LET'S TALK LONGEVITY!

When working with a client recently, during the assessment, I asked her what her health goals were. One of her goals was to live to Triple Digits! I thought that was a very ambitious goal! After our meeting, I got to thinking, is that a realistic goal? In this day and age, I’d have to say yes. But what exactly would that look like? What exactly IS longevity?

I think it’s not just a measure of how long we live, but about adding life to that time. How long we live, combined with how well we live. Think about it. Would you really want to live to be 100 years old if you couldn’t enjoy it?

The goal is maintaining health, fulfillment and independence for as long as possible. It’s not just about enduring, but rather truly living and thriving in our extra years.

I truly believe this particular goal is now very achievable. People are regularly living into their 80’s, 90’s and even longer. I’ve spoken many times before about my mentor, Bernice. I got a chance to visit with her recently when we went home to Colorado. She is 94 years old and just as sharp and vibrant as any 70 year old I know. She has certain aches and pains, of course, but comparatively, she’s healthy and living life. She doesn’t suffer from any diseases. She is strong cognitively – NOBODY can beat this woman at scrabble! And she is genuinely happy. Which is exactly what I think about when I think about my ideal of longevity. It’s important to address the quality of those extra years. I don’t want to just “make it to 100”, crawling and scratching my way there. I want to slide into it full of energy, focused, sharp and thrilled to be adding another year.

I was reading the other day about a concept put forth by Dr. Peter Attia called Healthspan. This idea refers to the length of time when you are healthy, free from chronic disease, disability and significant mental or physical decline. It’s about enjoying meaningful activities without being hampered by what he calls, “the Four Horsemen of chronic disease: heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative conditions and metabolic disorders like Type 2 diabetes.

According to Dr. Attia, maximizing Healthspan requires 3 things; Physical function, Cognitive Health and Emotional Health. This holistic approach to our health will allow us to live longer AND happier!

Physical function has to do with preserving the ability to move, lift and carry out daily activities without pain or difficulty. This includes strength, endurance, flexibility and stability.

Cognitive Health refers to Keeping our brains sharp, our memories keen and an ability to think clearly and make decisions intact.

Emotional Health is too often overlooked, but just as critical to our overall well-being. Managing stress, maintaining strong relationships and having a strong sense of purpose all contribute to this important aspect of longevity and Healthspan.

There is a concept, referred to as “compressing morbidity.”  It means we don’t want to live long only to spend our last decades in poor health. Instead, we want to live long and live well, extending the period where we’re healthy, active, and independent.

The challenge comes because the current trend focuses solely on lifespan — keeping people alive as long as possible—without necessarily considering the quality of that extended time. Our goal is to minimize the gap between lifespan and healthspan, ensuring that the majority of our lives are spent in good health, not prolonged illness. Healthspan is a much better measure of a life well-lived. Ultimately, the goal is to align our healthspan as closely as possible with our lifespan.

So over the next several weeks, we are going to take a proactive approach to this issue. That will involve a paradigm shift in how we look at health care. Allopathic medicine has done a wonderful job with acute care, surgeries, and emergency medicine. But it falls woefully short when it comes to chronic diseases. These long-term conditions don’t arise overnight; they develop slowly, often over decades, and are typically well entrenched by the time symptoms appear. The problem is that our healthcare system, as it currently stands, is designed to react to diseases once they have already taken hold, rather than preventing them in the first place.

We’re going to take a different approach. We’re going to be proactive rather than reactive, focusing on early intervention, prevention, and understanding individual risk factors long before they manifest as disease. Medicine is changing because people are realizing that the old ways just aren’t working anymore. This new era of medicine is driven by better technology, better data, and a more nuanced understanding of chronic disease progression. It’s about leveraging everything from genetics and biomarkers to lifestyle optimization and personalized interventions tailored to your unique biology.

And for those of you who are already suffering from some of these issues, not to worry. Your body is amazing, and it IS possible to reverse some of the damage done. So stick with me and we’ll tackle these challenges together.

LET’S GET BETTER!

Let's Talk!