Peter Attia: The Secret of a Long Life
When you think of Longevity, you think of Peter Attia or David Sinclair .
Two visionaries with a different vision on increasing your health and lifespan.
One (Peter Attia) with full focus on Healthspan , so that the quality of your life is as great as possible and that you are still there when the world of magic pills, personal medicine and other longevity therapies opens up.
The other (David Sinclair) focuses on lifespan (how do you live to be 150) and the early science that is working on slowing down and reversing the aging process, also known as reverse aging .
Your last 10 years
Peter Attia is a technician who started as an oncological surgeon and after a side step towards strategy consultancy (Mc Kinsey), he fully focused on longevity. He is crazy about data and uses this data to help you and us in a practical way to be able to do what we like independently for as long as possible.
He has a goal for this that he calls “ Marginal Decade ”.
What most people don't seem to grasp is the fact that your current health situation determines how you live the last 10 years (marginal decade).
Now you may think, "I don't care, that's something for then", but by focusing on improving those last ten years, your quality of life will also increase enormously at this moment.
So win-win.
Centenarian Decathlon
To become, as Peter Attia puts it, a " Kick-Ass 100-Year-Old ", you have to train like you're actually going to get there.
In his book, Outlive , he encourages you to think about the top ten physical tasks you want to be able to do for the rest of your life and then train to do those things – a concept he calls the "Centenarian Decathlon " . named
Peter Attia's list
- Stand on one leg for thirty seconds, eyes open (bonus points: eyes closed, fifteen seconds)
- Carry two bags of groceries weighing 2.3 kilograms each for five blocks
- Lift a nine-kilogram suitcase into the overhead bin of an airplane
- Get off the ground independently, using a maximum of one arm for support
- Do thirty consecutive jumps with a skipping rope
- Hike 2.4 kilometers on a hilly path
- Climb four flights of stairs in three minutes
- Lift a young child off the ground
- Open a jar
- Have sex
From those ten important physical tasks, you can calculate (reverse engineering) what you need to be able to do now in order to still be able to do the same at the age of 70, let's say.
Think about how strong you need to be now and how good your fitness needs to be now. But also how good your stability should be and your cognitive ability .
Because one thing is certain for now, we will deteriorate and eventually die.
This decline varies, but for your fitness (calculated in VO2Max), for example, it is 10% per 10 years.
In addition, the most important condition for being in good physical condition during the last 10 years of your life is not to get sick .
'Generally speaking, if everything in your life is a 6 or 7 out of 10, taking your exercise to a 10 out of 10 is going to have a “greater impact on both the length and quality of your life than any of the other domains that I can think of ” says Peter'
The 4 Horsemen by Peter Attia
What are the three biggest causes of death? Peter Attia calls these the three horsemen, also known as:
- Cancer
- Heart and vascular disease
- Brain Disorders
- Type 2 diabetes and related metabolic diseases
In principle, we die from or with one of these diseases.
But you don't get sick from one day to the next. This is how you are viewed in healthcare.
The phase before you become ill has many stages. You want to identify those stages and you also want to anticipate them.
Metabolic Disease
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or does not respond properly to insulin, leading to elevated blood sugar levels. It is often associated with factors such as obesity, lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet.
Related metabolic dysfunction refers to a range of conditions that often accompany type 2 diabetes, such as insulin resistance, high blood pressure and abnormal levels of cholesterol or triglycerides in the blood. These conditions increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Together they often form the so-called "metabolic syndrome".
Heart and vascular disease
According to Peter Attia, in 2023 it will no longer be necessary to die from cardiovascular disease. You can die with cardiovascular disease, but no longer from heart disease.
You can see this coming from a mile away, provided you check the correct values and start early.
Cardiovascular damage also occurs from your teenage years. In addition to lifestyle, genetic factors also play a role.
You only need to check this genetic predisposition once and then you will know whether you need to be extra careful compared to people without this predisposition.
Finally, we can do quite a lot about this at the moment with the right medication and treatments.
Cancer & Dementia
Cancer has a greater bad luck factor. And if you do get it, medical science, which Peter calls Medicine 2.0, has made relatively little progress when you look at the cure or the 5 and 10-year survival.
For many cancers, early diagnosis increases your chance of proper treatment exponentially. For example, colon cancer is very treatable if you detect it in the first phase.
Dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the best-known form, cannot be treated. However, you can reduce the risk of this. Here too, there may be a genetic predisposition that increases your chance of obtaining it by up to 12x.
For both horsemen, you should exert as much influence as possible to prevent these diseases from developing or to delay them for as long as possible.
Top 6 Research
Peter Attia tests his clients extensively. From fitness and strength tests to medical examinations such as Dexa-Scan, blood tests or CT-Scan.
But the 5 most important studies to estimate your risk of developing 1 of the 3 horsemen are:
- Lp(a), ApoB, Oxidized LDL (Cardiovascular Diseases)
- ALT, AST (Liver)
- Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (Pre-diabetes)
- APOE Genotype (Alzheimer's Risk Analysis)
- VO2Max exercise test
- DexaScan
Think of these as the silent sentinels that, if properly monitored, can reveal crucial information about your health and longevity potential.
Time for action
Knowledge without action has no value. Once you know where you stand on the health spectrum, and you also know where you should be, you can start your own Centenarian Decathlon .
The big advantage is that you have the time.
Based on the data you can:
- VO2Max up?
- Fat mass down?
- Increased muscle growth?
- Improve stability?
- Blood sugar level down?
We call this training for later, no longer training for your ego.
Conclusion
So before you throw in the towel and give up hope for a healthy and long life, remember the words and wisdom of Peter Attia.
There is so much that can be done to correct your choices , and it all starts with having the right information, listening to your body, and taking proactive steps to stay on the right path.
As the world continues its busy and often overwhelming business, remember this:
“The journey to a longer, healthier life is one that requires careful attention, dedication and a deep understanding of your body and health.”
And in this journey, Dr. Peter Attia a guide who shows the way with knowledge and insight.
Peter Attia Starter Package
Just like Peter, we focus on mapping your current vitality, the different stages of health.
The most important studies that give you the most concrete information to optimize your marginal decade and your current life are:
- Blood tests
- DexaScan
- VO2Max Exercise Test
- OGTT
- APOE Genotype
