Health is Wealth! Get Some!
Your Lifestyle Matters Most for Aging: The way you age is largely determined by your lifestyle, accounting for 70% or more, rather than just genetics. Simple changes can have a huge impact on your "health span," meaning how long you remain disease-free and feel good.
Move Your Body Regularly: Being sedentary is considered a disease, potentially increasing the risk of early mortality even more than conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or smoking.
Exercise for Your Brain: Regular exercise can prevent the shrinkage of the hippocampus (the brain area vital for learning and memory) and can even make it grow by 1-2% per year. This can help you stay cognitively sharp as you age.
Vigorous Exercise is Key: To dramatically improve your cardiorespiratory fitness (a strong predictor of longevity), engage in vigorous intensity exercise where your heart rate is high and you can't hold a conversation.
Try HIIT Protocols: Examples include the Norwegian 4x4 (four 4-minute hard intervals with 4-minute recovery periods, best on a stationary bike or rowing machine) or one-minute on, one-minute off (10 times for a 20-minute workout). Even 10 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise can be more beneficial than just hitting 10,000 steps.
Exercise Reverses Heart Aging: A two-year intense exercise routine (including Norwegian 4x4) was shown to make 50-year-olds' hearts look like 30-year-olds' hearts, reversing structural changes and stiffness.
Optimize Your Nutrition with Key Vitamins and Minerals:
Vitamin D is Crucial: Vitamin D deficiency can increase dementia risk by 80%. Supplementing with Vitamin D3 can reduce this risk by 40%. Aim for blood levels between 40-60 or 80 nanograms per milliliter; about 4,000 IUs per day can often achieve this.
Don't Miss Magnesium: Around 50% of the U.S. population doesn't get enough magnesium. It's essential for over 300 enzymes, including those for DNA repair (which helps prevent cancer) and energy production. People with the highest magnesium levels have a 40% lower all-cause mortality and 50% lower cancer-related mortality. Dark leafy greens are a great source.
Omega-3s are as Important as Avoiding Smoking: Having a low omega-3 index (from not eating enough seafood or supplementing) is associated with the same mortality risk as smoking. A high omega-3 index (8% or higher) is linked to a five-year increased life expectancy. You can achieve this by eating fatty fish like salmon or taking 1-2 grams of fish oil daily. Omega-3s also help resolve inflammation, which plays a role in depression.
Consider a Multivitamin: Large clinical trials have shown that a simple multivitamin can improve cognition, processing speed, and episodic memory in older adults, comparable to reducing the aging of episodic memory by five years.
Creatine for Brain Boost: While often seen as a "gym bro" supplement, creatine profoundly affects the brain, especially under stress (like sleep deprivation, high cognitive load, or depression). Doses around 10-20 grams per day can improve cognitive function, negate sleep deprivation effects, and potentially reduce cancer risk. Vegans, who get little dietary creatine, can particularly benefit.
Reduce Refined Sugars: High intake of refined sugar and carbohydrates can stiffen your heart, damage your vascular system, and lead to brain atrophy (shrinkage), even at glucose levels considered "normal but high".
Prioritize Quality Sleep: Deep sleep is crucial for activating the brain's "glymphatic system," which clears out harmful proteins like amyloid plaques that contribute to Alzheimer's disease. Try to stop eating at least three hours before bedtime to improve sleep quality.
Explore Fasting and Time-Restricted Eating: Fasting periods can activate cellular clean-up processes like "autophagy," which removes damaged cellular components, including those in the brain linked to Alzheimer's. Aim for at least 16 hours of fasting to potentially activate autophagy. If you fast, ensure you meet your daily protein needs and do resistance training to maintain muscle mass.
Incorporate Heat Exposure:
Traditional Saunas Offer Significant Benefits: Regular use of hot, traditional saunas (4-7 times a week) is associated with a 50% lower cardiovascular-related mortality and a 40% lower all-cause mortality. Saunas mimic moderate exercise by increasing heart rate and blood flow, and can even add to the benefits of exercise. They can also increase growth hormone and IGF-2, which are linked to improved memory and learning.
Hot Tubs: Similar to saunas, hot tubs can also improve blood pressure and offer comparable benefits.
Minimize Exposure to Toxins:
Beware of Microplastics: Heating plastic-lined paper coffee cups or plastic tea bags significantly increases the leaching of microplastics and harmful chemicals like BPA and BPS (even in "BPA-free" products) into your beverages.
Filter Your Water: Pesticides and herbicides, often used in agriculture and on golf courses, can contaminate water sources and are linked to diseases like Parkinson's. Using a reverse osmosis water filter can help.
Limit Alcohol: For individuals with the APOE4 genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (about 25% of the population), there's no safe amount of alcohol if concerned about dementia risk.
It's Never Too Late (or Too Early): The brain-boosting benefits of exercise can be seen even in people starting in their 60s. Similarly, simple supplement changes can begin to yield benefits at any age. Making intentional choices about health and family planning early can help prevent future regrets. #fhBlogSquad
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