Have you ever heard someone say that as they age, they find it harder to stay fit, sleep, maintain energy, build muscle or lose fat? Today, we’ll dive into why and how to live longer and better.
The first segment for today is the introduction to the blueprint & it covers:
- Aging & Its 5 Deadly Downsides
- Why we age & why we don’t have to
- The 8 Simple Habits to Increase Lifespan
- How to also extend healthspan (the quality of years)
Resources Mentioned in this Episode
Episode timestamps:
[00:01:19] – Why are some performing better?
[00:02:20] – Aging and it’s 5 deadly downsides
[00:03:08] – How living fit to improves happiness and success
[00:04:40] – The 8 habits to Increase Lifespan
[00:06:00] – Dr. Peter Attia’s Lifespan vs Healthspan
[00:07:54] – Finding a protocol that works and having a system and accountability
Transcript
* This transcript was mostly generated by AI, so please excuse any mistakes, and enjoy!
00:00:00 Hello and welcome to Live Fit, Ignite Change. Have you ever heard someone say that as they age, they find it harder to stay fit, sleep, maintain energy, build muscle or lose fat? Today, we’ll dive into why and how to live longer and better.
00:00:15 Hi, I’m Patrick O’Donnell, and on this show, we cover how to live a fit life so you can ignite peak health and performance and thrive in all areas of life so you can make the kind of impact that you were called to make. We’ll share the links to the free guide, show notes and tips in the description of this podcast and on LiveFitIgniteChange.com.
00:00:35 The next few episodes will be a bit of a departure from the norm, we’ll still have guest episodes, yet the next few will be shorter on specific topics from our course, the Ignite Performance Blueprint, which shares the blueprint we’ve used with driven executives to reverse aging and perform at their best.
00:00:53 The first segment for today is on the introduction to the blueprint and it covers aging and its five deadly downsides. Why we age and why we don’t have to, the eight simple habits to increase lifespan and how to also extend health span, which is the quality of years. Plus it starts off with a bit harsh of a question, yet it’s one that’s good to ask ourselves. So with that, here we go.
00:01:18 Why are some performing and you are not? If you’re not in the shape you wanna be in, you have to ask yourself one question. Why are some executives in peak health performing well and living fully in all areas of life while you are struggling. We’ve seen it over and over again with our clients before starting our program. They just weren’t performing like they did when they were younger. And there were really only three reasons for that.
00:01:42 One, they hadn’t responded to the changes taking place with age. Two, they hadn’t followed a protocol that worked for them and their specific personalized circumstances. Or three, they didn’t have a system in place to make it last. Yet it really wasn’t their fault. I mean, there’s a ton of misinformation out there and it’s no wonder that more people are out of shape today, physically and mentally, than ever before with obesity, depression, and obesity-related diseases at their highest levels ever. So why is this? Why do we actually age and decline in health as we do? So what is aging and its five deadly downsides?
00:02:22 Aging, at least scientifically, the way people explain it, it’s defined as the functional decline of a living organism over a period of time. Now, as we age, there are five areas where we functionally decline. One, cognitive abilities, two, the immune system, three, sexual wellness, four, the musculoskeletal system, and five, aesthetics. And including aesthetics may seem vain, but if you have seen the stats, you may know that 79% of Americans report feeling unhappy about how they look and feel yet those who take time to focus on living fit are three times happier, 75% versus 25% and report being more successful and ambitious, 74% versus 26%.
00:03:10 So this is an area that if we focus on, it will make us happier, more successful, more ambitious. And so with that, we’ll get into what we like to say is why we age and why we don’t have to. And if we were to look at the science of biological aging or senescence as it’s called, and why we age, you’d hear reasons defined by scientists cited such as epigenetic dysregulation or mitochondrial dysfunction or telomere shortening or senescence or zombie cells and the decline in stem cells over time as we age. Then to turn back the clock of aging, you’d see options on how to correct these.
00:03:46 And yeah, while the advancement in science and aging has been phenomenal in the past couple of years and there really are some miracle cures. We are not covering those high tech solutions here. You can get there, but there’s another step first. It’s been said that 80% of turning back the clock of aging comes from that something else. And then once you get that something else in place, that’s when you can then move onto those high tech options that could become options to cover the remaining 20%.
00:04:05 So what’s that 80%? It’s pretty simple. It’s lifestyle factors, it’s how you live. There was a recent study done of over 700,000 veterans that showed how men can live 24 years longer and women can live 21 years longer with eight simple steps. So what are those eight simple steps to increase lifespan? We’ll go through them in the order from lowest to highest impact.
00:04:44 So first off, the factor that was associated with a 5% increase in death was one, lack of positive social relationships. Then moving on to the factors associated with around a 20% increase in risk of death. Two was poor sleep. Three, poor diet. Four, binge drinking and five, stress. And then the factors associated with a 30 to 45% higher risk of death were six, smoking, seven, opioid addiction and eight, low physical activity.
00:05:16 And those likely don’t come as a big surprise. We know we should adopt these eight habits to be physically active, steer clear of opioid addiction, never smoke, manage stress, enjoy foods that fuel our body, cut out binge drinking, enjoy great sleep, and nurture positive social bonds. Yet, if we know these, why don’t we do them?
00:05:37 It seems like people know what to do, but as we age, we take on more responsibility and our bodies change. So without counteracting those changes, we just don’t perform as we did before. And this is not just about living longer. It’s also about living better, healthier lives. So not just about extending lifespan, but it’s also about extending healthspan. So we can make an impact and make memories over time. It’s about living better now and in the future.
00:06:08 So typical lifespan looks like this. And if you’re watching this, you can see the chart. If not, if you’re just listening, I’ll describe it. Where basically you think of the one axis is the health span. This is your healthy years and then the other is lifespan and that’s your gears alive. And typically as it goes down, it starts to decline really early and steadily as we age until you end up at death. Yet the point is it doesn’t have to be this way. Dr. Peter Attia does a really wonderful job as describing this.
00:06:36 So if you look at the next slide, or again, I’ll describe it if you’re listening, with the optimal lifestyle factors, we really can extend not just the quantity of years, but also the quality of life, extending health span. And the idea here is where that typical curve had the slow and steady decline to death, this is the increased health span that stays out over time. So you’re staying healthier, living with vitality, able to do the things you wanna do for much longer.
00:07:03 And then right before death, it would drop off much more, I guess you say faster. It reminds me of what Marxist and always says, but he says something like, live long, drop dead, which he is trying to say there is just live a great life, be able to do whatever you want to do and not have that steady decline where you’re just gonna have living out your last few years not really able to do anything. So this is about living better, longer, healthier lives.
00:07:28 And with that, in the health analysis that we use with clients based on biomarkers from blood tests, you can see your biological age versus your actual age. And you can see if you have any deficiencies and what you need to do to correct course, to lower your biological age, to get back to where you need to be. So the goal here is to find a protocol that works for you and ensure that you have a system and accountability to make sure you do it. So you can improve your health and your performance and live a longer, better, healthier life.
00:08:01 So I hope you enjoyed that. As mentioned, this was the intro to the blueprint and we’ll dive deeper and into the how-to in each of the subsequent episodes. Yet we always suggest taking a moment to apply what you’ve heard. So for today, is there a change that you’d like to make, a habit that you’d like to form, so that you can enjoy the benefits of it now and have even greater vitality in your later years?
00:08:24 If you need to improve physical activity level, it could start with making a goal to get more steps in each day and scheduling time to do it. Or it could be completing a health and performance analysis to see the areas where you could improve. Maybe it’s taking steps to reach out to a friend to deepen a social relationship, and then they could be your accountability partner in the journey to a more fit life.
00:08:46 Also, be sure to subscribe so you can hear the next episodes when we cover the specific how-tos. And for this episode, you can find all the tips and resources in the show notes at LiveFitIgniteChange.com/HealthSpan.
00:09:01 If you resonated with this and would like to go deeper, there are a few ways to get started. Our goal is to share how we’ve guided purpose-driven leaders and organizations to ignite peak performance in less time without questionable medications.
00:09:14 So you can one, join our community of high performers to get access to our kickstart resources, ebook, the blueprint, and accompanying PDFs for free at livefitignitechange.com/start. Two, If you have a question, you can connect with me on LinkedIn and send a message to ask any question. The link is also at LiveFitIgniteChange.com/connect. Or three, if you’re the type who prefers to fast track results with a personalized plan, guidance and accountability to ensure results for you and or your organization, you can book a free assessment call at LiveFitIgniteChange.com/call.
00:09:54 And finally, since we’ve been talking about igniting performance and change, my family and I are igniting the change that we wish to see in the world. We were sick of all the process, sugar-loaded foods and drinks marketed to us, especially to our youth. So we’re developing a line of truly delicious, brain-free, sugar-free products that student athletes and home-to-go adults love as part of our Inrive performance nutrition brand. Learn more and join the Inrive insiders for free to be the first to hear about samples, launch parties, and specials at inrive.com. That’s I-N-R-I-V-E.com. Thank you so much for tuning in.
00:10:30 And I certainly hope you received value from this. If so, please help spread the word. The best way to do that is by subscribing, leaving a five-star review on the podcast, or liking and commenting on YouTube, and sharing this episode with someone you find helpful. It means so much to us, and it may change a life for someone else. That’s what’s needed to reach more and serve more. So together, we truly can ignite the change that we wish to see. Thank you for your help. I hope you make it an outstanding day. Go forth to light, love, and serve the world, and live the life you’ve always imagined.
