1: Apple founder Steve Jobs once stated: “Almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

“Remembering that we are going to die,” Steve said, “is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking we have something to lose. We are already naked.”

So, let’s imagine our funeral.

“Close … continue reading

1: Sophie was “a vibrant, athletic woman who had seemed ageless,” Dr. Peter Attia writes in his book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.

One afternoon, when she was in her early seventies, she slipped while working in her garden and tore a muscle in her shoulder. 

That began a steep physical decline. Her “back and neck pain was so severe,” Peter writes, “that she could no longer … continue reading

1: Question: “When was the last time your doctor tested your grip strength or asked you a detailed question about your strength training?” Dr. Peter Attia asks in his powerful book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity

Does our doctor know our VO2 max, the highest amount of oxygen we can use during intense exercise (a key measure of cardiovascular fitness)? Have they provided any training suggestions for … continue reading

1: “The strong association between cardiorespiratory fitness and longevity has long been known,” Dr. Peter Attia writes in his powerful book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. .

What may be more surprising is that our strength is also powerfully correlated with living longer.

“A ten-year observational study of roughly 4,500 subjects ages fifty and older,” Peter writes, “found that those with low muscle mass were at 40 … continue reading

1: Recommendations around exercise are often “very specific (e.g., how to train for your first marathon) or overly vague (e.g., ‘Just keep moving!’),” Dr. Peter Attia writes in his powerful book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.

“Or they emphasize “cardio” over “weights,” or vice versa,” he notes.

Peter believes there is a better way. He sees exercise through the lens of longevity: How can we utilize exercise … continue reading

1: “If you’ve ever seen a picture of your mother or father as a young adult, you know how startling it can be,” Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz write in The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness.  

“They seem like people we might have met along the road rather than the parents who created us,” the authors observe.  “They often appear less burdened, more … continue reading

1: The Harvard Study of Adult Development is the longest in-depth longitudinal study of human life ever done.  The study has followed the lives of 724 individuals beginning when they were teenagers, and now spans over three generations and includes an additional 1,300 of their descendants.

“For eighty-four years (and counting), the Harvard Study has tracked the same individuals, asking thousands of questions and taking hundreds of measurements to find … continue reading

1: “Let’s say you are a fifty-year-old woman, and you enjoy hiking in the mountains,”   Peter Attia MD writes in Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity..  

“That’s how you want to spend your retirement.”  

Yesterday, we examined the correlation between longevity and our VO2 max, the maximum rate at which our bodies can utilize oxygen.

VO2 max “turns out to be highly correlated with longevity,” Peter … continue reading

That’s one of the questions  Peter Attia MD explores in Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.

The answer is a technical one: Peak aerobic cardiorespiratory fitness, measured in terms of VO2 max.

So what exactly is VO2 max? It is the maximum rate at which we can utilize oxygen. The more oxygen our bodies are able to use, the higher our VO2 max.

And how is VO2 max … continue reading

1: What if there was a drug that would reduce our risk of dying by 14 percent?

How popular would that drug be?

The good news is that we don’t have to wait.  That drug exists.  And it goes by the name “exercise.”

“Going from zero weekly exercise to just ninety minutes per week can reduce your risk of dying from all causes by 14 percent,”  Peter Attia, MD … continue reading