“Conscientiousness is the biggest single predictor, much more so than socioeconomic status, of how your life is going to turn out at any age.”
I’m not sure where I got the idea that we will live until 120, on average, but that is my standard go-to for rationalizing why we need to live a healthy lifestyle. If I’m going to be around for another 80-something years, I’d better make sure those years are worth living — not spent decaying in a chair watching daytime television.
As the book highlights, we have a lifespan and a health span. Presumably, you need to optimize the second one as much as possible. Because what good is making it to 100 if the last 30 years are spent in pain and confusion?
Aging brings about an entire encyclopedia of inflammatory, autoimmune, muscular, skeletal, and cerebral problems, pains, and diseases.
Not to mention the feeling of becoming useless and replaceable, as well as becoming more difficult to change your lifelong patterns as you age — have you ever tried to help someone improve their diet and fitness when they are 70 years old?
Thus, this book highlights several scientifically studied ways of enhancing our health span beyond retirement. And Levitin, being a neuroscientist, doesn’t deal in vague platitudes. He brings ACTUAL data to the table, which is exactly what I look for in books like this.
Medicinal and Technological
Unlike even 50 years ago, medical technology such as new drugs, brain scanning, and brain interfacing will allow us to artificially enhance our abilities well beyond our biological limits.
Taking medicines for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and even vaccines against cancer is now a reality.
Taking brain stimulants such as ADHD pharmaceuticals can give us an edge that would otherwise be lacking as our brains start to slow down.
Almost every day, there is a new discovery of what we can boost, enhance, delete, heal, and recover using medical technology. The question is no longer whether we CAN extend our capabilities — it’s whether we have the discipline to take advantage of what already exists.
Social and Psychological
Data continues to reveal why some seniors can outlive their peers, simply based on sociological factors, such as having long-lasting friends, family, and cherished memories.
While money and things may provide temporary joys, it’s the experiences that you hold onto with those around you that will bring a scientifically studied ability to prolong lifespans.
Even something simple like taking care of an animal or even a plant can prolong hope and longing into the future, thus extending your lifespan.
I think about this when I travel. Some of the happiest elderly people I’ve met weren’t wealthy by any measure. They were surrounded by grandchildren, neighbors, and decades of shared stories. That social fabric does more for their health than any supplement ever could.
Fitness and Keeping Active
Being sedentary is probably the absolute biggest enemy to aging successfully.
Study after study shows humans need to continue physical activity, starting from an early life, to produce physical resilience and endurance into old age.
Even with various injuries, it’s essential to keep active to ensure your fleshy body is constantly activating the repair and regeneration mechanisms.
Furthermore, exercise produces a substantial number of endorphins that keep us mentally alert and psychologically positive.
And here’s the kicker — it doesn’t have to be CrossFit or marathon running. Even walking, gardening, or swimming consistently can make an ENORMOUS difference. The bar is not as high as people think. The problem is most people don’t even reach for it.
Mental Gymnastics
Seniors who are well past their prime, going into their 70s, 80s, and even 90s, continue to engage themselves through constant mental challenges.
Whether it’s the pianist who can no longer use his fingers to play, or the multinational enterprise CEO who continues to run a successful business with his experience — seniors who never step off the gas pedal to engage themselves mentally continue to excel cognitively into old age, thus being able to offer an even deeper sense of experience and patience to us newbies.
This is why I’m such a huge advocate for reading. Your brain is a muscle in every practical sense — stop using it, and it atrophies. Puzzles, languages, new skills, heated debates — all of it keeps the machinery running.
Diet
The most important science to come out in the last decade has been the gut-brain connection.
Study upon study has shown that a poor, inflammatory diet will 100% lead to a decline across all categories of well-being.
Even more importantly, 90% of your serotonin (which influences your learning, memory, happiness, body temperature, sleep, sexual behavior, and hunger) is released by your gut bacteria.
Thus, if you eat garbage (oily foods) and drink garbage (alcohol), guess what? That encyclopedia of diseases is coming for you.
Retirement Is the Path to Unhappiness
And finally, retirement — while it may be pleasurable in the short term — we humans seem to love the drama of living.
Doing nothing is boring and will lead to mental decay. Seniors who retired without pursuing something else worthy of their skillsets ended up less happy.
The drama of living involves solving things, engaging in social discourse and debate, taking care of others, and keeping yourself engaged as much as possible.
Have you ever gone to a resort to relax for a few days, only to find yourself completely bored out of your mind just a few days in? That restless itch to DO something — that is your biology telling you that you are built for purpose, not leisure. The seniors who thrived were the ones who never truly “stopped.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, this is a fantastic book for the scientifically savvy among us, who love evidence over trivial exaggerations, catchphrases, or generic recommendations like “do exercise, read more, eat healthy,” etc.
It’s not an easy book to read at times, since it does go into some deep brain, chemical, and biological science. But when you understand the bigger picture, this book is essential to becoming a happy, healthy 80-, 90-, 100-, 110-, and 120-year-old.
If you are already investing in your health — physical, mental, and social — this book will validate what you are doing and give you the neuroscience to back it up. If you are NOT investing in those things yet, consider this your wake-up call.
5 Stars.
Thanks for reading.
— Leonidas
