When I look at the lives and behaviours of my clients and people in general with respect to how to optimise your Lifespan (how long you live) and much more importantly your Healthspan (how long you live in fully functional & capable good health) there are 3 primary factors I would like us to work on!
Never Go 1 Week without Exercise - Prolonged periods of inactivity (not exercising for weeks at a time) is your biggest driver of accelerated ageing once you get past 50! We all know that our strength, muscle mass, cardiovascular capacity and mobility start to decline after the age of 30 years. Current science says about 10% per decade! But what you may not realise is that having periods of complete inactivity (usually holidays and sickness) wreak havoc on your physiological deterioration. And it gets worse once you hit 75! In fact, studies now show that 3 weeks of bedrest after the age of 75 can causes losses of 6 months worth of muscle mass & strength and VO2max (peak fitness measurement).
The moral of the story is NEVER have more than 1 week off exercise if you can possible help it! Every push up, every stair climb, every 20sec fitness burst will help to stop the dramatic losses in strength & fitness when you go on holidays or are ill!
Note: Once you hit 75yrs old there seems to be a physiological cliff! Make sure you are fit, strong & mobile long before 75 and then when you get there never stop training & moving! Your life (quality) depends upon it!
2. Get in the Top 25% of Fitness & Strength For your Age - Your best defence against ageing is to be muscularly strong and aerobically fit. When all the science is collated from every single factor that improves Healthspan & lifespan it is very clear that exercise is by far the biggest lever we have to pull to extend quantity & quality of life. No sleep innovation, radical diet or longevity drug or medicine comes close to the power of exercise to genuinely reduce your All Cause Mortality (chance of dying from anything!). For example, the people in the top 25% of fitness have a 300% reduced risk of dying from any cause then the bottom 25%! To put that in perspective smoking increases risk of death by 150%.
And all you need to do is these 4 sessions per week:
A) Strength Training - Focus on building real strength & muscle Mass - 5-15 reps x 18-30 sets of compound exercises
B) Strength Training - Focus on functionality & stability - real world exercises, muscular endurance, eccentric control, HIIT, balance, agility, mobility
C) Aerobic Efficiency - Zone 2 cardio training - 30-60min at 70-80% HR
D) Maximum Aerobic Capacity - Vo2 max cardio interval training - 30-45min of intervals 90sec to 4min each with equal recoveries
3. Ruthlessly Protect Sleep Schedule - I have spoken at length of the power of sleep and the life changing effect of averaging 7 hours per night! Exercise might be the greatest mover of the Healthspan dial but nothing comes close to poor sleep in its power to derail every good intention you have for your health & wellbeing. When you don’t sleep well your hormones, neurotransmitters, gut microbiome ,neurons and every cell in your body conspires against you to make you fat, sick, tired & depressed! You are more likely to eat energy rich- nutrient poor junk food, you are less likely to be motivated to exercise, your mood is altered, your brain doesn’t function as well, your body stores fat more readily, your immune system is more open to disease and you are in real terms shortening your lifespan!
And the antidote is really simple. Commit to the same bed time 7 days per week. 10pm to 6am is ideal but whatever schedule works best for you is the one you should do proved it allows at least 7 hours sleep! Your circadian rhythm loves… rhythm! So get your internal body clock aligned every day and experience life on a whole new level!
Coach
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