Health News and Tips:

Longevity Fitness Guide: How to Live to 100

Web link

Tanner Garrity

Below is our longevity fitness guide, which features the first 30 keys to living to 100. The guide is broken down by how you optimize your lifespan through diet, fitness, good choices and some truly wild cards. Before diving in, understand that you can’t do all of them; some are likely incompatible. But the idea is to cherrypick those that work for your life. Ultimately, if nothing else, know this: making the call right now to act in the name of longevity — whether your “right now” is 35 or 65 — won’t just add life to your ledger. It’ll enrich and lighten every year along the way.

I'll share the remaining 30 in our next newsletter.

31. Optimize your workplace

A dose of reality on all the longevity chat: most of us aren’t herding goats on a bluff over

the Aegean. We spend most of the day answering emails. Within that less-than-ideal

situation, make sure your screen is raised to eye level, your back is set against an

ergonomic chair, and your feet are planted against the floor. Spinal health is critical as you

age.

32. Hang from a bar for one minute a day

In the “text neck” era, a daily dead hang will bring mobility back to your shoulders. The

practice decompresses the spine and builds strength in the upper back. One minute at a

time is really hard, so feel free to break the challenge into multiple increments. Oh, and

don’t be surprised when the move improves your grip strength, too.

33. Turn the volume down

Damage done to the ossicles is irreversible. Train yourself to listen to AirPods and the like

on low volume. Pumping 90-decibel noise (80% of an iPhone’s allotted volume) into your

ears for just 10 minutes will put you on the path to tinnitus. The effect this has on quality

of life is likely why people with extensive hearing loss die earlier.

34. Breathe through your nose

The nasal passageway humidifies and pressurises the air when we breathe through the nose. It produces nitric oxide, a molecule that “screens” air particles before they make it

to the lungs. Once there, the lungs have an easier, more efficient time circulating oxygen

throughout the body. This isn’t an easy switch (more than half of Americans breathe

through their mouths), but it’s worth it — the practice can increase lung capacity, which

improves cardio-respiratory function.

35. Relax your jaw

“Bruxism,” also known as teeth grinding or jaw clenching, is a natural response in an age

of constant anxiety, but it leads to terrible sleep and even tooth fractures. When you’re

stressing, take extra care to put space between your teeth and focus on your breathing.

And while sleeping, consider a nighttime mouthguard.

36. Exercise in the cold

Cold-temperature exposure turns white fat (the inflammatory fat linked to heart disease)

into brown fat (the naturally occurring fat that produces heat) through a thermogenesis process. Basically, your body has to burn more energy to stay warm, which

jumpstarts your metabolism. Norwegian research suggests 120 minutes outside a week

in winter.

37. Get off the toilet

According to the “hydromechanics of defecation,” it takes the average person only 12

seconds to do his or her business. But men often linger in the bathroom, to the point that

it’s played for laughs in sitcoms. The habit is less than ideal: stretching across the seat

inflames the veins of the anal canal and, over time, can lead to hemorrhoids.

38. Use sunscreen

When melanoma metastasizes, the five-year survival rate nose-dives from 99% down to

25%. Here’s an even crazier statistic: between 1995 and 2014, 60% of those who died

from head or neck melanoma were men between the ages of 15 and 39. The sun is no

joke; it can snatch life away early if you aren’t using sunscreen and scheduling regular

screenings.

39. Take power naps

Careful — napping for more than an hour in the middle of the day has been linked to all-

cause mortality. But a 15- to 30-minute “power nap” actually increases cognitive ability

and alertness. It solidifies memories in the brain, relieves stress during an exhausting day

and energizes afternoons for exercise or social interaction.

40. Pick up HIIT

One of the beauties of modern exercise? It can be quick. Like, really quick. In the past

decade, studies have extolled the benefits of exercising for 15 minutes, four minutes …

even four seconds. The rationale remains the same throughout high-intensity, “all out”

bursts of physical effort foster muscle growth, clean up arteries and put years on your life.

41. Learn to play again

The only thing inherently “childish” about playing is that children are likelier to

do it. Playing, in whatever form it may take — tennis, pick-up hoops, chasing your kids

with a super soaker — is essential for mental health at all ages and a crucial deviation

from exercise measured solely in pain and progress.

42. Worry less about weight loss

Wait, shouldn’t we make weight loss a priority? The issue’s a bit more nuanced. Studies

indicate that overly stressing about weight loss often leads to “weight cycling,” defined as

a process of losing weight only to regain it all over again. This strains the body. Focus on

building sustainable practices instead of aiming to shed fat from your frame.

43. Screen for cancer regularly

This one piggybacks on both the issue of physician-dodging and the need for sunscreen.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, with lung, colon and

liver cancer accounting for the most deaths. It’s imperative that you take it seriously. Start

screening regularly at age 45.

44. Make sure to floss once a day

There’s a reason dental hygienists get so terse when you admit to only flossing “once in a

while.” Flossing doesn’t just prevent gum disease. It can stop heart disease. When

bacteria get into the bloodstream through the mouth, arteries narrow in an immune

response. This taxes vascular health. Flossing for two minutes directly influences life

expectancy.

45. Practice sleep hygiene

That doesn’t refer to washing your sheets once a week. Sleep hygiene is “an upkeep of

behaviours that help you sleep.” Essentially, treating the process around sleeping as

sacred. Learn to keep a calm, cool, uncluttered, sleep-only bedroom and follow methods

(from shutting down caffeine intake to getting blackout curtains) that shorten your sleep

latency.

46. Start running

Running helps people live longer. That much is clear. However, researchers recently concluded that your run’s pace and distance don’t matter. Any running routine (up to four-and-a-half hours total per week) will lead to a 30% reduced risk in all-cause mortality. FYI: going over that amount won’t cause any harm. Just be wary of injuries.

47. Get into swimming

In the battle of cardio routines, though, swimming might take the cake. The activity is

perfect for aging: it’s low-impact, burns a ton of calories, works the whole body and

encourages flexibility. No wonder that over one 32-year study, swimmers were an

amazing 50% less likely to die than regular walkers and runners. Time to fish out the

goggles.

48. Forget the six-pack

Chasing a six-pack is a waste of time that has no bearing on how long you’ll live on

this planet. Overworking “show muscles” too often comes at the expense of a functional,

full-body routine. Double down on a diverse workout scheme and a diet without non-

processed ingredients, and you’ll naturally arrive at a tighter core, anyway.

49. Ask for help

Recruiting a family member or friend for advice on your longevity fitness journey — or

hiring a personal trainer or scheduling a consultation with an exercise physiologist — is

not a sign of weakness. It’s the ultimate sign that you’re ready for change, committed to

turning your life around and determined to get more life out of it in the process.

50. Don’t ride a motorcycle

Motorcycles look great, but their mortality numbers don’t. According to the NHTSA,

motorcyclists are 35 times more likely to have a fatal accident than car drivers. Even

survival comes with a cost: 96% of motorcycle accidents result in injury.

51. Don’t eat processed foods

Foodstuffs with added sugar, sodium and fat are killing us all. Processed food isn’t

supposed to be easy to give up (it comprises over half the “dietary energy consumed” in

the United States and United Kingdom). But it’s critical that you cut back. Frozen pizzas,

mayonnaise, Oreos and the like drastically increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.

52. Don’t ingest tobacco

Not to sound like an elementary school health teacher, but it really is this simple. Right

behind diet, tobacco use is the leading cause of “premature, preventable death” in the

United States. And while we usually associate cigarettes with lung cancer, nicotine use

can also cause cancer in the throat, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder and

cervix.

53. Don’t smoke e-cigarettes

The majority of e-cigarettes have nicotine in them, but all of them have chemicals that will

irritate your lungs. Consider: they contain propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin (which

are toxic to cells), acetaldehyde and formaldehyde (which can cause lung or heart disease) and acrolein (a herbicide that’s usually used to kill weeds).

54. Don’t binge drink

The CDC: “A pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration

(BAC) to 0.08 g/dl or above.” Think seven drinks or so per binge, with several binges a

month. Health experts unilaterally agree that this is a bad idea. One study even

determined that drinking 25 drinks per week at age 40 can shorten life expectancy by up

to five years.

55. Don’t drive under impairment

Every hour, someone dies from a drunk-driving incident in America. That’s over 30% of

annual road deaths in the country. Even if you’re a responsible driver, remember to

prepare for those who aren’t (always wear a seat belt!) and assess other ways you

engage in distracted driving. Sending one text takes your eyes off the road for five

seconds.

56. Don’t overeat

Calorie restriction can play a small part in adding years to your life, but unchecked calorie

intake plays a very loud role in taking them away. The average American eats 3,600

calories a day (up nearly 25% from the 1960s), and the national obesity rate sits at

42.4%. Obesity coincides with common comorbidities like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension

and cancer.

57. Don’t eat more protein than you need

The scientific research on this is pretty clear, as much as it may shock the biggest guy at

your gym. A reduced protein intake “plays a critical role in longevity and metabolic

health.” Most American men currently average twice the amount of protein they need daily. That comes with too much IGF-1, a growth factor that accelerates aging.

58. Don’t stay in a stressful job

A study published in 2015 found that sticking with a tough job — with an unreasonable

boss, little social support or looming layoffs — can literally take two years off your life. A

paycheck is a paycheck, but when a job starts exerting massive mental stress over you,

the body can’t tell if the initial trigger is mental or physical. It’ll fall apart either way.

59. Don’t hold a grudge

Happy people live longer. Improve your happiness by practising “epistemic humility,” an

intellectual virtue predicated on the idea that one can never know something for sure. It’s

meant to help us admit our imperfections and forgive others. Sounds too good to be true

in the 2020s? All the more reason to give it a try.

60. Don’t blame your genes

When less than 25% of your genetics are accountable for your personal longevity, it

doesn’t make much sense to deterministically pin your fate (or blame your behaviours) on

what happened to your parents or grandparents. Learn your familial risks, yes, but

approach your daily actions and decisions with confidence and hope.