Being now somewhere between 75 and 100, I have been paying closer attention to issues of “fitness,” “vitality,” and “longevity.” Such key words, and the massive medical research behind them, are the key theme of Peter Attia MD, his podcast (peterattiamd.com), and his book: Outlive. The Science and Art of Longevity. He encapsulates these ideas in the concept that we all should be in “training for our Centenarian Decathlon” which will be our life in our “marginal decade” (perhaps even one’s 10th).
Peter’s content is unparalleled with detail, actionable advice on these ideas and more. His podcasts are subscription only to avoid the advertising nemesis. He has massive amounts of material including interviews with top of class doctors and scientists. It’s not cheap to subscribe, but It costs less than the WSJ annual digital subscription and will, in the end, be far more life-beneficial.
The central idea, derived from Peter, and my subject here, is careful attention to what can we, should I, be attending to as early in life as possible–but whatever my age, to get started–as those physical actions and habits that will make it possible for me (us) to carry on the activities that we value during our final decade of life, our marginal decade.
Peter uses the term “longevity” but not primarily about having more years of life. His focus is on having more life in the years we have.
Peter has enumerated his list of a dozen or so activities that he wants to be able to do in his marginal decade, such as able to lift his carryon bags to overhead bins as part of a desire still to travel, able to sit on the floor comfortably to play with grandkids, and so forth.
To have a high likelihood that any of us can fulfill our own Centenarian Decathlon list we need to improve our “VO2 max,” by engaging in “Zone 2” work, and gaining stability and strength. All of this is explained on a very solid medical basis in actionable, reasonable terms. None of his content, or my commentary in this series of posts, is heroic warrior stuff.
A related resource is Michael Easter. Michael has been a guest on Attia’s podcasts but is separately well-known from his inspiring book: The Comfort Crisis. I mention Michael Easter along with Peter Attia because they are both evangelists for a powerful form of such marginal decade training knowing as “rucking.” I will address this in a next post.
Finally, I will note that (again credit to Attia), strange things can begin to happen–and at an accelerated rate–at the age 75 threshold. The 75 threshold has even been used by some to advocate abandonment of all health interventions and, basically, prepare to die: something like “My name is Inigo Montoya…prepare to die…!” (a classic line from the movie Princess Bride). See: Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, former adviser to President Obama on healthcare, for his advocacy for no further medical treatment after age 75.
Medical statistics support Emmanuel’s use of 75 as a medical turning point, but not as the magic age whereby you’ve-now-outlived-your-positive-human-value (as in the movie Logan’s Run, but there it was at age 30). Dr. Attia, and many others make the case that although death is not defeated, or deflatable, a person can do a great deal in extending the vitality of one’s time before the end of one’s time.
So decline does occur. There’s no “80 is the new 40” nonsense. But exactly because there exists an age with each of us with such accelerated decline it highlights the importance and opportunity of entering one’s 70s in a state of high fitness. Such high fitness is then a health bank account that one can and will draw upon. There is something possible for one’s marginal decade beyond Netflix, Sudoko, and taking turns sharing disease status with peers chewing soft food (most or all of which may be our final final-days).
Achieving longevity for that marginal decade is a form of dealmaking: make the habitual investment in enhancing vitality (VO2 max, strength, stability) sooner rather than later–but it’s never too late until it is too late–and in return there will be a return on investment when one’s biology become less friendly or even less benign.
One particularly powerful tool of making such investment is rucking. A discussion of rucking as an effective decline-fighting activity will be the next post. It may not, it need not, delay death itself. It will contribute to making it more likely that one’s last days are states of moving and doing something worthwhile and satisfying of purpose.
(I have separately written on the bigger issue of death and its hereafter based on the Old Testament Book of Job; whether you follow Attia or Emmanuel, there will be that final day: www.idealmaking.org ).