One Of The Biggest Impact Things You Can Do To Live Longer.
There are many things you can do to increase your odds of living longer, but one factor makes a huge difference.
“But what can I do to make a difference?”
This is one of the most common questions I get as a cardiologist when talking about preventing heart disease and living longer.
As a doctor, there are many things I can do, and only a doctor can do:
Prescribe medications
Order certain diagnostic tests.
Perform or arrange medical procedures.
And so on.
But these are all things that I, as the doctor, will do.
What most patients want to know is what ‘They’ can do.
When attempting to solve this problem, people want agency and control.
As they should.
They want to know that they are doing what is necessary to improve their odds.
And there are so many things a person can do to prevent heart disease and live longer.
The problem is that this list can seem endless, and it quickly becomes difficult to decide on what things to do because we can’t do all of them.
“Do I need to take supplements? If so, which ones?”
“I heard fish oils are good”.
“But what about superfoods?”
“Reducing microplastics is key.”
“My friend got a great water filter. I heard on a podcast that regular water is full of toxins.”
“Blue light blockers are what you need for better sleep.”
“Saunas. Saunas make you live longer.”
“Red light therapy. You need to get one of those masks.”
See How Quickly Things Can Degenerate Into A Confusing Mess.
The challenge here is that for any of these suggestions, you can find someone advocating their benefits and providing scientific evidence as to why they might be of use.
I can even take each one of these topics and give you a scientific reason why they might be advantageous to your health.
But what matters here is the magnitude of the impact on your health.
The reality is that some things just matter WAY more than others.
If you were trying to stop the Titanic from sinking, it would have made a difference, if even just marginally, that you used a bucket to throw water overboard as the ship began to flood.
You may not have made a huge difference.
But you would have potentially delayed the time it would have taken for the ship to sink.
Or you could have focused on having a better lookout system in place.
The ship may still have hit the iceberg, but maybe in a way that made it take much longer to sink, and therefore, many more people could have been rescued.
Both inputs would have helped.
But clearly, one would have helped much more.
The Question Is, What Is The Thing ‘You Can Do’ That Will Make The Biggest Difference?
Let’s just be straight.
It’s not going to be a good water filter.
It’s not going to be a supplement.
It’s not going to be a blue light blocker or a red light mask.
They are all nice and easy things to do, but in my view, you are using a bucket when the Titanic is sinking.
Let’s Start Majoring In The Big Things And Leave The Small Things To After.
As frustrating as it may sound, the biggest thing you can do is achieve a high level of fitness.
High fitness levels are:
Hard to achieve.
Take a long time.
Requires continual lifelong effort.
But….
Are absolutely worth it.
And that data is crystal clear in this point.
Let me show you why.
As Fitness Levels Increase, The Risk Of Dying Prematurely Decreases.
When you compare those in the highest fitness levels to those in the lowest fitness levels, the impact on early death, death from heart disease and cancer deaths is incredible1.
Death from any cause: 53% reduction in risk.
Death from heart disease: 51% reduction in risk.
Cancer deaths: 43% reduction in risk.
High Blood Pressure: 37% reduction in risk.
Heart Failure: 69% reduction in risk.
Dementia: 64% reduction in risk.
Kidney Disease: 42% reduction in risk.
Depression: 39% reduction in risk.
Let me be clear.
This Level Of Reduction In Risk Is Far More Than Almost Anything Else A Person Can Do.
The problem is that getting to high levels of aerobic fitness is just hard.
The other issue is that people tend to look at this information and say, “I will never be very fit, so this doesn't really apply to me.”
This Is Where You Are Wrong.
Even modest increases in fitness make a difference.
Fitness is often measured by how many METs you can do, which are a measure of energy expended during activities.
1 MET = The amount of energy you burn when seated at rest.
4-5 METS = The amount of energy you burn with a brisk walk.
For every 1 MET increase in baseline fitness:
Death from any cause: 11-17% reduction in risk.
Death from heart disease: 13-17% reduction in risk.
Cancer deaths: 7% reduction in risk.
Small increases in fitness levels are possible for anyone.
To benefit from exercise, you do not need to run marathons; you probably just need to walk around your local park.
Why Does Exercise Make Such A Difference?
When you examine the exercise and fitness literature, it can seem like exercise is the golden ticket to all that ails us.
But why?
The answer is that it impacts almost every organ in our body in a positive way.
Here is a list of what regular exercise does to your body2:
Improves insulin sensitivity.
Increases muscle mass.
Improves immune surveillance.
Increases mitochondrial function and density.
Improves neuroplasticity.
Improves cardiac contractility.
Improves bone density.
Decreases inflammation.
And on, and on, and on.
You get the point.
The key point here is that not only do high levels of fitness make you likely to live longer, but it is also one of the best ways of improving your healthspan and quality of life as you age.
This is the golden ticket.
You live longer, at a higher quality of life.
Win. Win.
Should You Only Focus On Exercise?
Of course not.
Heart disease prevention and living longer requires optimising many factors.
Exercise just happens to be one of the biggest factors.
It still means you need to focus on good nutrition to achieve an optimal weight, and if you have other issues, such as high LDL cholesterol or high blood pressure, those may also need attention.
But we only have so much time in each day.
We have to make decisions about what to prioritise.
But the evidence is super clear.
High levels of fitness are one of the things you can do that have the biggest impact.
But even modest improvements in fitness can also make a substantial difference.
Every time you hear someone touting the benefits of blue light blockers, water filters, etc., always ask yourself if you have reached high fitness levels before you move on to these smaller-gain approaches.
Major in the big things.
And then you can think about the little things.
But one thing is abundantly clear: high fitness levels are the major thing that most people need to focus on first.
Then you can buy that water filter your friend was talking about.
When You Are Ready, Here Is How We Can Help.
For an accessible and comprehensive overview of understanding and managing heart health, you can check out the best-selling book Heart. An Owner’s Guide.
For those based in Ireland, Dr Barrett works with a small number of clients to provide a comprehensive evaluation of cardiovascular risk and a tactical approach to maximally reducing that risk.
If you want to know more about a consultation with Dr Barrett, Click Here or on the button below.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality among adults: an overview of meta-analyses representing over 20.9 million observations from 199 unique cohort studies. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2024;58:556-566.
Molecular Mechanisms of Exercise and Healthspan. Cells. 2022 Mar 3;11(5):872. doi: 10.3390/cells11050872.
We can’t say it often enough Paddy!
Thank you!!!