, instead of trying to legislate behavior change, we legislate change at the medical school level and require nutritional training that forces doctors to be honest about their oath to “do no harm” by being proactive in counseling patients on proper diet and the consequences of a poor diet.

I wrote about this a few months back (see the article here) and included a video by one of the greatest champions of good nutrition, Dr. Michael Greber, that documents the shortfall in nutritional training in our medical schools.

It’s an outrage.

This could be a culture change that could beget another – and huge – culture change.

Maybe you are lucky and have connected with a physician who is nutrition savvy and proactive in nutrition counseling.

They are out there – and growing in numbers, slowly.

But, we need to find a way to increase the numbers faster – fast enough to prevent the Cory Bookers from grabbing the spotlight and sending the issue into neverland.

What are your thoughts on this? Anybody have a magic formula for retraining taste buds? Leave a comment below and tell your friends to join the tribe/diatribe at www.makeagingwork.com.

What is the best, free natural anti-aging technique? (Can we get over this rant?)

I get a daily feed of dozens of questions being asked by Quora.com subscribers that fall in the area of retirement, health and wellness, aging, and career transition.

I try to respond to one or two of those questions daily.

Most questions are worthy of attention, but every day produces some doozies. For example, here’s a sampling from the last couple of days:

  • What are some reasons not to live to be 100?
  • At what point did you start feeling old, and how did you get over it?
  • How does it feel to be old (Ex: 40)?
  • Why can’t I find a career I like? I just got my mortgage license at the age of 40 it’s been a year and now I hate my job. I’ve spent so much time and $ on getting licensed. I feel too old to keep doing this.
  • Been self-employed for nearly a decade, desperate times, going back to having a second job, been long since I’ve worked in a supermarket, lots has changed, I’m in my mid 30s, scared and nervous as hell, how to handle my nerves? Also feel so old.

By far, the most common question revolves around the topic of “anti-aging.”

I grind my teeth every time I see one.

Where do we get this idea that we can “anti-age?” Last I heard, we don’t come out of this thing alive.

Well, rather than grind, I decided to fire off a response to one and it seemed to kick up quite a few views.  So I’ll share it with you.

Here was the question :

What is the best, free natural anti-aging technique?

– and my response

Golly, folks – can we give “anti-aging” a rest??

Seriously, we’re making it way too easy for all these wonder cream and untested supplement manufacturers to laugh all the way to the bank.

May I quote Dr. Walter Bortz, retired Stanford geriatric physician from his book “Dare to Be 100”?

“Life is a fatal disease. Once contracted, there is no known cure.”

The rude, unassailable truth is that you and I are going to get wrinkly, creaky, and then die.

How ’bout we get rid of “anti-aging” – because it isn’t possible – and substitute it with something like “slower aging” or “decelerated aging.”

I know – really clunky.

Anti-aging is so easy and has a natural appeal even though it’s bunk, creating a hopeful image of something that isn’t possible.

We can’t stop the aging process – but we can slow its momentum.

Perhaps that’s a more reasonable, attainable goal. Given that we are going to grow old, let’s avoid GETTING OLD as long as possible.

OK, you can call it anti-aging or whatever you like, but I’m going to call it removing the accelerants of aging and suggest that you work toward eliminating those accelerants first.

Then maybe consideration of some of those wonder creams and supplements can come into play.

There are more than a few “accelerants.”

Let’s take a look at a dozen:

1. No exercise. I know, you’re tired of hearing it. And I know it’s likely you will buck it up at some point and renew that gym membership and just as likely you will fall off again six weeks later. It’s just not built into your lifestyle and it won’t sustain until you build it in. Think of it this way. Can you find 2.6% of your week that is going to unhealthy activities (TV, barstools, Facebook, etc.) and convert that to 45 minutes of combined aerobic and strength training six days of the week? That’s only 10% of the time the average American male spends each week watching TV (49 hours).

The potential ROI: living longer, dying shorter; more vitality longer; look better, feel better; amaze your overweight, sedentary, deteriorating friends; lower healthcare costs.

Perhaps this admonition from Dr. Henry Lodge in the book “Younger Next Year” will help:

“Aerobic exercise will give you life; strength-training will make it worth living.”

2. Diet heavy in animal products. Heart disease remains the number one killer in our culture. The link between heart disease and a diet heavy in animal products i.e. meat and dairy is indisputable despite all the claims to the contrary by those industries. A whole-food, plant-heavy diet brings with it a long list of benefits, only one of which is the reduced likelihood of heart disease. It also reduces the possibility of cancer, stroke, diabetes, and dementia which round out the rest of the top five killers in our culture.

3. Mindset. It’s amazing and disturbing to me how many of my generation are still of the mindset that senescence and frailty are automatic when we have so much evidence and knowledge to the contrary and many weapons against both.

Any personal move to add years to your life and life to your years has to start with a mindset that doesn’t accept this old thinking.

4. Healthcare illiteracy. We’ve allowed our personal healthcare to become a $35 co-pay experience with a physician who is entrenched in a disease-care system focused on cure and not on prevention. As such we put our self-care in a reactive mode versus a proactive mode. We think health only when something skids off the rails and then face a system that only knows drug it or cut it out.

One of the major keys to longevity is “self-efficacy” i.e. taking control of your own health destiny by understanding how your biology works, knowing where you stand against the key biomarkers of good health (see Key Step #2 in my free e-book Achieve_Your_Full-Life_Potential), and taking charge of your own health through increased knowledge and proactive action.

5. Conformity. Sir Walter Scott said he would trade whole years filled with mindless conformity for “one hour of life crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks.”

When dying people in a hospice are asked about any regrets they had about their lives, by far the most common regret is “I wish I had pursued my dreams and aspirations, and not the life others expected of me.” ‘Nough said. Conformity involves comparison. Comparison is one of the biggest killers of happiness.  Don’t believe that?  Check out what Facebook is doing to our younger generations.

6. Suppressing courage. In the same hospice study, the second most common regret was “I wish I had the courage to express my feelings and speak my mind.” The author of the study, an Australian palliative care nurse by the name of Bronnie Ware learned that “many of her dying patients believed they suppressed their true feelings and didn’t speak their mind when they should have because they wanted to keep peace with others.”

Most of them chose not to confront difficult situations and people, even when it offended them. By suppressing their anger, they built up a lot of bitterness and resentment which ultimately affected their health. See the complete article here.

7. Toxic relationships. Jim Rohn, the renowned businessman and motivational speaker, famously said that “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.” Relationships with toxic people steal away life-giving energy while being around positive, encouraging, supportive people who are continuing to grow can restore energy. Choose your relationships wisely and dissolve those that are harmful.

8. Stopping learning. Historian Peter Laslett emphasizes that only by living into our natural lifespan are we able to exploit our true potential. As we age, our brain cells can become intimately connected with new and emerging realities. A lifelong strategy of learning is a potent force for good. Smart people live longer.

9. Isolation. According to the AARP Foundation, the health risk of prolonged isolation is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Research has shown a 26 percent increased risk of death due to the subjective feelings of loneliness.

10. Not working. Evidence has been in for a long time. Work is necessary for longer, healthier living. Polls of centenarians have revealed that an astonishingly high percentage of them continue to work and that they rank working alongside being able to walk as one of the keys to their longevity.

11. Narrowed comfort zones. As we age, we may tend to narrow our comfort zones. For example “I’ve never done that” or “I don’t know anything about computers” or “I’m too old to start that”. These responses are indicators that the fossilization process is underway. The fact that you hear 50-year olds making these statements is proof that “old” can start at any age. Source: The New Retirementality.

12. Traditional retirement. Going over the cliff from labor-to-leisure, vocation-to-vacation retirement can erode sense of purpose and identity. Without purpose, many of the life-shortening elements of retirement begin to creep in – boredom, increased isolation, declining social engagement, reduced physical activity, depression.

One in five of Americans over 65 suffer from some level of depression. Men aged 75 and older have the highest annual suicide rate of any group.

Calling Dr. Bortz back on stage, we hear him say:

“Our ripples, the energy signature of our life, remain and endure. Rippling exalts Mozart, Buddha, Aristotle, Christ, Einstein, Darwin, to name a few, whose lives’ energies persist and penetrate today in a larger way than they did while alive. Similarly, even the most modest among us leaves ripples behind.”

“Once we confront our own mortality, we find it vastly easier to re-arrange our priorities, communicate more deeply with those we love, appreciate more keenly the beauty of life, and increase our willingness to take the risks necessary for personal fulfillment. And imprint our ripples on the cosmos forever.”

Instead of an anti-aging fixation,

– how about more emphasis on our “ripples” and less on our “wrinkles?”

Mankind can use the help.

Can you add to this list? We’d love your feedback. Leave a comment below.

Meet OPAL. (No, it’s not the crazy lady down the street!)

I knew an Opal in my hometown – 60+ years ago. Nice lady, as I recall. As were most ladies in my little hometown of 800.

I also knew a Doris – but he was my girlfriend’s father. Small towns come with some weirdness – but I digress.

Today, I met a different OPAL and I want to introduce her it to you.

This OPAL is Optimal Physical Activity for Longevity.

An article hit my Medium.com feed today entitled “How Much Exercise is Optimal for Longevity.” (see it here). The author, Gunter De Winter describes himself as “Biologist. Philosopher. Voracious consumer of ideas. Word wrangler & concept cuddler.”

I like the topic Gunter chose to “cuddle.” Any article with longevity in the title catches my eye since I’m still refusing to relinquish this nutty goal of living to 112 1/2. (I know, I know – snowball’s chance – – – -).

What if I don’t care about longevity?

I get it. A surprising percentage of people are repulsed by the idea of even living to 100. I sense I haven’t deepened any relationships amongst my closest cohort by declaring my outrageous goal. I’ve found it to be a marvelous tool to shorten a boring dinner engagement.

According to a research project done by Dr. Ken Dychtwald of the AgeWave organization and published in his recent book “What Retirees Want: A Holistic View of Life’s Third Age,” (affiliate link) only 22% of respondents said they want to live to 100 or beyond. Among those over 65 and older, twice as many said no (35%) as yes (17%).

If you are in the 78% or 35%, the rest of this will be painful, so an exit is totally understood. I appreciate that you clicked on.

There’s bad news – and then there’s bad news!

The first layer of bad news is that the public health guideline recommendation of at least 150–300 minutes of PA [physical activity] at moderate aerobic intensity or 75–150 minutes at vigorous intensity per week is woefully short of doing anything to enhance longevity. Much more engagement in PA is necessary to achieve maximal benefits on longevity. Cap that with the fact that less than 25% of the U.S. population even achieve this moderate intensity. 

The second layer of bad news is that the O-P-A-L  is a real butt-kicker that, based on the general attitude toward health and longevity in our culture, isn’t likely to get much of a nod, let alone an attempt.

Based on cohort studies, researchers suggest . . .

Ouch! You’ve already done the math, right?

700/7.

350/7

100 minutes/day; 50 minutes/day.

Even freakier if you felt you could maybe find 5 days in the week for O-P-A-L. Either is a stretch for all but the truly committed.

Put down that voice-activated remote and slowly back away!

Don’t decisions get pretty basic with this type of information? As in back-to-back-to-back Ozark, Breaking Bad, and The Crown vs five extra years of healthy living?

Or two pops leading up to a meatloaf and gravy dinner.

Or selling out to the boss with an extra hour at the desk at the end of the day while your workout bag languishes in your car.

Or – well, you get the point.

As a culture (I’m talking mainly U.S. but also most western, supposedly “developed” cultures), we’re still given to “living too short and dying too long.’

We’re not very good at paying attention to the antidotes.

O-P-A-L is an antidote with a capital “A.”

How about more life in your years!

I understand if longevity isn’t your thing. I understand the impressions that have been seated in your head of walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen bottles, needles, and nurses.

But what if you adopted O-P-A-L for another reason. Rather than more years in your life, put more life into the years you have. 

The accelerating slope doesn’t have to be that severe. It could look more like this –

-with more life in your years.

I hear you saying: “OK, loudmouth.  How do you measure up?”

Kinda, sorta.

If you’ve tracked with me for a while, you know I’m a fan and advocate of “Harry’s Rules”, the appendix in the book “Younger Next Year”  (affiliate link) that was written by the co-author, the late Dr. Henry Lodge.

Here’s a refresher in case you haven’t yet invested in the book:

Harry’s Rules

Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life.

Do serious aerobic exercise four days a week for the rest of your life.

Do serious strength training, with weights, two days a week for the rest of your life.

Spend less than you make.

Quit eating crap!

Care.

Connect and commit.

I’ve been coming pretty darn close to Dr. Lodge’s rules for the last 10-12 years. The pandemic screwed that up for a while, but I’m back on track at 24-Hour Fitness 3 days a week for 90-minute sessions that include aggressive strength training (alternating between free weights and machines and working all the muscle groups across the week) plus 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. I supplement the rest of the week with aerobic (walking, treadmill, elliptical) for 30 minutes (on a good day).

Yep, falling a bit short of the O-P-A-L total, but, c-mon, not bad for a guy just 5 months short of stepping into his 9th decade.

Can I get to O-P-A-L? Sure. It’s just attitude and a decision.

  1. Plus overcoming temptations.
  2. Plus overcoming inherent laziness.
  3. Plus overcoming Netflix and loyalty to the Denver Nuggets or a crappy Broncos team.
  4. Plus overcoming soreness and discomfort.
  5. Plus overcoming a shallow commitment to prioritized planning.

Yeah, falling a bit short because that’s a tough list. But we all have a list of things to overcome.

#5 is the difference-maker.

Sorry, dear reader, but anything even close to O-P-A-L ain’t gonna happen unless it’s in writing on your calendar and seated firmly into your habit patterns.

As James Clear reminds us in his runaway best-selling and life-changing book “Atomic Habits”:

“The punch line is clear: people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through. Too many people try to change their habits without these basic details figured out. Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity.”

Albeit tough, O-P-A-L makes it clear.

It helps to remember that nothing significant happens in the comfort zone.

Does anyone out there come close to O-P-A-L? What’s your routine? What’s working best for you? I’d love to have you share your method with the tribe. Leave a comment below. Thanks for reading. If you haven’t joined our group, jump on my email list at www.makeagingwork.com to receive my weekly post. I’ll send you a free ebook entitled “Achieving Your Full-life Potential.”

 

 

Did You Choose Your Parents Wisely? Doesn’t Matter!!

The parents I chose (circa 1943)

Mom died at 56.

Dad beat the national average at the time by a couple of years – dead at 81.

Mom – cancer.

Dad – COPD, heart failure.

I’m guessing genetics had little to do with their demise. We don’t really know because, during their halcyon years (’30s-’60s), we barely knew how to spell the word let alone use it to predict health or longevity.

What I do know is that if genetics were at play with them, they didn’t help much as they lit up their Luckies day in and day out.

I have to confess to similar naivete on the topic for many of my earlier years. I smoked for 18 years also, shedding stupid finally at age 37.

I remember, probably 35-40 years or so ago, my wife and I read an article in Parade Magazine that suggested you could determine your longevity by averaging the age-at-death of your parents and grandparents.

We bought into the pitch and did the math over breakfast. The numbers we came up with didn’t leave any deep impression because – well, it was Parade Magazine and the numbers were far off in the future. Plus the eggs were getting cold.

Based on my best recall of the results, I’ve been dead for about 11 years now. She? About the same.

Why should you care about genetics?

Today, it’s a pretty big deal. Lots of talk of genetics. Lots of progress in getting our arms around it and what it is/does and isn’t/doesn’t do.

But, I’m not sure we are getting the right message.

A century ago, we fell off the mortal coil at an average age of around 50. Our equivalent of a genetic explanation then was that it is was “God’s will.” Or, “fate,” if you will.  Choice hadn’t really caught on because science was just beginning to get a foothold in understanding our biology.

I think you and I should care because there remains an entrenched remnant of acceptance of “God will” and genetics as the main determinant of our longevity and long-term health.

I believe that’s a problem.

Please don’t confuse me with a geneticist or medical expert – –

– – but, you see I have this genetic predisposition (did I just say that?) to read a lot. I inherited it from my daughter. Except I read dry stuff like about health and wellness and longevity and diet and exercise and brain stuff (she just reads simple stuff for enjoyment, like Tolkien and “Lord of the Rings”).

On any given day I may read someone (amongst the uninformed) saying that your key to longevity is to “pick your parents wisely” and that genetics is the main determinant.

The next day I may read experienced medical experts that take a firm stand that genetics as a determinant of longevity is “encapsulated in a layer of myths in our society – and include a confusing blend of truth and fancy.” Those are the words of John W. Rowe, M.D, and Robert L. Kahn, M.D. co-authors of the seminal book “Successful Aging” that reports the results of the acclaimed McArthur Foundation Study, one of the most extensive, comprehensive studies on aging in America.

The authors go on to say (my bolding):

“True, there is a meaningful connection between genetics and aging. For instance, it has long been recognized that the length of life of non-identical twins varies much more than that of identical twins. But while the role of genetics in aging is important, it has been tremendously overstated. A common error is to assume that one’s genetic predisposition is equivalent to genetic “control” of life expectancy, and that we are all preprogrammed for a given duration of life. Our MacArthur twin studies leave very substantial room for factors other than genetics in determining life expectancy.”

Or, in my third reading of “The Roadmap to 100: The Breakthrough Science of Living a Long and Healthy Life” by one of my heroes, Dr. Walter Bortz, retired Stanford geriatric physician, I come across this highlighted statement:

“Further studies of identical and fraternal twins indicate that heredity accounts for as little as 15-20 percent of the difference in human longevity. A study of Swedish twins published in 1998 seems to establish an upper limit of the genetic contribution to 33 percent. It is more generally assumed that the genetic contributions to our overall health and our prospects for longevity fall within a range around 20 percent to 25 percent.”

Let’s roll with the docs!

– at least on this topic.

Drs. Rowe and Kahn point out that “as we grow older genetics becomes less important, and environment becomes more important. The likelihood of being fat, having hypertension, high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and the rate at which one’s lung function declines with advancing age are, by and large, largely not inherited.”

Ever been at a dinner party with “folks of advancing age” and hear the statement from an attendee: “I’m lucky. My grandmother lived to 102, my dad to 95, and my mom to 90. So, I’m from a good gene pool.” And in the next breath state that exercise is overrated or too difficult and that all this business about a meat-based diet being bad is all a bunch of hooey.

It’s easy to hide behind the “gene pool” myth and use it as an excuse to avoid the real elements behind increasing the odds of extended longevity.

  • Proper diet
  • Exercise
  • Social engagement
  • Continuous learning/mental challenge

It’s all about “gene expression.”

You and I carry a bunch of bad genes.  We all do.

Bad genes don’t count unless they choose to express themselves.

The public perception that specific genes control specific functions and determine specific health outcomes, such as the onset of a great many diseases, doesn’t hold up because genes must be expressed. In Dr. Bortz’s words “–they are like switches that must be turned on in order to perform their designated functions.” Maybe more like a dimmer switch with variable responses, not just simple on or off.

There are no guarantees genes won’t express but no need to help the bad ones get vocal. That’s where our lifestyle comes into play, early or late. (See the list above.)

It’s never too late to start, but always too early to quit.

If you are counting on your impressive gene pool while loving your voice-controlled remote and Netflix 49 hours a week (the U.S. national average for TV viewing by men over 65), I believe you are inviting some nefarious genes to wake up and express.

That’s in the choice category, not fate.

Fate left the conversation a half-century ago.

What is your bad gene expression action plan? What are your thoughts on this topic? Have any interesting stories to tell on this topic? Tell us with a comment below. We’d love to hear them. If you aren’t on our list to receive our weekly article (FREE!!), join us by going to www.makeagingwork.com, sign up, and get a copy of our ebook “Achieving Your Full Life Potential.”

 

Is There a Vertical Pasture in Your Future?

Photo by James Day on Unsplash

I drive by a vertical pasture every Wednesday on my return home from my weekly senior men’s golf league encounter (I call my golf an encounter because after 40 years I still don’t have “game”).

You’ve seen them. You probably have one close to you. If not, chances are fairly high that one will eventually be under construction in your vicinity.

Vertical pastures have increased over the last couple of decades into a multi-billion dollar industry with significant growth forecasts because of shifting age demographics.

You won’t see them labeled or advertised as vertical pastures – that’s my (perverted?) description. The industry calls them Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) or the newer label, Life Plan Communities (LPN).

I’m guessing the LPN tag has emerged to accommodate the declining appeal of the concept of retirement amongst the CCRC/LPN target market – baby boomers. Much like AARP presciently changing its name to just AARP, no longer the American Association of Retired Persons.

Perversion explained

OK, why vertical pasture?

In our youth-obsessed culture, it’s common to hear the “youngsters” suggest that older people, like you and me, should be put out to pasture, disappear from the mainstream, get out of the way, and stop using up valuable space and oxygen.

Unfortunately, many of us of advancing age seem to be quite accommodating of the idea.

My wife and I have had conversations with friends of retirement age who are planning to accommodate this banishment by finishing out their years in one of the rapidly expanding CCRCs in our area offered up by one of the for-profit companies that have become very successful at exploiting this mindset.

It’s a pretty straightforward concept. You sell your home of 20,30,40 years and use the equity to “buy” an apartment in one of their large buildings and enjoy “free” dining, exercise facilities, a heavy selection of social activities. access to 24×7 healthcare, and a glide path to the cemetery (I don’t think the headstone is included).

That promise of a smooth transition through to your terminal frailty and demise accommodates a business plan built on turning over your apartment to the next person(s) attracted to the same glide path.

Not cheap, as you may imagine, but attractive nonetheless. According to commercial real estate service firm CBRE, the average initial payment is $329,000, but it can top $1 million in some communities. Once a resident and depending on the model, monthly maintenance or service fees in some CCRC models may run from $2,000 to $4,000.

I will admit, when you check out websites and other promotional material, it sounds like a pretty comfortable way to finish out. What’s not to like about not having to cook or do yard work and house repair, to have access to mind and body stimulating activities, to be steps away from healthcare professionals, to be able to hang with lots of other “olders?”

Oops!

That’s where the appeal diminishes, for me at least. To be clustered and sequestered in a compact area devoid of anyone that’s not inclined to want to talk about anything other than colonoscopies, hip/knee/shoulder replacements, arthritis, (I call them “organ recitals”) or bore me with their pictures of their grandkids and myriad travels to exotica.

Sorry, it just doesn’t resonate with me.

But, I’m reminded by my roommate of 50 years that snootiness becomes me.

It’s a vertical pasture

I’ve been witnessing the growth of one of these facilities in our community. What started out 20 years ago as a couple of two-story facilities, has grown now to 15 massive buildings, most of them six or seven stories high. They have one more seven-story facility planned before they complete their master plan.

It’s a community of 2,800, soon to go well beyond 3,000.

How is this not a vertical pasture?

  • Layer-upon-layer of warehoused folks of advancing age all turned out to pasture and seeking sequestered sameness.
  • Choosing to limit the opportunity for extended engagement with anyone under 40.
  • Isolating from GenX or GenY energy, technology savvy, cultural awareness, and perspectives.
  • Accommodating the cultural indoctrination that says 65- or 70-plus requires a wind-down.
  • Abiding the ageist attitude suggesting a move to the sidelines.

A land-locked cruise ship

I once engaged a resident of one of these vertical pastures and asked what it was like living there. His response: “It’s like being on a cruise without the motion.”

I’ve heard them referred to as “Disneyland for Adults.” I suspect there is no limit to the monikers that creative marketers can tag to these facilities.

That idea will appeal to a lot of people.

Count me out.

You won’t catch me on a cruise. Squeezed into a 10’x10′ room on a floating virus petri-dish with 5 times more people than the town I grew up in? Well, I’ll continue to pass, thank you. Growing up with mega-elbow room in rural Wyoming still dogs me.

For this resident, however, it seems the only difference between the cruise and the vertical pasture is trading in a two-week 10’x10′ for long-term 1500 sq. ft. and no Dramamine.

Why so harsh?

I know – I’m guilty of criticizing an experience I’ve never had.

I’ve witnessed and fully appreciate the damaging effect of loneliness and isolation. This environment can rightfully claim a solution for that as its deepest benefit.

Perhaps the strongest marketing appeal is their core slogan: “We create instant community.”

My issue with this whole concept is that it seems to exploit the one remaining unacknowledged “ism” -ageism. The “-ism” that says “You’re done.” “You’re stale.” “You’re slow.” “You’re in the way.” “Go away.”

Part of me resents that we stack millions of hours of this wisdom, talent, and experience on top of each other and reduce the outlet for its potential to advance an ailing culture.

I resent that we choose to profit from sequestering accumulated talent, experience, and wisdom and disconnect it from youngers that can grow and benefit from that accumulation.

Maybe there is more that goes on in one of these facilities than I know.

Maybe I’m missing something.

Guess what? There is! And I am!

It occurred to me that before I start dumping any more vitriol on this concept that I better do some research.

So, I arranged a visit at the vertical pasture that I drive by every Wednesday. This past week, I had a two-hour tour and conversation with a very professional, veteran sales associate at this upscale facility. I was impressed – and somewhat blown away.

This is one impressive facility!

Gorgeous grounds. Incredible amenities. Pools, spas, exercise facilities, restaurants/cafes at every turn, meeting rooms, amphitheaters, all of top-notch quality and atmosphere.

Resort quality.

$500/sq.ft.

The amenities need to be good because, at this facility, you’ll pony up from $300-$500/sq.ft. to get a place to sleep. $900,000 for a 1700 sq.ft., two-bedroom plus den. They claim that all but 10% of that will come back to you in the end. They provide the services and make a profit on the 10% they keep, as I understand it. I’ve probably got that wrong, but, any way you slice it, that ends up being a pasture for pretty well-heeled participants.

Plenty of youthful interaction?

I had to broach the issue of interaction with the younger generation at this facility.

My tour guide assured me that, with 800 staff, many of which are high school age, that there was plenty of interaction with the younger set.

I can imagine the extent of that: “Did you want the broccoli with your sole? Or do you prefer the mixed green salad?”

I’m skeptical that there is an effort to promote extended, non-transactional interplay between residents and younger generations.

But maybe someone who has been a resident in a similar facility can set me straight.

It’s right for many.

I ‘spect I’m on the outside on this. These vertical pastures seem to me to be the epitome of comfort, convenience. and the unfortunate conformity that takes tons of talent, experience, and wisdom to the “north 40” and out of circulation.

A sexagenarian/septuagenarian/octogenarian is a terrible thing to waste.

How far off base am I? Let me know your thoughts – or experiences –  with a comment below or an email to gary@makeagingwork.com.

If you haven’t joined the tribe, join our list to receive a new article every week at www.makeagingwork.com and receive a free ebook “Achieving Your Full-Life Potential: Five Easy Steps to Living Longer, Healthier, and With More Purpose.”

OK, You Hit 60 – Are You Now “Elderly?” Or “Middle-aged?” Does it Matter?

Image by Stefano Ferrario from Pixabay

I remember 60 well.

It’s when I proactively stumbled out of corporate life after 35 years and into my own business, wrongly assuming that I was equipped with even a modicum of what it takes to succeed in the entrepreneurial world.

I certainly didn’t consider myself “elderly” at that point. Still don’t today, 6 months short of entering my ninth decade.

We seem to struggle with where to put ourselves these days since many of us have been granted a “longevity bonus” of 20, 30, 40 years.

I’ll opt for “modern elder”

I’ve written before about the “modern elder” moniker conceived by entrepreneur Chip Conley, author of “Wisdom at Work : The Making of a Modern Elder”. It fits well and I can carry it to my ridiculous goal of reaching 112 1/2.

It’s really just about the mindset and ignoring the pejorative monikers our youth culture and government prefer to slap on us.

Yeah, my cohort thinks I’m nuts and in denial. It seems, if one is beholden to stats and data, I’m both.

I can roll with it.

On the age scale determined by the average life span in America, my last rites were performed several months ago (no, this isn’t being ghost-written) since the average life span of the American male is around 78.5 years – and going backward, by the way. (Put down that Carl’s Junior cheeseburger and fries and walk away, PLEASE!)

On the other hand, based on how long we know the human body can last (122 years, 164 days, the record set by Mme. Jeanne Calment of Paris when she gave it up in 1997) I’m closer to middle-age.

I can roll with that, too.

You’ve been “portaled.”

We’ve had a need to put ourselves in categories, especially relative to age, for, like, forever. We can thank the American Psychological Association (APA) and corporate marketers for much of that. For instance, until G. Stanley Hall, President of the APA, came up with the concept of adolescence in 1904, we fundamentally just had two age categories – child and adult.

Look where we’ve come today with this drive to drop people into age groupings (each category feeding a market for psychologists and marketers).

Dr. Mario Martinez, neuropsychologist, identified seven age-based “portals: newborn, infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adult, middle age, and old age.

Peter Laslett, the eminent British demographic historian, came up with a much simpler and appropriate four-portal alignment:

  1. First age – childhood/age of dependence.
  2. Second age – adulthood and mid-career jobs.
  3. Third age – the new territory between the end of mid-career jobs and parenting duties and the beginning of dependent old age.
  4. Fourth age – age of dependency and ill health, the doorstep of demise.

I like Laslett’s formula.

I’m in the third age. My projected date for the beginning of my fourth age is 112 and change with my ill health and dependency period being two weeks or less. Actually, my plan is to wrap it all up in much less than two weeks by going face down in a Colorado trout stream still trying to prove that I am smarter than an animal with a brain the size of a pea.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter to me whether someone considers me old or elderly. The only measurement that matters is my own. I’ve grown immune to the rampant ageist comments that persist realizing they come from a chronological perspective and one that is naive to the demographic and attitudinal changes that are taking place.

I know, and you know, sixty-year-olds that are truly old – physically, mentally, attitudinally – well past any semblance of a mid-point on all fronts. Conversely, you can easily find 80-year-olds that will hold their own with 50-year olds in the same categories.

I have grown accustomed to the reactions that come from people when I reveal my true age. It nearly always has a touch of amazement that I look and act the way I do.

I don’t say that with any arrogance because I quickly remind people that what they are observing is no accident. I work at it – and have for decades. I learned long ago that my biology will pay me back with more youthful looks and higher energy if I simply listen to it, understand what it needs at the cellular level, and practice the quite-simple things that it takes to honor my good health birthright and let it reward me in kind.

I say all that knowing that it all starts with attitude and that if I choose to begin to adopt a shitty attitude and drop the disciplines that support my biology, I can easily earn a pejorative age-based tag.

Tags are in!

If I have to have an age-based moniker, then call me a modern elder in my third age. They fit nicely together and don’t have to have a number on them.

I picked a crazy endpoint at 112 1/2 because at age 75 I decided I wanted to have a third of my life left to get some things done that I didn’t get done in the first two-thirds. It’s really a desire to roll all my screw-ups, zig-zags, life traumas, successes, victories into this thing called “wisdom” and spread it around a bit.

Look, I know I’m falling short – but I’m working on it!

The mission.

It has become my “third-age mission”, to change people’s attitudes toward aging, to be a longevity guide, to raise awareness that getting old is inevitable but how we get old isn’t. And, above all, to do as Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Haven’t we all learned that people will listen more to what you are than to what you say?

So I feel and think of myself as sort of middle-age, in this now extended period we are calling the “third age” that so many others are also in. I, along with millions of other “boomers”, “pre-boomers” and “early GenXers” can decide to turn this period of post-career period of a 20–40-year longevity bonus into the most impactful, purposeful, productive period of life and make an unimaginable difference.

But we first have to dump the age categories and the self-inflicted ageism that comes with it, adopt an attitude that says “I ain’t done yet” and, no, I don’t have a “use-by stamp” anywhere on me, and move forward intending to continue to kick-ass in a culture in dire need of the collective wisdom we third-ager modern elders represent.

Let’s recalibrate!

We have to continue to redefine or eliminate some old, bad ideas, the most obvious one being traditional self-indulgent leisure-based retirement. Retirement, as we’ve defined it and have had it drilled into us for 5–6 decades, is a trojan horse that moves us away from the way our biology functions optimally and away from one of the key components of longevity – meaningful work.

Every study of centenarians has shown that work and purpose remained a key part of their lifestyles very late into their lives.

Other old, bad ideas are the belief that senescence is automatic and unalterable, that our brains will shrink and move inexorably toward slowness and/or dementia. Or that our longevity is driven by our genetics. Or that a period of extended frailty is a given late in life.

None are true unless we allow them to happen. We have the knowledge to know that our lifestyle choices determine much more of this than we knew just 20 years ago.

We have an obligation to honor what Dr. Mario Martinez termed our “birthright of good health.” We are born with it and have become very good at dishonoring it with our lifestyles and clinging to old, archaic myths and messages.

So, I’m borrowing Chip Conley’s “modern elder” tag for myself since I know I will need to continue to address the naive and ageist questions that will be thrown at me as I continue my iconoclastic journey.

It’s a tall order being a “modern elder” as defined by Conley:

  1. Good judgment
  2. Unvarnished insight
  3. Emotional intelligence
  4. Holistic thinking
  5. Stewardship

I’ve got a LONG way to go to earn that moniker. But it’s a great target that has a healthier, longer, more meaningful life written all over it.

I’m working on it!

Does it matter?

Nope – it’s a number. You aren’t defined by it, regardless of how our youth-obsessed culture and government view it.

You are your attitude.

Do attitudes age?

Yep – if allowed.

Once past 60, I suggest a daily attitude check. Remind yourself that you’re not done yet but, in fact, just starting the most gratifying period of your life.

Think about adopting the modern elder tag and criteria.

You’ve got it. We need it.

Remind yourself that you have kick-ass potential rooted in natural talents, acquired skills and experiences, and decades of accumulated wisdom that would be a terrible thing to waste at the beach, on the golf course, in the La-Z-boy.

Let’s be the change we want to see – need to see!

Two Stories That May Save Your Life – Part Two of A Two-part Series

In last week’s post, our first story in this short series related the story of Paul, a retired airline pilot and aspiring 70.3 triathloner, who averted a possible heart attack through proactive testing that revealed a significant blockage in his “widowmaker” artery.

His is a fascinating story of a journey from daily half-triathlon training to quadruple bypass surgery back to training for another half-triathlon, all the space of a month. Had he not pursued proactive testing, his story likely would have had a much different, and ominous, ending.

This week, the story is different but no less revealing of the importance of being proactive about heart health in our later decades.

In story two, we meet Scott Fulton, entrepreneur, longevity advocate and teacher, and health and fitness advocate who “walks his talk” with personal fitness that positions him in the upper 10% for his age.

I’ve been fortunate to have a few conversations with Scott and find his depth of knowledge on the impact of our lifestyle choices on our longevity to be off the charts. His mission aligns with mine: raise the awareness of our longevity potential and the role of our habits and choices – especially in our third age –  in achieving that potential.

I encourage you to visit his website and, in particular, spend 11-minutes with this video which really encapsulates Scott’s mission and message.

It was with this perspective of Scott, his fitness, and his commitment to healthy lifestyle habits that I was shocked to read, on a LinkedIn post, of Scott’s encounter with a cardiovascular issue.

Here are Scott’s own words from that post. I’ve taken the liberty to bold a few sentences for emphasis.

“I have maintained an active, healthy lifestyle for years. It wasn’t always like that. I burned the candle at both ends in my 20s and 30s, and only in my 60s did the damage caused during those “young and invincible” years habits reveal themselves.

A year ago, I proactively requested a CT Coronary Artery Calcium scan (CAC) and discovered that I had an abnormally high calcium score (calcified plaque deposited permanently in heart arteries).

No symptoms. Never had high #cholesterol.

Two weeks ago, I set a cycling PR (personal record) on a local hill climb, placing me in the top 10 for all ages. Not bad for a once mildly overweight 40-year-old, with no elite cycling background.

One week ago, I had a 1-year follow-up Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) and scored in the highest fitness class – excellent. My sports cardiologist however noted a drop in O2 rate at maximal effort and ordered a Cardiac Catheter scan with blood contrast.

Yesterday, scan revealing a 90% block in my Right Coronary Artery. BAM!
Subsequently treated immediately on the table with a stent.

Today I am back, able to resume normal active life without limitations or fear of a heart event.

Despite being vigilant about my health and proactive with biomarker and fitness testing, I barely dodged a fatal bullet.

In a world filled with technology, most of us avoid health data at our fingertips, as though it were a threat to our health. Yet, we quickly ascribe to the popular marketing message that we’re all living longer. It speaks to our view of health as fantasy vs reality.

Living longer in poor health is the ultimate curse. We may tell ourselves we’re eating better and exercising more, OR that we’re young and invincible, OR that it’s too late to make changes, OR that we’re too busy caring for others, OR… but regardless, without data, we’re operating on blind hope. Next time you plug an address into your phone, expecting the data to guide you to your destination, ask yourself, “Why aren’t I doing this for my own healthy longevity?”

Healthspan is a long life, supported by optimal health in our later years. It’s a journey we all hope for, yet struggle to take measurable actions, allowing fear to overrule our daily decisions.

Doctors are amazing at saving lives, but saving health is on each of us. Most chronic diseases sneak up undetected and can hit like a freight train. Usually, however, they are very slow-moving bullets and can almost always be avoided with advanced notice. Break the cycle and pause long enough to check for bullets. One just might be headed your way.”

CAC vs CPET

Some of you know my story – first-ever heart scan (CAC) at 73 revealing a calcium score of 600+ (anything above 400 is considered high-risk for cardiovascular disease) followed by echo and nuclear stress tests to determine if blood flow is affected. Fortunately, things appear to be normal with no major occlusions and, thankfully, my left anterior descending artery (LAD/widowmaker) is apparently clear.

Scott shared with me, in a call I initiated after reading his LinkedIn post, that his first CAC (in his 50s) revealed a calcium score of 1700 and that he has a family history of heart issues.

Because of his teaching, he is very aware of the nuances and insidious nature of heart disease and has connected with lots of prominent cardiologists. With that, he was familiar with the “next level” of cardio-testing called the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) which is also referred to as a VO2 (oxygen consumption) test, a specialized type of stress test or exercise test that measures your exercise ability. Normally reserved for testing of athletes, CPET testing is available from a limited number of facilities.

Scott pushed the envelope and leveraged his cardiologist connections to take testing to the next level. He did two CPETs with nothing showing up on the first test but with the second test at a higher rate revealing the fall off of O2 uptake which led to the cardiac cath test that revealed the right coronary artery blockage.

It’s interesting to note that Scott doesn’t feel the stent is the permanent solution. With the improvements in stent technology, he feels it provides a ten-year bridge to what may eventually be bypass surgery as the next life-extender.

This is a mindset that obviously comes from in-depth learning and attention to data.

Takeaways from these two stories

I see two key takeaways from these two stories:

  1. Take charge. Be proactive. Push. Scott’s opinion is that CAC tests should happen at 40 to find out what track you are on to give you more time to address any issues that are revealed. I would add to that test a carotid and abdominal artery scan. Assume that your doc isn’t going to bring them up unless there are symptoms that would indicate that a problem already exists. Let’s be honest, if we aren’t tuned in to our own health, we fall victim to a health  medical system that only cares about the “cure” and not about “prevention.” There is a reason your doc wants you in and out of his exam room in 15 minutes. It’s the business model to which he, in turn, is a captive.
  2. Understand and use the data. A physician once told me that our biggest healthcare problem isn’t disease, it’s healthcare illiteracy. We take our biological naivete into a broken disease-care system when things go awry and accept the drug- or surgery-based  “cure” message and fail to consider that we have technology that can tell us more much about where we are and what we should be doing proactively and preventively to preserve and extend our health. Do you know where you stand on all of your key biomarkers? Do you understand them? Have you had a serious conversation with your PCP about your biomarkers? Have you pushed for these types of baseline tests?

Paul was astounded by the amount of health data he received when he switched out of large health system to an independent concierge preventive medicine physician. The discussion of his initial wellness physical test data was a two-hour conversation with the physician with baselines established that had never been part of discussion with a system-based PCP.

Don’t be a statistic

Over 600,000 people have a first heart attack in the U.S. each year. Only about half survive the attack.

Avoid being a statistic. Push the envelope.