Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday! A topic I spoke about a few weeks ago was inspired by that documentary about the blue zones which I recommended at the time. This week I listened to a podcast with Peter Attia that I will recommend a bit later which brought some similar principles to mind about longevity. So today I thought we’d cover a few principles that I believe are essential to living a life full of purpose and quality.
We’ll start with a term from Attia which he used in the podcast that I loved, which was health span. Our society and modern medicine are obsessed with prolonging what we call lifespan. Unfortunately, because of the way our healthcare system is structured many practices and treatments are aimed at extending life expectancy without extending the quality of life. So instead of focusing more on lifespan, these practices that we’ll talk about are aimed at extending our health span.
The first practice we’ll discuss that helps extend our health span is being able to sit on the floor. I know that sounds ridiculous but don’t close out your internet tab just yet! Sitting on the floor provides more value than what it offers at face value. It requires the mobility to physically sit on the floor, the balance to get up and down, and the core strength to get yourself upright. Your first thought might be “That’s dumb.” But as we get older we have fewer reasons to get down on the floor (compared to when we are babies playing with blocks on the floor as a full-time job). Then, unfortunately, when the elderly or obese fall, they don’t have the strength and coordination to get back up.
I get almost all of my clients at the gym on the floor to do exercises for this exact reason. I encourage them to get a nice floor cushion to sit on at home while they’re watching TV or reading a book so that they can practice getting up and back down. If you’re sitting at a desk all day for work then you would also benefit tremendously from sitting on the floor after work while you’re watching Netflix or scrolling on your phone. It will help your hips, core, and back, and help you continue to move better as you get older.
The second practice I believe that is essential to working on a quality lifespan is working on grip strength and body weight exercises. This also seems crazy until you look at it in terms of real-life practices. When we were younger, we hung from monkey bars, crawled around, and lifted our body weight to navigate the world around us. As we get older, we don’t fund ourselves or put ourselves in situations that require us to support our body weight. But if we look at people who are living these healthy and successful lives long-term, we see they remain strong and mobile.
Exercises I do with my clients at the gym include hanging from a bar and a farmer’s carry (carrying a heavy weight at your side). The farmer’s carry is similar to being able to carry a heavy grocery bag. The hanging from the bar is less representative of a situation you may find yourself in in real life but the imagery of hanging off a cliff is sometimes a fun way to motivate people to push themselves a little longer. And for a 60+ year-old to be able to hold their bodyweight is totally badass!
The third skill that lends to a quality health span is balance. This is another activity we used to do as kids but as we get older we find ourselves in fewer situations that challenge us. As kids, we balance on one leg, jump from surface to surface, and do other more precarious activities. But as we get older, we do fewer things balancing on one leg. Then because we haven’t practiced stabilizing purposefully, as we get older we become more prone to falling when we accidentally find ourselves on an unstable surface.
Doing exercises that help us practice balance are so, so important both for injury prevention and for strength. These can be incorporated with doing single-leg exercises for strength training, jumping, and reactive training. While I may not have my 75-year-old clients doing single-leg box jumps, they are definitely practicing single-leg balances and even navigating uneven surfaces like airex pads and bosu balls for those of you interested in the more technical side of things. (a forewarning to practice balance exercise safely please!)
While these are only a few of the physical components that contribute to a quality health span, they are so important to make sure we grow older with the strength and ability to navigate our world. Unfortunately, working in healthcare, especially in the ICU, I see so many people who don’t take care of themselves. These people probably haven’t sat on the floor, held up their own body weight, or practiced balancing in years or decades. We can give them medicine, do surgery, and send them on their way, but we know they’ll be back if they don’t change the way they live their lives.
In the words of Peter Attia, “The [goal] should be [to be] the most kickass 100-year-old that ever lived.” Not just to live longer because modern medicine has made it possible, but to live fully and capably. If that’s your goal, then make sure you incorporate these exercises into your routines. Get on the floor more, do some body-weight exercises, and practice standing on one leg. All for the sake of living our best lives for as long as we live.
If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM. Or visit https://walshwellness.weebly.com/ for older editions and if you’d like to subscribe.
This week my podcast recommendation is from Tom Bilyeu’s Impact Theory, “Food Lies You Believe! Truth about Protein, Muscle, Alcohol, and Exercise for Longevity with Peter Attia.” Peter Attia has made it his life’s work to research and practice put into practice what will contribute to living a long, quality life. I believe part of my life’s purpose is to help more people live their best quality lives so this was right up my alley (and hopefully yours too).
With that, let me know what you do in your life already that contributes to these goals and what you plan on adding after reading this edition. Also, I am moving the newsletter over to a more official platform so let me know what you like, don’t like, and any thoughts you have! I’m always open to feedback as I work on continuing to learn and expand.
Until next time,
Shannon
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