Today marks the 37th anniversary of my father's passing. He passed away before reaching age 58. My sisters in Beijing are going to have dumplings to remember the day. We talked a lot about getting the most out of our lives.
Yesterday, a friend of mine recommended a book on longevity: Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford. I wish my father could have lived long enough to benefit from this book.
The book provides a blueprint for a longer and better life, focusing on exercise, nutrition, sleep, and emotional/mental health. The authors claim that no other longevity drug is more potent than exercise. They discuss at length the benefits of exercise, noting that those who exercise regularly live a decade longer than sedentary seniors and that we should strive to be athletes for life.
Exercise reduces the risk of all Four Horsemen: heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and type 2 diabetes and related metabolic dysfunction. It boosts your metabolism, making your body run healthier and better at repairing itself.
Related to exercise is the importance of maintaining muscle mass. By the time people reach age 80, they will have lost 40% of their muscle mass compared to when they were 20. The speed of muscle loss increases with age, and the older you get, the harder it is to gain muscle.
Therefore, the earlier you start building and accumulating muscle, the better. The authors compare muscle accumulation to saving money for retirement: start saving when you're young so that you have money to spend when you retire. Similarly, start building your muscle mass when you are young so you have muscle to rely on in old age.
It's the same logic. Just as you can't wait until you are 65 to start saving for retirement, you can't wait until you are old to start exercising. The earlier you start both, the better; the more you save for old age, the longer these resources will serve you.
If you don't have the strength to enjoy physical activities or the things you love, you will lose your zest for life.
A Chinese saying: 未雨绸缪 (wèi yǔ chóu móu): "to take precautions before it rains," emphasizing the importance of planning and preparing in advance, especially in saving.
Reflecting on my father's early passing and the insights from the book Outlive, I'm keenly aware of the profound importance of taking proactive actions, starting young and early, towards a longer and healthier life.
By honoring the memories of those we've lost, we will ensure that we live our lives to the fullest. Let us commit to building strong, healthy habits today, so that we can enjoy a vibrant and fulfilling life.