1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
We are living longer. That’s a fact.
Lifespans have nearly doubled since the late 1800s, Dr. Peter Attia writes in his compelling book Outlive.
But when we look at the data, as Northwestern University economist Robert J. Gordon has done, we learn something surprising.
When we subtract deaths from the eight top infectious diseases at the time, “which were largely brought under control by the advent of antibiotics in the 1930s, overall mortality rates declined relatively little over the course of the twentieth century,” Peter notes.
2: It’s not from a lack of trying. Or money.
Peter writes: “Modern medicine has thrown an unbelievable amount of effort and resources at each of these diseases,”
But progress has been slow or non-existent. Cardiovascular disease is the one bright spot where mortality rates have dropped by two-thirds in about sixty years.
“Death rates from cancer, on the other hand, have hardly budged in the more than fifty years since the War on Cancer was declared,” Peter notes, “despite hundreds of billions of dollars worth of public and private spending on research.
“Type 2 diabetes remains a raging public health crisis, showing no signs of abating, and Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative diseases stalk our growing elderly population, with virtually no effective treatments on the horizon,” Peter observes.
3: So, what are we to do?
The answer, Peter believes, is what he calls Medicine 3.0.
Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and type 2 diabetes build slowly over time.
These diseases “generally take a very long time to kill you,” Peter writes, “Even when someone dies ‘suddenly’ of a heart attack, the disease had likely been progressing in their coronary arteries for two decades.
Which is why Medicine 3.0 focuses on prevention rather than treatment.
Our goal becomes to “delay or prevent these conditions so that we can live longer without disease, rather than lingering with disease.”
I’m getting ready to participate in an online program Peter is offering. I look forward to sharing some of the learnings in future RiseWithDrew posts.
More next week!
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Reflection: Take a moment to be grateful for modern medicine!
Action: Share the good news about Medicine 3.0 with a friend, colleague, or family member.