If someone asked you if you wanted to live to be 120 years old, what would your answer be? Would you say yes? For most people, living beyond their eighties is not appealing, as frailty, dependency, loss of mobility, pain, and disease tend to become “the norm”. My question for you is “does that HAVE to be your norm?” Is it possible to live into your 90’s and beyond disease-free, active, and with a sharp mind? Research into aging and longevity is starting to show that, yes, this is possible. It’s no secret that the current state of health in America isn’t great. It is estimated that one in six Americans have some sort of chronic disease. Around 80% of older adults have a chronic disease, and a whopping 68% of older adults have at least two chronic diseases! A person can have high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, & cancer, and aging is the number one risk factor for all of them.

I read a very interesting book recently called Young Forever, by Dr. Mark Hyman. He is a functional medicine physician who explores the theory that the many common diseases seen later in life are actually different manifestations of the same underlying biological changes that occur as we age. While modern medicine treats each individual disease as if it were a completely separate entity from everything else happening in the body, the functional approach sees all of these “different” diseases as having one underlying cause. His theory operates on the premise that inflammation is the underlying cause of all of the hallmarks of aging.

Before we continue to dive into all of the different things you can do to improve your quality of life in your later years, it is imperative to understand that the goal is not to simply live longer. The goal is to live BETTER. What do you envision health looking like later in life? Maybe it is being able to keep up with grandchildren. Maybe it’s your ability to live independently in your home. For me, it is being able to do all of the things I enjoy, when I want to do them, without pain and without my body holding me back. In Young Forever, Dr. Hyman encourages his readers to begin to think about aging itself as the disease, with a cause, symptoms, and natural history. To think within the scope of this new paradigm, we must remember a few things. First, imagine that getting older does not inevitably mean getting weaker, slower, sicker, etc. Second, disrupt the reductionist medical paradigm that views your body as a set of independent systems. Your body is an integrated ecosystem and all parts need to function optimally for health to exist. Lastly, remember the premise that all of the hallmarks of aging are caused by inflammation.

One of the best and most sure-fire ways to improve your quality of life is by optimizing your nutrient intake. In other words, clean up your diet. In his book In Defense of Food, author Michael Pollan makes a very simple but powerful recommendation for how to eat. “Eat (real) food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The majority of your diet should be real food that is not ultra-processed or altered by modern agriculture. Don’t overeat – if you’re consuming nutrient-dense foods, it will be difficult for you to overindulge, as you will fill up more quickly. By incorporating many different plants/vegetables into your diet, you’re ingesting thousands of medicinal/life-extending phytonutrients that will contribute to good health.

Longevity research is showing that muscle is your “currency of healthy aging” and the more of it you have later in life, typically the healthier you are. As people age, they lose muscle mass, bone density, and also see a decline in immune function. Also, their appetites decrease and they may also be taking medications that impair nutrient absorption. In addition to regular strength training, the best way to build muscle is to eat muscle (i.e. animal protein). Animal protein contains high levels of Creatine and leucine, which are essential components of protein synthesis in the body. Make sure that you’re getting enough protein to allow your body grow/maintain your skeletal muscle. If you’re made of poor-quality parts, you will create a poorly-functioning body. You literally are what you eat, as your body makes itself out of the food that you feed it. Carbohydrates are not considered essential nutrients, and yet 50-60% of the Western processed diet consists of refined carbohydrates. If these carbohydrates are not essential for our structure, where are they going once we ingest them? Some will get burned as fuel, but the vast majority will wind up deposited along our abdomen in the form of fat, which will lead to more inflammation and trigger the hallmarks of aging.

Perhaps one of the easiest and most obvious things you can do to both stay healthier and age more gracefully is to move more. Last month’s newsletter discussed the many health benefits of simply walking more. Exercising regularly will automatically improve all of the hallmarks of aging. It will improve blood sugar regulation/insulin sensitivity; aid in weight control; reduce the risk of heart disease/high blood pressure; increase brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF) production to shield against Alzheimer’s; improve sleep; & improve muscle strength/bone health.

Beyond cleaning up your diet and exercising regularly, there are many other ways you can optimize your lifestyle. One of the most overlooked aspects of healthy living is prioritizing sleep. An estimated 70 million Americans suffer from some sort of sleep problem. We’ve touched on this multiple times this year, but sleep is essential for healing & repair, cellular cleanup, & longevity. Another great way to optimize yourself is through the practice of hormesis. Hormesis is a biological phenomenon where regular low doses of a stressor stimulate an adaptive response. That same stimulus at a higher/prolonged level would lead to a negative/harmful effect. Let’s use heat therapy (sauna) as an example. There is a plethora of research available as to why regular sauna use is beneficial. The heat of the sauna promotes the production of heat shock proteins which help misfolded proteins(one hallmark of aging) re-fold to their proper shape and resume normal function. In addition, it will lead to improved heart rate variability, improved insulin sensitivity, and improved blood pressure. One study found that sauna therapy 4x/week reduced the subjects’ risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease by 66%. Exercise and cold exposure are other great examples of hormesis. I think I may go deeper into this in another newsletter at a later date.

Your genetics are not your destiny. Your genes load the gun, but your environment (i.e. lifestyle choices) are what pull the trigger. We’re all going to get older. That is a fact of life that is out of our control. What our quality of life looks like in those later years is entirely up to us. It’s never too late to start making changes. By making small but meaningful tweaks to your daily lifestyle, you can elevate your health and set yourself up for success in the later stages of life.

Dr. Wade Bemis

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