What I Wish I Knew
What my 42 year old self would tell my 22 year old self.
Things I know as a 42 year old Cardiologist that I wish I knew as a 21 year old student.
8 Hours of Sleep is a Superpower
Getting adequate sleep is associated with a range of health benefits.
Even more than these benefits are the clarity that a good night's sleep brings.
Get sleep wrong & you'll likely get everything else wrong.
A Good Night = A Good Day
Minimize Alcohol
Drinking alcohol was a major part of my 20s, and it was a blast.
But I look back now, and I regret all that I could have been doing were I not spending my weekends hungover.
In my 30's & 40's minimal alcohol has unlocked a huge percentage of my week.
Exercising the right way
I hated running. For years.
I found it miserable no matter what I did.
But once I learned about Zone 2 training based on heart rate (& lactate) things changed immediately.
Now I love it.
And it means my risk of an early death is much lower.
Lifting weights should have been a priority.
Although I did aerobic training, I didn't really see the value of resistance training.
I was dead wrong.
Without a strong frame, you cannot load it properly, no matter what aerobic activity you chose.
Meditation should have been a daily practice.
I've always wanted to meditate, but I just didn't.
Now that I have a daily practice, it has changed my life.
Not in terms of performance but in terms of learning to focus on the correct priorities for me & how I live my life.
Time with friends is way more important than I thought it was.
In my 20's & 30's I was doing 100+ hour weeks training as a doctor.
Work was my life.
Spending more time with friends and family has become a major priority.
If you don't schedule it. It won't happen.
Work is important, but it's not everything.
Work should be an important part of your life.
But it shouldn't be THE most important thing.
If it is, you need to reassess things.
I got this one wrong for years and paid the price dearly for it.
I wonder what my 62 year old self will tell me.
Just want to thank you for your extremely valuable writings on Substack. I try to stay informed about developments in cardiac and cognitive health by following people like Peter Attia and Thomas Dayspring, and I've found your writings to be a wonderful new resource, in that you present the latest research findings in a particularly lucid, vivid, and economical way. Through reading you, I've come to a better understanding of a lot of questions that I had only a vague comprehension of before. (The effect of APOE4 status on cardiac health, for one example out of many.) Many thanks.
Could you please share more details on Zone 2 training based on heart rate (& lactate). Thank you for this wonderful article.