The Goal Is to Stay in the Game

I’m 44 years old, and I still think of myself as an athlete.

I play tennis. I run. I lift weights. I compete. I care about getting better.

But the way I think about performance has changed.

When you’re younger, the goal is often to see how far you can push yourself. Run faster. Lift more. Win more matches. Set personal records.

There is something exciting about finding your limits.

But eventually a different challenge emerges.

How do you keep doing the things you love for the rest of your life?

That question interests me more than almost any performance metric these days.

Because I don't want to be incredibly fit at 44 and broken down at 64.

I want to be playing tennis at 70.

I want to be traveling, walking everywhere, swimming in lakes, carrying my own bags, running if my body allows it, and saying yes when somebody asks if I want to play a game.

I want to remain an athlete for life.

Performance Has a Longer Time Horizon

This changes the way you think about fitness.

The hardest workout isn't automatically the best workout.

More isn't always better.

You don't win by accumulating the most impressive stats on your fitness tracker.

Sometimes the smart decision is pushing hard. Sometimes it's going for an easy run. Sometimes it's doing flexibility work. Sometimes it's taking a day off because your knee doesn't feel quite right.

The objective is no longer maximizing today's performance.

It's maximizing the number of years you get to participate.

That's a very different game.

Health Should Expand Your Life

There has never been more information available about health and longevity.

I find a lot of it fascinating.

I pay attention to nutrition. I exercise regularly. I care about sleep. I take some supplements. I've experimented with plenty of habits intended to improve health and performance.

But there is an obvious trap hidden inside all of this.

You can become so focused on extending your life that you forget to enjoy it.

Suddenly dinner with friends becomes a nutritional calculation. A glass of wine becomes a source of stress. Missing a workout creates anxiety. Vacation becomes an obstacle to your routine.

Health is supposed to give you more life.

It shouldn't become your life.

I want to eat mostly nutritious food and still enjoy a great dinner.

I want to stay fit and still drink good wine.

I want to sleep well and occasionally stay up too late.

I want to care about performance without measuring every minute of my existence.

The point of all these healthy habits is to create a body and mind capable of fully participating in life.

Train for Participation

Maybe that's a better way to think about fitness as we get older.

Train for participation.

Be strong enough to carry things.

Fit enough to explore a city on foot all day.

Mobile enough to get down on the floor and back up again.

Healthy enough to travel.

Athletic enough to play the sports you love.

Energetic enough to say yes to an exciting opportunity that comes your way.

And durable enough to keep doing all of it for decades.

There will always be another metric we could optimize.

But metrics are only useful if they serve something larger.

For me, the larger goal is pretty simple:

I want to keep moving.

I want to keep playing.

I want to keep exploring.

And I want to enjoy the coffee, meals, wine, travel, competition, friendships, and simple pleasures along the way.

Stay in the Game

Youth tends to celebrate peaks.

Your fastest marathon.

Your highest ranking.

Your heaviest lift.

Your best season.

But perhaps the most meaningful athletic achievement is longevity.

Not longevity in the abstract sense of simply accumulating years.

Longevity as continued participation.

Still playing.

Still moving.

Still capable.

There is no finish line for that kind of performance.

And increasingly, I think that's the point.

The goal isn't to win every day.

The goal is to stay in the game.

Practical Tips to Fight Anxiety

I have been prone to anxiety since I was a teenager.

This has manifested in everything from low-grade general anxiety to full-blown panic attacks.

I’m now in my early 40s and over the years have developed a toolbox of tactics to manage anxiety. Below are the most effective strategies I’ve found to keep anxiety at bay:

Limit Caffeine

I love coffee — for me, it’s a great way to start the day and a potent concentration and performance enhancer. But I’ve realized that anything more than 2 cups per day can increase my anxiety, so 2 cups is my daily limit. Additionally, if there is anything specific I’m anxious about — for example, a job interview, work presentation, or sports competition, I avoid caffeine for at least a few hours beforehand. My anxiety will get me in ‘game mode’ all on its own, without needing an additional boost from caffeine.

Exercise

Arguably the most powerful anxiety-reducer in my life has been exercise. Specifically, cardio exercise that causes a good sweat has shown to lower my anxiety and improve my mood for many hours afterward. For me, that has come in the form of running — either outside or on the treadmill — but presumably any higher-intensity exercise would yield similar results. Weightlifting can be effective too, especially for body composition and overall confidence, but I’ve found that nothing compares to cardio exercise for anxiety reduction. Thirty minutes in the morning seems to do the trick.

Eat a Low-Glycemic Diet

Sugar can cause my heart rate to spike, mimicking feelings of anxiety. I’ve found that other foods that increase my blood sugar can have the same effect — including white bread and other starchy carbs, as well as salty packaged snacks. The foods that seem to make me the calmest are lean forms of protein (e.g. turkey and chicken) — and non-starchy vegetables (e.g. leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, tomatoes, asparagus, etc.). Foods that contain healthy fats — such as avocado, extra virgin olive oil, and nuts — also don’t seem to be a problem.

Eat Less

I’ve found that restricting calories lowers my body temperature and creates feelings of calmness. Digesting food, especially big meals, can cause my body to work in overdrive, which also can mimic feelings of anxiety. I prefer to feel light, with my body and mind able to focus on the task at hand instead of digesting excessive food.

Obviously adequate nutrition is critical for good health, but overdoing it is not a good thing for anxiety. Eating a low-glycemic diet has caused me to naturally eat less, without consciously trying to do so. Similar to caffeine, I typically don’t eat much at least a couple hours before something specific I’m anxious about. This calms my body down going into a higher-stress environment.

Limit Alcohol

I enjoy a glass of red wine and find it to be a great way to downshift at the end of a long day. But the reality is alcohol feels good in the moment, but it spikes anxiety hours afterward and seems to increase anxiety the next day as well. Zero alcohol is probably the best for anxiety, but certainly anything more than 1–2 glasses per day can be especially detrimental. Alcoholic drinks that contain sugar (e.g. mixed drinks) or a lot of carbs (e.g. beer) are probably the worst for anxiety.

…

Those are my top 5 tips to reduce anxiety. If I implement these 5 things daily, I can reliably manage my anxiety. On the flip side, when I am less disciplined in any area, my anxiety typically rises.

For many people, myself included, eliminating anxiety is not possible. But effectively managing anxiety is critical to maintaining a high quality of life.

If you struggle with anxiety, I hope these tips help you as well.

If you have other effective strategies for managing anxiety, I’d love to know about them in the comments!

Want to Avoid Heart Disease? Take 15,000 Steps Per Day

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.

Someone dies every 34 seconds in the U.S. from cardiovascular disease.

If you want to live a long and healthy life, you must avoid heart disease.

Fortunately, there is a simple thing you can do to drastically reduce your risk.

Take at least 15,000 steps per day.

A study of postal workers showed the stark difference in heart disease risk between those who walked all day as part of their jobs and those who had sedentary office jobs.

The study looked at over 100 postal workers in Glasgow, Scotland. Half of the group were office workers and the other half were walking/delivery workers.

Those who had delivery routes were much healthier — including smaller waist circumference, lower body weight, lower triglycerides, lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, and higher HDL (good) cholesterol.

Slashing heart disease risk is where physical activity really shined.

Walking more than 15,000 steps per day was associated with zero risk factors for heart disease.

The results were linear — the more steps per day, the lower the heart disease risk, culminating with zero risk at 15,000 steps per day.

On the flip side, the more sedentary time per day, the higher the disease risk. All important biomarkers moved in the wrong direction with more time sitting.

Taking 15,000 steps is equivalent to walking 7-8 miles, or spending 7 hours per day upright.

Of course this flies in the face of our current culture and most people’s working conditions.

But if you want to live longer, you need to push back against this default environment.

Most people sit at their desks for the bulk of the day. Most people get heart disease. Don’t be one of those people.

Find a way to take 15,000 steps per day and you can avoid the #1 killer.

Take your calls walking. Schedule walking meetings instead of sitting in conference rooms or coffee shops. Ditch your car and walk everywhere instead. Find a job that keeps you active or could at least involve an active commute to get there.

These things aren’t easy. But they are important.

It isn’t a complicated formula to eliminate heart disease risk.

All it takes is 15,000 steps.

How to Avoid Most Chronic Diseases

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of disability and death in the United States.

If you want to live a long and healthy life, you need to prevent or significantly delay the onset of these diseases.

Fortunately, lifestyle can play an important role in keeping these conditions at bay. There are several things you can do minimize risk.

First and foremost, it is essential not to smoke. If you are a smoker, your risk shoots way up and it’s possible none of the other lifestyle habits will make a difference.

Assuming you don’t smoke, here are 4 more powerful ways to avoid chronic illness:

1. Maintain a healthy body weight & good body composition

You want to maintain a BMI that is within the healthy range, but weight alone is not enough. It is important to also have good body composition, characterized by having a higher percentage of muscle and lower percentage of fat (visceral fat is especially problematic). The rest of this list will help you achieve this objective.

2. Eat real, whole foods, higher in protein and lower in carbs

Eat real, whole food and stay away from the packaged and processed stuff. Specifically avoid added sugar and refined grains — simply eliminating these 2 elements from your diet will significantly improve your health. That means you’ll be eating a relatively lower amount of carbs than the Standard American Diet. Consider following the 30/30 Diet to ensure you get enough protein to maintain lean muscle. I recommend eating at least 30 grams of protein at every meal and 15 grams of protein at each snack.

3. Exercise including both Aerobic and Resistance Training

Exercise 6–7 days a week. Do aerobic exercise on most of the days (e.g. running, cycling, swimming) and resistance/strength training at least 2 times per week. Complex activities like racket sports are especially great because they tax your mind and body at the same time. Exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, but health benefits increase as you get up to 90 minutes. 30 minutes is good, 60 or 90 minutes is better.

4. Practice Time-Restricted Eating

When your body is digesting food, it can’t do its other self-repair and maintenance functions. This means if you eat around the clock, your health will suffer. Practice time-restricted eating by confining all of your caloric intake within a specific time period. There is some evidence that earlier time windows are better than late, as it can be problematic to eat too close to bed. A good eating window might be 9am — 7pm, cutting off food 3 hours before a bedtime of 10pm. That means you would be fasting for 10 hours between dinner and breakfast, giving your body a chance to heal itself.

…

Research indicates that genetics only account for 20-30% of lifespan, with lifestyle making up the other 70–80%.

By following these lifestyle choices, you will give yourself the best chance to avoid chronic disease, living both longer and better.

Racket Sports Shown to be the Healthiest Sports, Again

Racket sports provide the ideal combination for health.

Sports such as tennis, squash, badminton, and racketball simultaneously tax the cardiovascular system and the brain, delivering greater health benefits than aerobic exercise alone.

Racket sports build up your fitness while also requiring complex movements (front to back, and side to side) and quick strategic thinking. That combination of high-intensity training, strength building, flexibility, and mental toughness is rare among other sports.

Additionally, racket sports can be played at any age, and they bring you together with other people for social connection, which we know is beneficial for health.

It should therefore come as no surprise that racket sports were once again shown to reduce the risk of death more than any other type of sport.

A study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), just published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that many types of physical activity lower the risk of death for older adults — but racket sports top the list with a 27% lower risk of death from heart disease.

Playing racket sports regularly was shown to reduce the risk of death from any cause by 16%, slightly better than Running which came in 2nd with a 15% risk reduction. Other sports analyzed included Cycling, Swimming, Walking, Golf, and Aerobic Exercise.

…

These results are consistent with a previous large study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, which looked at the link between 6 different types of exercise (Racket Sports, Swimming, Aerobics, Cycling, Running, Soccer) and the risk of early death.

Over 80,000 people were included, ranging in age from 30 to 98. The study — which spanned 9 years — showed that people who regularly played racket sports were 47% less likely to die (nearly 20 percentage points better than swimming, which came in 2nd with a 28% lower risk of dying).

These studies are not outliers. Another recent analysis of more than 8000 people over a period of 25 years determined that tennis can extend your life by nearly 10 years. This was far greater than the longevity gains of other healthy sports such as soccer (4.7 years), cycling (3.7 years), swimming (3.4 years), jogging (3.2 years), and going to the gym (1.5 years).

…

Numerous types of activities can produce health and longevity benefits.

But racket sports consistently rank as the best sports for a longer life.

Start playing racket sports today and you could wind up living a decade longer.

Lift Weights, Live Longer

We know that regular aerobic exercise is associated with longer life, but the relationship between strength training and longevity has been less clear.

Until now.

A systematic review and meta-analysis, just published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, provides the strongest evidence to date that resistance training is associated with reduced risk of dying from any cause, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

A total of 10 studies were included in the meta-analyses, finding that doing any resistance training at all lowered the risk of all-cause mortality by 15%, cardiovascular disease mortality by 19%, and cancer mortality by 14%.

A little strength training was determined to go a long way.

A maximum risk reduction of 27% was observed at around 60 minutes per week of resistance training.

Mortality risk reductions actually diminished at higher volumes.

This is in line with the current Physical Activity Guidelines, which call for 2 days of muscle strengthening activity per week as part of an overall exercise routine.

Just 2 days of strength training per week, 30 minutes per session, can lower your risk of dying by 27%.

That’s an excellent return on investment.

See you in the gym!

Want to Live as Long as Possible? This is How Much to Exercise

How much exercise should you do?

More.

A new study analyzed physical activity and medical records for more than 100,000 people over 30 years to determine the optimal amount of exercise for longevity.

The results showed that adults who did 2–4 times the recommended amount of physical activity lived the longest.

Current guidelines call for adults to engage in at least 150–300 minutes per week of moderate physical activity or 75–150 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both.

The good news is that simply meeting the lower end of these recommendations helps you live longer.

The analysis showed that meeting the guidelines for vigorous physical activity was associated with a 19% lower risk of death and hitting the moderate intensity recommendations resulted in a 20–21% lower risk of death.

That’s a pretty good return on investment for under 30 minutes of exercise per day.

But going above and beyond is even better.

Doing 2–4 times the recommended amount of vigorous physical activity (150–300 minutes per week) was associated with a 21–23% lower risk of death from all causes.

Engaging in 2–4 times more than the recommended amount of moderate physical activity (300–600 minutes per week) led to a 26–31% lower risk of mortality.

Going above 4x the recommendations (300 minutes of high intensity physical activity or 600 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity) was not shown to be harmful, but it didn’t yield any additional health benefits.

The study concluded that performing 150–300 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity, 300–600 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both, is optimal to maximize lifespan.

A good idea is to take up a sport as this will help you get your exercise in at least a few times per week. Think carefully about what sport might be best for you, and which you think that you will enjoy the most. Do your research, and ensure that you get as much information before you get started.

Consider what types of exercise you could do in order to really test your body’s strength and resilience. For example, Team Ropes are a great piece of equipment to have when it comes to sports, especially where rodeo events are concerned.

If you decide to take up running, which can be an incredible sport to raise your fitness level, make sure to choose a smooth route. While it’s important to challenge yourself, tripping on uneven terrain could lead to a bad injury that could hinder your exercising for a long time. If you’ve been a victim of uneven terrain already, speak to an injury lawyer, especially if it’s on pavement that should have been fixed. A claim could help you get the treatment you need to get back to exercising sooner.

You can look at a site like Pitchmarks for example if you decide to take up golf to get ideas for your game, and reviews.

Very few people achieve this level of physical activity. It is a worthy goal to be one of them.

These 5 Healthy Habits Can Add Nearly 15 Years of Life Expectancy

The United States spends the most money on health care per capita (over $12,000), yet has one of the lowest life expectancies (79.1 years) of all developed countries (rank: #46).

Perhaps this is because we focus so much of our effort on treating diseases instead of preventing them in the first place.

While potent life-extending drugs may be on the horizon, there is a lot we can do today to prolong healthy lifespan.

Researchers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a massive study to determine the impact of healthy habits on life expectancy, drawing upon data from more than 120,000 people over a span of 34 years.

The findings showed that 5 specific healthy lifestyle habits produce significantly longer lives. Meeting the criteria for all 5 of these habits at age 50 correlated with living 14 years longer for women and 12 years longer for men. That would mean over $100 trillion in health-care savings, according to Harvard biologist David Sinclair. Here are the 5 habits:

1. Eating a Healthy Diet

Characterized by eating more healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and less unhealthy foods like red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium.

2. Regular Physical Activity

Doing at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day.

3. Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight

Defined as having a normal body mass index (BMI), which is between 18.5 and 24.9.

4. Not Smoking

Defined as never having smoked.

5. Moderate Alcohol Intake

Measured as between 5–15 grams per day for women and 5–30 grams per day for men. A typical drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol (e.g. 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits).

Based on the data, if you check the box for all 5 of these habits by age 50, you can expect to live to about 93 if you’re a woman and 88 if you’re a man.

Conversely, people with none of these habits are far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

The more healthy habits people had the better, but anything is better than nothing. The researchers found that just one healthy habit — and it didn’t matter which one — extended life expectancy by 2 years in men and women.

These findings are consistent with previous research. A 2017 study showed that people 50 and older who had a normal weight, never smoked, and drank alcohol in moderation lived on average 7 years longer. And a 2012 large-scale analysis of over 500,000 people found that more than half of premature deaths were due to lifestyle factors such as poor diet, inactivity, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, and smoking.

A drug rehab can also help kick this addiction.

…

If you want to live as long and healthy a life as possible, don’t wait until you have a disease.

Start incorporating these 5 healthy habits into your life now.

True longevity drugs seem to be coming, but that will only matter if you live long enough to see them.

How Much Exercise You Should Do Each Week

The World Health Organization recently updated its guidelines for physical activity and sedentary behavior. This marks the first update the WHO has made to the guidelines since 2010.

The new guidelines call for adults (ages 18–64) to do 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, per week (or some equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous exercise). Additionally, resistance training at moderate or greater intensity — involving all major muscle groups — should be done at least 2 times per week.

This equates to about 30–60 minutes of total exercise per day. That amount of activity has been shown to have a range of health benefits, including reduced risk for hypertension, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and all-cause mortality (dying from any cause). Additionally, exercise at these levels improves mental health (including anxiety and depression), brain functioning, and sleep quality.

Adults over 65 should place extra emphasis on functional balance and strength training at moderate or greater intensity at least 3 times per week, to improve overall physical functioning and bone health, as well as to prevent against falls.

Children and adolescents (ages 5–17) should be averaging 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic activity per day, as well as activities that strengthen muscle and bone at least 3 times per week. Kids who meet these levels are shown to have improved cardiometabolic health (blood pressure, lipids, glucose, and insulin levels), bone health, mental health (reduced symptoms of depression), and cognitive functioning (academic performance).

Unfortunately, the guidelines report that 27.5% of adults and 81% of adolescents do not meet the recommendations for aerobic exercise, and there has been no overall improvement in global levels of activity over the last two decades.

It may feel like a huge undertaking to meet these new guidelines, but it is important to note that any amount of physical activity is better than none and you can work your way up to these optimal levels. Start with small amounts of exercise and gradually increase frequency, intensity, and duration over time. Brisk walking is a great place to start.

Another worthy goal across the board is to simply limit sedentary behavior. Although the WHO guidelines do not specifically call out the maximum amount of time you should be sitting per day (due to limited evidence for specific thresholds), less is more in this regard. Every time you go to sit, simply ask yourself if you could be standing or moving instead.

Overall, the new guidelines are very similar to the 2010 version, which confirms the continued strong evidence for exercise’s role in improving health. In terms of what’s new, the previous guidelines called for exercise to be done in bouts of at least 10 minutes, but that has now been removed. This change reflects the evidence that exercise of any session duration is associated with better health, including reduced all-cause mortality. A little bit really is better than nothing at all.

The second big change is these new guidelines now specify a target range of physical activity, compared with the previous version that focused on simply achieving the lowest end of the range. This edit acknowledges that the more exercise you do the better, but going above the upper limit does not necessarily produce additional benefits.

The WHO does not specify the types of exercise that are optimal for health, beyond incorporating the overarching categories of aerobic exercise and muscle strengthening. The best type of exercise is likely the one that you enjoy doing and can do consistently over time. For me, that currently includes a mix of running, squash, and resistance training on a weekly basis.

I firmly believe that regular exercise has the power to change your life more than any other habit. These WHO guidelines provide a very concrete and practical formula to improve your overall health and well-being.

Andrew Merle on the Six Minute Mile podcast

Hi everyone,

I was recently a guest on the Six Minute Mile podcast. If you have a spare hour, you can hear all of my thoughts on nutrition, longevity, and living a healthy lifestyle. Listen here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andrew-merle-certified-sport-nutritionist-top-food/id1518752185?i=1000502586460

I hope you enjoy the episode and please let me know what you think. Happy holidays to all!

Andrew

Why You Should Lift Weights

Many people who exercise regularly focus exclusively on cardio.

In the past, I was one of those people. For more than a decade, I worked out just about every day, but my workout always consisted of a 30-minute run in the morning.

This daily run produced terrific mental and physical benefits, and I assumed it was all I needed to maintain my health.

I thought lifting weights was only for gym rats and muscle heads obsessed with vanity.

I was mistaken.

Now, don’t get me wrong — aerobic exercise is incredibly important for health and longevity, benefiting everything from your cardiovascular system to your immune function to your brain power.

But cardio alone is not sufficient for optimal health.

A recent study involving nearly half a million US adults investigated the link between physical activity and mortality. The study looked at both aerobic activity and strength training to determine the association between exercise and lifespan.

After 9 years of follow up, the study determined that the greatest survival benefits were seen in people who engaged in both aerobic exercise and strength training.

This large study reinforces the importance of following the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which calls for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity or at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity each week (or an equivalent combination of both). Additionally, the guidelines recommend adults engage in muscle strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity on 2 days or more each week.

This study found that following these guidelines of combined aerobic exercise and strength training was associated with 40% lower all-cause mortality.

That is compared to a 29% risk reduction for people who only followed the aerobic exercise guidelines and an 11% lower risk of dying among those who only did strength training.

Aerobic exercise is great but adding strength training is even better.

Strength training was found to be especially protective against cardiovascular disease, cancer, and chronic lower respiratory tract diseases.

However, among the 479,856 US adults included in the study, only 15.9% (76,384) fully met the guidelines of combined aerobic and muscle strengthening activities. That means there is a huge opportunity for most Americans to reduce their risk of dying simply by exercising a bit more.

We’re talking about an average of only 30 minutes per day. That’s only 3% of your waking hours.

Most people know how to get in some aerobic exercise, with activities such as brisk walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming.

But strength training can be a bit more mysterious. The reality is you don’t need to go to a gym or lift heavy weights to work out your muscles.

Simple bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, burpees, squats, sit-ups, and planks can be just as effective for strength training.

You don’t need a gym membership or expensive equipment, although I have found an adjustable set of home dumbbells to be a great investment, especially during these recent stay-at-home months.

My aerobic workouts these days include a rotation of running, walking, rowing, tennis, squash, and yoga. My strength training consists of one home weightlifting session and one bodyweight workout per week. In addition to the long-term health benefits, I find strength training improves my mood and confidence on a daily basis.

…

Overall, a great formula to maximize health and longevity is to exercise 6 days per week. Do aerobic exercise on 4 of those days, for just 30 minutes per day at a moderate intensity. Do strength training on your other 2 days, lifting weights or doing bodyweight exercises.

It doesn’t take much exercise to drastically reduce your chances of dying, including all the chronic diseases that precede it.

Combining aerobic exercise with strength training will help to prolong your life and make it more enjoyable along the way.

Andrew Merle is a Certified Nutritionist who writes about simple, evidence-based health tips that will improve your life. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

How to Turn Back the Clock on Aging

For the first time ever, a randomized, controlled clinical trial has demonstrated the ability to reverse biological age

People have been searching for the fountain of youth throughout history.

Now we have scientific data that shows you can turn back the clock on aging.

For the first time, a randomized, controlled clinical trial has demonstrated the reversal of biological age. This trial also marks the first time a diet and lifestyle intervention has been proven to reduce biologic aging.

In just 8 short weeks, those in the ‘treatment’ group (18 people) of the study tested an average of 1.96 years younger, according to the Horvath DNA methylation age and epigenetic clock.

We now have scientific ‘clocks’ that measure markers of age with remarkable accuracy and the best of these is the Horvath DNAmAge clock. The Horvath clock is a multi-tissue predictor of age that estimates the DNA methylation age of most tissues and cell types.

Horvath’s DNAmAge clock has actually been shown to predict all-cause mortality better than chronological age.

Getting nearly 2 years younger after just 8 weeks is pretty impressive. But how about the control group of 20 people who didn’t undergo any diet or lifestyle changes? They got an average of 1.27 years older at the end of the study compared to the beginning.

So that means the people in the treatment group were actually 3.23 years younger than the participants in the control group after just 8 weeks.

Participants in the treatment group also had significant improvements in triglycerides, cholesterol levels, and serum methyl folate. Their mood improved as well.

It is important to keep in mind that this trial had a relatively small sample size and the published report is still in preprint (not yet peer reviewed). But the results are striking nonetheless.

…

What exactly was this magical intervention?

It focused on just 4 basic, common-sense pillars of health: Diet, Exercise, Sleep, and Stress Management.

Of the 4 components, the diet prescription was the most complex.

Specifically, the dietary intervention was heavily plant-based, calling for a whopping daily dose of 2 cups dark leafy greens, 2 cups cruciferous vegetables, 3 additional cups of colorful vegetables, 1–2 medium beets, ¼ cup each of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, and 2 servings of low glycemic fruits. On top of that, the plan prescribed 1+ daily servings of ‘methylation adaptogens’ — things like berries, rosemary, turmeric, garlic, and green and oolong tea (more on this later).

The eating plan also included some nutrient-dense animal products, including 6 ounces daily of grass-fed pastured animal protein and a weekly total of 3 servings of liver and 5–10 eggs. Participants were told to include ‘healthy’ fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, and pumpkin seed oil. And they supplemented daily with a probiotic and a greens powder.

The diet protocol was notably low carb and restricted all grains, legumes/beans, dairy, and added sugar. Additionally, participants in the treatment group practiced time-restricted eating, avoiding all food daily between 7pm — 7am.

The rest of the lifestyle regimen was much easier to digest!

The exercise prescription called for at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, at least 5 days per week, at an intensity of 60–80% of maximum perceived exertion.

The sleep prescription was to simply average a minimum of 7 hours of sleep per night.

And the stress management prescription was to practice the breathing exercise Steps to Elicit the Relaxation Response developed by Herbert Benson MD, done twice daily for 20 minutes per session.

There you have it — if you want to age backwards, simply follow the above plan to a T.

But I wanted to dig deeper.

…

I recently spoke with the lead author on the study, Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, who is a Functional Medicine physician and Clinic Director with a private practice based in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Dr. Fitzgerald focuses much of her work on methylation, a process that happens in every cell in our body. We rely on methylation for many important bodily functions, including cell division and renewal, healthy immune cells, neurotransmitter production, detoxification, metabolism, regulating how our genes get expressed, and more.

Healthy methylation is one of the ways our body makes sure the right genes are turned on, and the ones we don’t want get turned off. On the flip side, poor methylation has been linked to a range of diseases, from heart disease to Alzheimer’s to cancer. That’s why methylation status — as measured by the Horvath clock — is such a good predictor of health and a person’s true biological age.

Dr. Kara Fitzgerald

Dr. Fitzgerald has successfully treated her patients for years using Methylation Diet & Lifestyle principles, long before this clinical trial was conducted.

The first question I had for Dr. Fitzgerald was whether any of the lifestyle interventions play a larger role than others or if they need to work synergistically. The clinical trial showed the efficacy of the interventions in combination but did not report on the specific role of diet vs. exercise vs. sleep vs. stress.

“We can’t really tease it out, but what I see affecting the most change — probably our most powerful leverage area — is diet,” Dr. Fitzgerald told me. “I’ve seen that in clinic practice for my entire career. Putting people on the appropriate metabolic therapeutic dietary intervention can just move mountains.”

However, she was quick to point out that the Horvath clock is strongly influenced by the glucocorticoid system and stress, indicating that stress management could be a close 2nd to diet.

“We could go through each of our interventions and make really good arguments for them,” said Dr. Fitzgerald. She told me that each of the interventions have independently been demonstrated to alter DNA methylation in a favorable way.

They are all tried and true, and while diet is likely doing the heaviest lifting, the relative importance of each intervention depends on the individual and what that person needs most.

…

If diet arguably plays the biggest role in aging and healthy methylation, I wanted to dig in more on the specific eating protocol used in the study.

In particular, with so much controversy surrounding eating animal products, I wanted to understand why liver, eggs, and other animal protein was specifically prescribed.

“We think a small amount of clean animal protein in the context of a very low carb, low sugar diet is helpful,” Dr. Fitzgerald told me. “The amount of animal protein we’re suggesting and the type of animal protein we’re suggesting is we think safe and good.”

She said liver is actually considered a methylation superfood, loaded with methyl donor nutrients like methionine, vitamin B12, and a range of minerals. You don’t need to eat a lot of it to get the benefits — the dietary plan included only 3 servings of liver per week (each serving is only 3 ounces).

A small amount of eggs (5–10 total per week) is also important for methylation. This is because eggs are rich in phosphatidylcholine which ultimately breaks down into methyl donors.

But Dr. Fitzgerald noted that the diet is centered primarily around plants. It is hard to argue with that since the daily plan calls for a dizzying array of vegetables.

Overall the diet is low in protein, an eating pattern consistent among the world’s longest-lived people. But unlike the centenarians in the Blue Zones — who eat a diet rich in carbs, beans, and whole grains — Dr. Fitzgerald’s intensive protocol restricts those very foods.

Of course there are other factors that can explain the incredible longevity in the Blue Zones — for example, they are known to be very physically active, lead low stress lives, cultivate deep family and community ties, and have a strong sense of purpose.

It could also be what they are not eating, namely a lot of sugar and saturated fat. While there are differences between the Blue Zones diet and the one Dr. Fitzgerald recommends, they both avoid added sugar, unhealthy fats, and processed food.

“A high-sugar, saturated-fat diet is the most toxic,” Dr. Fitzgerald told me. “That’s the macronutrient combination that ushers in death pretty quickly.”

It turns out there can be multiple healthy eating patterns, but the Standard American Diet is the one clear way not to do it.

…

Dr. Fitzgerald’s recommendations optimize for healthy, balanced DNA methylation. I was especially intrigued by her inclusion of ‘methylation adaptogens’ — the superfoods for methylation.

It turns out that flavonoids with long traditional use histories — for example, curcumin, green tea, and the polyphenols in blueberries — help selectively direct methylation in a beneficial way. Dr. Fitzgerald said these time-honored flavonoids seem to be major epigenetic regulators.

When asked about the most powerful methylation adaptogens we should be consuming on a daily basis, Dr. Fitzgerald rattled off a short list, “Quercetin, resveratrol, green tea, curcumin.”

She takes all of those (except for quercetin) daily, ideally as food but as supplements as well. She also cited lesser-known luteolin and genistein as hotshot methylation adaptogens.

In terms of Dr. Fitzgerald’s personal eating habits, she eats a dense green salad every day topped with rosemary (another standout methylation adaptogen). She also eats a lot of berries, especially blueberries. You can find some of her favorite recipes to support optimal gene expression and methylation health here.

…

All of this talk about methylation and adaptogens can start to feel complicated, but Dr. Fitzgerald reminds me that the 4 overarching principles of her protocol — diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management — are quite basic at their core.

“There is no reason we can’t do the methylation diet and lifestyle principles — all of them,” she says.

Eat a healthy diet centered around plants, low in sugar, saturated fat, and protein, and throw in some methylation superfoods for good measure. Don’t eat around the clock.

Exercise at a moderate pace for 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week.

Sleep at least 7 hours per night.

Follow a daily meditation or breathing practice.

“All of us can layer these principles on to whatever we’re doing, be us Vegan, be us Keto, be us on an extreme elimination diet,” says Dr. Fitzgerald. “Wherever we are in our lives, there’s no reason for us not to start this.”

Perhaps in the future there will be scientific and pharmaceutical breakthroughs to reverse the aging process even more. But for now, these diet and lifestyle principles remain the foundation for good health and your best bet to turn back the biological clock.

Andrew Merle is a Certified Nutritionist who writes about living well. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

4 Foods and 3 Supplements You Should Consume Every Day

Dr. Rhonda Patrick is one of the world’s leading experts on health, nutrition, and anti-aging. 

Dr. Patrick’s career has included aging research at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.  She also trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, where she investigated the effects of micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) inadequacies on metabolism, inflammation, DNA damage, and aging and whether supplementation can reverse the damage. 

She did her graduate research at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she studied the link between mitochondrial metabolism, apoptosis, and cancer.

Dr. Patrick now runs the popular site FoundMyFitness.com, where she is a leading authority on all things health, including exercise, nutrition, fasting, genetics, heat and cold stress, sleep, stress reduction, and more. 

Quite simply when Dr. Patrick talks, I listen. 

…

Dr. Patrick has a great podcast of her own, but recently she joined Lewis Howes on his School of Greatness podcast.  During their interview, which lasted more than an hour and a half, Dr. Patrick shared the top 4 foods and 3 supplements people should consume every day. 

In fairness, Dr. Patrick recommends a diverse diet filled with lots of fermentable fiber (foods such as blueberries, nuts, mushrooms, dark leafy greens, onion, garlic, etc.).  But Howes pressed her to keep it simple if people just want to follow a basic diet and eat the same things every day. 

She said if people simply eat these 4 foods every day, they would be setting themselves up for very good health:

Wild Alaskan Salmon            

Wild salmon is very high in EPA and DHA, the Omega-3 fatty acids strongly linked with improved brain functioning, cardiovascular health, and reduced inflammation in the body.  If you are going to eat animal products, fish and in particular wild salmon should be at the top of your food list. 

Dark Leafy Greens

Dark leafy greens are the next superfood Dr. Patrick recommends because they are loaded with vitamins and minerals that are hard to get from other foods.  Dark leafy greens are rich in vitamins A, B, C, E and K, and contain an abundance of antioxidants, fiber, iron, magnesium, folate, potassium, and calcium.  If Dr. Patrick had to choose just one dark leafy green to eat, she’d recommend sautéed kale. 

Avocado

Avocado is the third food on Dr. Patrick’s daily list.  Avocados are abundant with healthy monounsaturated fat, fiber, vitamins and minerals.  In fact, they even have more potassium than bananas. 

Blueberries

Blueberries round our Dr. Patrick’s Top 4 list.  Another brain food, blueberries have numerous proven health benefits and are the king of all antioxidant foods.  Blueberries contain high amounts of fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and many other nutrients. 

Dr. Patrick combines avocado and blueberries in her daily smoothie, which is a great way to check off multiple foods on her list. 

By the way, if she could add a 5th food, it would be broccoli sprouts. 

…

On the topic of food, and since it is an area of hot debate, Howes asked Dr. Patrick if a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat.  Dr. Patrick said numerous studies have shown that vegetarians outlive meat eaters, and in particular have lower rates of cancer.  But there could be a healthy user bias, because vegetarians tend to lead healthier lifestyles overall.  In fact, when you account for those other lifestyle factors – things like smoking, obesity, or drinking too much – Dr. Patrick says mortality is actually the same among vegetarians and meat eaters.    

Red meat also often gets lumped in with processed meat, which undoubtedly is harmful because of the processing with nitrites.  Meat eaters do seem to have higher levels of the hormone IGF-1, which promotes growth throughout the body.  This can be problematic in the case of cancer and is perhaps why low protein diets have been shown to blunt the growth of cancer.  However, if you are exercising – and in particular strength training – then the IGF-1 can more effectively move to your brain and muscles, which is where you want it. 

So overall the question of eating meat or not is a complicated one, but meat is a good source of micronutrients and Dr. Patrick believes meat can be part of a healthy diet if you are active and exercising (and not obese). 

If you do choose to eat meat, Dr. Patrick says the best ones to choose are (in this order):

1. Fish

2. Poultry (which she mentioned is actually associated with having a lower epigenetic age)

3. Red meat (organ meats like liver are especially rich in nutrients)

   …

Howes also asked Dr. Patrick about the vitamins and supplements she recommends people take every day.  Based on the evidence, she recommends the following 3 supplements:

Multivitamin

A multivitamin acts as an insurance policy to ensure you are getting adequate amounts of all vitamins and minerals. Dr. Patrick didn’t mention the brand of multivitamin she takes, but it has been reported she uses O.N.E. Multivitamin.   

Fish Oil

Dr. Patrick also recommends a high-quality fish oil every day.  Fish oil has the beneficial Omega-3s EPA and DHA mentioned earlier when discussing wild salmon.  Taking a fish oil supplement is especially important if you do not eat much fish.  I personally take Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega 2X which has a high dose of both EPA and DHA. 

Vitamin D

The final daily supplement Dr. Patrick recommends is vitamin D.  Healthy levels of vitamin D are essential for overall health, especially for the cardiovascular system, cognitive functioning, and for reducing inflammation.  However 42% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D (a deficiency that impacts about 1 billion people worldwide).  It has been reported that Dr. Patrick takes this vitamin D supplement from Thorne Research. 

…

For better health overall., Dr. Patrick says the best two areas to focus on are micronutrients and exercise.  She says if you get the right micronutrients from your food, you will be eating healthy.  And exercise is incredibly important for cognition and neuroplasticity. 

Hopefully these simple daily recommendations help you maintain or improve your overall health.

The Benefits of Simply Getting Outside

Americans now spend an alarming 93 percent of their time indoors.

We have become an indoor species, which is having consequences on our physical and mental health.

Staying inside is detrimental on its own, especially since indoor air can be 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. We’re also often sedentary and tethered to a digital device while inside.

But the bigger issue is we’re not reaping the powerful benefits of the great outdoors.

Spending time in nature helps protect against a wide range of diseases, including depression, diabetes, obesity, ADHD, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Getting outside has also been shown to make us happier and less anxious.

Although controversial, one of the biggest benefits of getting outside is the sun. In excess, UV rays cause sunburn and skin cancer, but small doses provide beneficial vitamin D — which could help explain why sunbathers actually live longer.

Healthy levels of vitamin D are essential for overall health, with profound benefits for the cardiovascular system, cognitive functioning, and for reducing inflammation.

Unfortunately our modern lifestyle has resulted in about 42% of Americans being deficient in vitamin D (a deficiency that impacts about 1 billion people worldwide).

The sun also has benefits beyond vitamin D. For example, the sun’s rays help create nitric oxide, which is beneficial to the cardiovascular system by increasing blood flow and decreasing blood pressure. Getting sunlight during the day also helps to regulate our circadian rhythm and leads to better sleep at night. A little bit of sun goes a long way, but for prolonged exposure it’s best to apply a mineral-based sunscreen to prevent sun damage.

Getting outside also helps to beat back the constant stress in our lives. Stress runs rampant in Japan, where they’ve turned to forest bathing — which simply means getting outside in nature — to restore a sense of peace and calm. Being outside in nature has been shown to alleviate obsessive thought patterns and decrease rumination. In fact, even just smelling the trees and plants outside might help boost immune function and protect your brain. If you can’t get outside as much as you’d like to, then look at buying b+ spores and grow fungi indoors. Nature really does clear your mind.

By now, hopefully you are convinced to build some outdoor time into your daily routine. It doesn’t take much — just 20 minutes in nature has been proven to reduce stress. But the more time you can spend outside the better.

It could be going outdoors for a daily walk — an activity that could cut the risk of developing dementia by 40%. Or go for a hike or bike ride. Or just read a book under a tree for a while. It doesn’t matter what you do, just get out there.

Getting outside appears to be on the rise in our current work-from-home culture, and that is one bright spot amidst this pandemic that will hopefully last longer-term.

After all, life wasn’t meant to be spent indoors. Get outside and soak up the benefits for your body and mind.

Caffeine Improves Performance in a Broad Range of Exercise Types

Anecdotally, many of us have experienced the performance-enhancing benefits of caffeine.

My morning runs or workouts certainly seem easier after I’ve had a cup or two of coffee. But is it the placebo effect or does caffeine actually improve exercise performance?

A recent comprehensive report analyzed 21 published meta-analyses to answer this very question.

The systematic review looked at the effects of caffeine on aerobic endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, power, jumping performance, and exercise speed.

The conclusion — after looking at all of the data — is that “caffeine ingestion improves exercise performance in a broad range of exercise tasks.”

This would come as no surprise to world-class athletes, who have increasingly turned to caffeine as a legal performance-enhancer since the World Anti-Doping Agency removed caffeine from its banned list in 2004.

But does caffeine improve certain types of exercise more than others?

Caffeine was shown to deliver benefits across all types of exercise, but the greatest gains were seen for endurance and speed. It appears as though the magnitude of the effect of caffeine is greater for aerobic as compared with anaerobic exercise.

In terms of the ‘optimal’ dose of caffeine for performance, that is still a bit of an open question. Additionally, most of the meta-analyses used highly-concentrated caffeine powder, so it can be challenging to apply the findings to coffee, energy drinks, bars, and other caffeine-containing substances.

That said, coffee has independently been shown to enhance aerobic endurance performance, weight lifting, and sprinting. And looking at all of the studies, the authors concluded that “the caffeine dose from coffee likely has to fall within the 3–6 mg/kg range” to provide performance-enhancing benefits.

The caffeine dose from coffee can depend on bean type, preparation method, size of the cup, and other factors, but there are some generalizations that can be made. The ‘average’ cup of coffee contains around 100 mg of caffeine — meaning that two cups would deliver about 200 mg, representing about 3 mg/kg for a 70 kg person (about 155 pounds).

As a general rule, the authors conclude that “two cups of coffee, consumed around 60 minutes before exercise, should exert an ergogenic effect in most individuals.”

Sensitivity to caffeine is highly personal, so experimentation is key. Try different doses and shorter/longer wait times before exercise to see what works best for you.

The results are clear — caffeine is a proven performance-booster. Hopefully these findings help you utilize caffeine to maximize your workouts.

Andrew Merle writes about living well. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Take More Steps, Live Longer

Most of us have heard we should be logging 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy and fit. 

That guidance originated decades ago with a marketing campaign in Japan designed to promote a pedometer. 

The 10,000 number has since caught on around the world and is often the default daily goal setting in smartphone apps and fitness trackers. 

But the original basis for the number was not scientifically determined.

Now more recent research has given us a better understanding of the relationship between daily steps and overall health. New findings on this topic were just published in March 2020 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging, as well as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the number of steps a person takes each day does indeed have a strong association with mortality.

For the study, the researchers tracked nearly 5,000 U.S. adults aged 40 and over who wore accelerometers between 2003 and 2006, and then followed their mortality status through 2015 via the National Death Index. 

The investigators were able to isolate the association between mortality and step number by adjusting for demographic and behavioral risk factors, body mass index, and health status at the beginning of the study.

The findings revealed that a greater number of daily steps was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality. 

More specifically, taking at least 8,000 steps per day was associated with a 51% lower risk for death from all causes compared with taking 4,000 steps per day or less. 

Going up to 12,000 steps per day was associated with a 65% lower risk of dying compared with taking 4,000 steps.

Although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, based on this new data everyone should aim to tally at least 8,000 steps per day, and going beyond that is even better (presumably there is a point at which it becomes too much activity, but that isn’t a meaningful risk for most people).  

If 8,000 steps sounds daunting, note that this recent research found no association between step intensity and risk of death after accounting for the total number of steps taken per day. 

This is consistent with data from the world’s Blue Zones where people live the longest — they engage in routine natural movement throughout the day, but don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms. 

…

This new research proves once again that our bodies were designed to move. 

Take more steps, live longer. 

But you can take those steps on your own terms, without suffering through dreaded workouts. 

The key is to be consistent and to stay active every day.

The Best Sport for a Longer Life

We all know that exercise is good for us.

Just 30 minutes of daily exercise has been shown to reduce your risk of dying early.

But it turns out some sports add more years to your life than others.

People who play racket sports such as tennis outlive those who participate in other sports.

Numerous studies validate this fact.

For example, a recent study of Danish adults found that people who frequently play tennis or other racket sports not only live longer than sedentary people, but they also out-live people who do other healthy activities such as running, swimming, and cycling.

The study analyzed more than 8000 people over a period of 25 years and determined that tennis can extend your life by nearly 10 years.

Badminton — another racket sport — added 6.2 years of life expectancy relative to sedentary people, trumping the longevity gains of other sports such as soccer (4.7 years), cycling (3.7 years), swimming (3.4 years), jogging (3.2 years), and other health club activities (1.5 years).

Another even larger study looked at over 80,000 British adults and concluded that participation in racket sports (including badminton, tennis, and squash) caused a 47% risk reduction in all-cause mortality and a 59% reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality. These were the most profound results of all the sports studied, including swimming, cycling, running, football, and aerobics.

…

It is clear that racket sports provide incredible health and longevity benefits. But why might this be the case?

One possible explanation is that racket sports simultaneously tax the cardiovascular system and the brain. Racket sports build up your fitness levels while requiring complex movements (front-to-back and side-to-side) and quick strategic thinking. That combination of aerobic activity, strength building, flexibility, and mental agility is rare among other sports.

A sport like soccer has some of the same characteristics, which could explain why soccer placed just behind racket sports in terms of longevity benefits.

Tennis and soccer are also sports that bring you together with other people for social connection, which we also know is critical for health. On the other hand, running, swimming, and cycling are more often solitary activities.

Prioritizing foot health in any sport is vital for maintaining performance and preventing injuries, making The Good Feet Store an invaluable resource for athletes and active individuals alike. Their tailored arch support solutions can make an immense difference to how you experience any sport - be it tennis court, running track or soccer field - providing comfort while improving stability reducing strain or injury risk. With solutions tailored specifically to individual sports enthusiasts' unique needs The Good Feet Store ensures your feet are taken care of so you can focus on excelling in your chosen activity.

Additionally, tennis stands out because it can be played at any age, keeping people active throughout their lives. Doubles tennis may not be vigorous activity, but it is far more beneficial than sitting on the couch. However, as with any form of activity, it’s wise to seek medical advice before you begin, just to make sure it’s the right thing for you to do - and if you’re recommended a course of action, such as TRT therapy, before you get started, it’s wise to follow that advice. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

…

Any amount of exercise is better than none, and numerous types of activities produce health and longevity benefits.

But tennis is the best sport for a longer life.

Start playing tennis today and you could wind up living a decade longer.

Andrew Merle writes about living well. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

5 Excellent Health & Wellness Books to Read While at Home

Many people are turning to health and fitness as a way to cope with what’s going on in the world.

And for good reason — this is a great time to re-commit to exercise, nutrition, and stress reduction. If you are looking for some extra motivation in this area, here are 5 excellent health and wellness books to read during your added downtime at home:

The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People by Dan Buettner

This is the definitive guide to how the longest-lived people in the world eat and live. Buettner extensively studied the world’s 5 Blue Zones and distilled their secrets into longevity habits we can all implement in our own lives.

How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger, M.D.

If you are looking for the most comprehensive and evidence-based health resource, this is the book for you. Dr. Greger details how to eat to avoid the 15 top causes of premature death in the U.S. and he provides a checklist of 12 foods we should be eating every day for optimal health.

Lifespan: Why We Age―and Why We Don’t Have To by David A. Sinclair, PhD

In this book, Dr. Sinclair — one of the world’s leading scientists — distills a quarter-century’s worth of research into some simple things we can do to live longer. The practical tips he recommends — such as fasting, cold exposure, eating a plant-rich diet, and exercise — are available to nearly everyone.

The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight by Valter Longo, PhD

Dr. Longo is one of the world’s leading authorities on fasting. In this book, he explores the science behind stem cell activation and regeneration to slow aging and optimize health. He details what and how we should eat on a daily basis, and he also outlines a periodic 5-day dietary intervention called the “Fasting Mimicking Diet,” which resets and rebuilds the body at the cellular level.

The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight by Satchin Panda, PhD

Dr. Satchin Panda is arguably the world’s top expert on time-restricted eating, which means consuming all your calories within a specific time frame each day. In this book, he provides powerful evidence that when you eat is even more important than what you eat.

BONUS

If you are looking for a fun and humorous read on healthy longevity, here is one more to add to your list:

Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, Sexy, and Smart―Until You’re 80 and Beyond by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D.

This is a fun yet informative read about how to beat back the effects of aging. The book makes a powerful case that exercise is the single-most important thing we can do for healthy aging. The authors recommend exercising 6 days per week for the rest of your life!

Andrew Merle writes about living well. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

5 Healthy Habits to Continue Doing from Home

We are living in unusual times right now, with most of us working from home and thrown off from our normal routines. Stress and anxiety levels are high as the world deals with the current health crisis, with constant reminders every time we turn on the TV. 

With our world turned upside down, it is easy to lose a sense of control and feel powerless over the situation. However, there are some everyday things we can do to create a sense of normalcy and routine despite the circumstances, while improving our health in the process. Here are 5 daily habits that can be done from home to help you stay healthy and cope with the current situation:

1. Outdoor Exercise

It is a telling sign that outdoor exercise is considered an ‘essential’ activity even during stay-at-home orders (as long as physical distancing protocol is followed). Getting outside to walk, run, bike, or hike is a great way to engage your body and clear your mind. Exercise is a proven way to reduce stress and anxiety, boost your immunity, and improve overall health. Additionally, being outside in nature produces its own health benefits, including reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and premature death.

I aim to get in 10,000 steps per day, which can typically be achieved with a 30-minute run outside in the morning, a couple 10–15 minute walks around the neighborhood, plus routine natural movement throughout the day. A worthy goal is to be outside for at least an hour each day.

2. Meditate

Meditation is another potent stress-reliever — the perfect antidote for these uncertain times. Even just a few minutes of meditation is helpful for anxious people, and going up to 10 minutes per day does wonders for your brain. There are numerous apps out there to guide your daily practice, including Headspace and Calm, as well as crystals - check out these amethyst metaphysical properties perfect for meditation-  and other meditation accessories you may want to look into.

I choose to meditate for 10 minutes first thing in the morning using the free Insight Timer app. My guided daily session includes deep breathing, intention setting, and a gratitude practice. It is an ideal way to become calm and centered for the day ahead.

3. Sleep 8 Hours Per Night

In this stay-at-home environment, it is easy to keep your laptop open longer than usual or binge on Netflix late into the evening. But adequate sleep is more important now than ever. Sleep reduces stress, strengthens the immune system, and helps you think more clearly throughout the day. While the amount of sleep you need varies from person to person, most adults need between 7–9 hours per night.

I aim for 8 hours of sleep but I try to give myself 9 hours total in bed. This ensures I can have a wind-down period (I typically read for 15–20 minutes in bed) and it also accounts for the time it takes to fall asleep.

4. Eat a Whole-Food, Plant-Rich Diet

Evidence shows that a healthy diet should revolve around vegetables, fruit, whole grains, healthy fats, and healthy proteins. The most sensible guide to healthy eating is the Healthy Eating Plate, developed by the doctors and nutrition experts at Harvard. This eating approach calls for at least half of your plate to be fruits and vegetables, ¼ of your plate to be whole and intact grains, and ¼ to be healthy proteins such as fish, poultry, beans, and nuts (red meat is to be limited, and processed meats avoided altogether).

Eating in this manner has been shown to improve numerous health measures, including lowering the risk of heart disease and premature death. A whole-food, plant-rich diet has also been shown to reduce anxiety and produce better mental health. Exactly what we need right now.

5. Stretch

A simple stretching practice can calm your mind, ease tension, and increase energy, in addition to the flexibility and injury prevention benefits. Engaging in yoga — a more active form of stretching — produces powerful mental and physical health benefits.

You don’t need a gym or studio to establish a stretching or yoga practice. There are many great routines that can be found on TV or online and done from your living room. Aim to incorporate 10 minutes of light stretching or yoga as part of your daily mind and body regimen.

…

These 5 simple habits can be done from home, on your own terms, with profound benefits for your health and well-being. 

Although all of these activities can be done individually, it may give you extra motivation and enjoyment to involve your friends and family. For example, take your kids for a walk outside or schedule a daily Zoom video workout class with your friends. There are creative ways to make these activities fun and social, while still adhering to all recommended precautionary measures. 

The world around you might be chaotic, but these habits can help you maintain a sense of control and routine amidst the uncertainty.

Andrew Merle writes about living well. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Why Hormesis is the Key to Your Health and Longevity

“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

It turns out Nietzsche was right. 

This quote gets at the concept of hormesis (although with hormesis you see benefits well before approaching death!). 

Hormesis is when something is damaging or toxic in excess, but highly beneficial in smaller doses. 

We are learning that short-term acute “stress” has powerful health and longevity benefits (as long as the stress subsides at some point). 

For example, we have always known that exercise was good for us, but we weren’t exactly sure why. Hormesis is the likely explanation. 

If you intensely exercised all day, you would cause undo wear and tear on your body and eventually you would break down. But short bursts of exercise (i.e. high intensity interval training) stresses the body just enough to activate your survival genes. Once that stress response is engaged, your body will recover and build back even stronger than before. 

An obvious example is weightlifting. Lifting weights stresses your muscles, then they get sore and grow back bigger than your baseline. But lifting too much weight, too often, or at too high of an intensity can lead to serious injury. It is all about finding the right dose. 

When it comes to exercise, a dose of just 15 vigorous minutes per day can reduce the chance of death from a heart attack by 40% and all-cause mortality by 45%. 

In addition to exercise, here are several other scientifically-proven ways to benefit from hormesis:

Heat and Cold Exposure

Mild heat stress has therapeutic effects. The best example of this is sauna use.

Sauna use has actually been shown to mimic the effects of exercise in the body — causing increased core body temperature, sweating, and increased heart rate.  

And while extended exposure to extra-hot temperatures would be toxic, short periods yield tremendous benefit.

In fact, a large study in Finland identified strong links between sauna use and reduced death and disease. 

Men who used the sauna 2–3 times per week were 27% less likely to die from cardiovascular-related causes than men who didn’t use the sauna. And men who used the sauna 4–7 times per week were 50% less likely to die from cardiovascular-related causes. Additionally, frequent sauna users were found to be 40% less likely to die prematurely from any cause. 

Frequent sauna use has also been shown to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease by 65% (again, the more days per week the better), lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation in the body, and alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. 

The duration of each session need not be very long. You want to stick it out for around 20 minutes for maximum benefit (in a dry Finnish-style sauna heated at a temp of at least 174 degrees F), but much longer than that is not necessary or recommended.  

To amplify the benefits, you can do as the Finnish do and immediately plunge into ice cold water following the sauna session. This further stresses the cardiovascular system (but not to the point of posing a risk for healthy people). 

Cold immersion on its own has significant benefits. Being uncomfortably cold for short periods of time activates protective brown fat in the body and can lead to weight loss, improved immune function, and reduced feelings of stress and anxiety. 

You don’t want to get to the point of frostbite or hypothermia — a daily 5-minute cold shower can do the trick. Exercising in the cold is especially beneficial (try running outside in the winter or cold water swimming). Or if you are feeling especially committed, try the Wim Hof Method which combines cold therapy with breath work and mental conditioning. 

Eat Stressed Plants

We know that eating vegetables is healthy, but hormesis helps explain why. 

Longevity and anti-aging expert Dr. David Sinclair says eating stressed plants is one of the most powerful things we can do to extend lifespan. 

What does that even mean?

Well, plants can get stressed too. Whether from drought, fungal attack, or simply the threat of being eaten, plants are faced with many external stressors. But unlike us, plants are rooted to the ground and can’t run away to escape harm. 

Therefore plants produce a variety of chemicals to defend themselves. And when humans ingest these compounds, it protects us not only from the plant chemicals, but also the environmental stressors to which we are exposed on a daily basis, such as air pollution or overexposure to UV radiation. 

Plant-based compounds activate cellular protective mechanisms in humans, a phenomenon known as xenohormesis. 

Here is just a small sampling of specific foods and drinks to consume to see these benefits:

• Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, broccoli sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts (which contain the compound sulforaphane)

• Dark Chocolate (which contains catechins)

• Green Tea and White Tea (which contains the polyphenol Epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG)

• Turmeric (which contains the chemical curcumin)

• Coffee (which contains chlorogenic acid)

• Red Wine (which contains resveratrol — although this one is controversial since the negative effects of alcohol could outweigh the small amount of resveratrol found in a glass of wine)

Hormesis is another reason why you want to eat organic fruits and vegetables (including wine), otherwise the beneficial stress compounds will be sterilized away. 

Fasting

When you aren’t eating stressed plants, try consuming nothing at all to put your body into a temporary state of nutritional adversity.

Extended malnourishment is not good, but smaller doses of calorie restriction is incredibly powerful for longevity.

The ideal fasting regimen appears to be a combination of daily time-restricted eating with a periodic prolonged fast (5 days appears to be optimal for a prolonged fast, done 1–4 times per year). 

For the daily time-restricted eating, you want to consume all of your calories within a maximum of 12 hours (for example, eating all of your meals between 8am and 8pm and fasting for the other 12 hours). Some people choose to extend the daily fast to 14 or 16 hours, most commonly by eating an early dinner and then skipping (or eating a late) breakfast the following day. 

Time-restricted eating has been shown to produce a number of beneficial health effects, including weight loss, improved heart function, and enhanced aerobic capacity, all without altering diet quality or quantity.

The prolonged fast is only done on a periodic basis (usually not more than once per quarter), which resets and rebuilds your body at the cellular level. I am a fan of Dr. Valter Longo’s 5-day Fasting Mimicking Diet, which gives you all the health benefits of a water-only fast while still allowing small amounts of food each day (It is advised to check in with your doctor before doing a multi-day fast, especially if you choose to do the water-only variety). 

Time-restricted eating along with a periodic prolonged fast make for a powerful combination. Think about time-restricted eating as daily maintenance for your body and a prolonged fast as your 6-month or annual checkup (similar to how you brush and floss your teeth daily and then visit the dentist 1–2 times per year). 

…

Other more controversial triggers of hormesis include sun exposure and alcohol consumption.

UV Rays in excess cause sunburn and skin cancer, but small doses provide beneficial Vitamin D and sunbathers have actually been shown to live longer. Overall you still want to play it safe — a little bit of sun might be good for you, but you should wear protective sunscreen for any longer exposure. 

A similar principle applies to alcohol. Moderate drinking has been shown to have longevity benefits but excess alcohol consumption is undoubtedly toxic. 

Your best bet is to activate hormesis via exercise, eating stressed plants, cold and heat exposure, and fasting. 

Overall you want to put your body through short bursts of mild stress to live longer, better. 

This is a great reminder to get out of your comfort zone.

Andrew Merle writes about healthy living. Read more and subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.