Longevity Expert: Top 5 Most IMPORTANTExercise for Overall Health & Longevity

Dead hang for about a minute seems like a really good goal for a lot of people at least that's our that's our goal I think we have a minute and a half is the goal for a 40 year old woman two minutes is the goal for 40 Year old man, so we adjust them up and down based on age and gender Yeah, so it's important to distinguish doesn't mean your lifespan is gonna be 40% less It means at any point in time standing there your risk of death is 40% higher So if you compare low muscle mass people to high muscle mass people as they age The low muscle mass people have about a 3x hazard ratio or 200% increase in all-cause mortality, but 250% greater risk if you have low strength to high strength This is dr. Peter Attia and dr. Andrew Huberman two leading experts in the science of health and longevity Dr. Attia a renowned physician and longevity specialist is widely recognized for his in-depth research on how exercise and Metabolic health extend lifespan. Dr. Huberman a Stanford neuroscientist brings cutting-edge insights into how movement and brain function impact aging and performance Together their expertise reveals powerful science-backed exercise strategies to help you live a longer healthier life I've heard you talk before about some of the prime movers for longevity and all risk mortality And I'd love for you to review a little bit of that for us I think we all know that we shouldn't smoke because it's very likely that we'll die earlier if we smoke nicotine I'm neither a marijuana nor a nicotine smoker So I feel unstable ground there But anytime we see smoking nowadays people want really want to distinguish between cannabis and nicotine So I am curious about any differences there in terms of impact on longevity But in that context, what are the things that anyone and everyone can do should do to live longer? Basically now, dr. Peter Attia not only talks about the most important exercises for longevity But also some of the critical factors that affect our lifespan that are not often talked about So let's start with a couple of the things that you've already highlighted So smoking how much does smoking increase your risk of all-cause mortality and and the reason we like to talk about what's called ACM or? all-cause mortality is it's really agnostic to how you die and That doesn't always make sense I mean if you're talking about, you know, a very specific intervention like a anti-cancer therapeutic You really care about cancer specific mortality or heart specific mortality But when we talk about these sort of broad things, we'd like to talk about ACM So, you know using smoking smoking is approximately a 40% increase in the risk of ACM ACM or all-cause Mortality is a scientific term that refers to the overall risk of death from any cause whether it's due to heart disease Cancer respiratory issues or other severe health complications a 40% increase in the risk of ACM from smoking means that statistically people who smoke have a 40% higher chance of dying from various causes compared to those who don't smoke and This higher risk in death is linked to the harmful effects smoking has on nearly every organ in your body From the lungs to the heart and even the immune system Dr. Peter Attia continues to talk about some of the most dangerous diseases that increases your risk of early death and how to prevent them Yeah, yeah, so it's important to distinguish doesn't mean your lifespan is gonna be 40% less It means at any point in time standing there your risk of death is 40% higher high blood pressure It's about a 20 to 25 percent increase in all-cause mortality You take something really extreme like end-stage kidney disease So these are patients that are on dialysis waiting for an organ and again There's a confounder there because there's what's the underlying condition that leads you to that? It's you know, profound hypertension, you know Significant type 2 diabetes that's been uncontrolled. You know, that's enormous. That's about a hundred and seventy five Percent increase in ACM. So the hazard ratio is like 2.75 Type 2 diabetes is probably about a 1.25 as well. So 25% increase So now the question is like how do you improve so what are the things that improve those according to scientific studies? the most proven way to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality is Exercise and to be more specific people with lower muscle mass and strength are at a much higher risk of ACM Than people with higher muscle mass and strength. This means that having weak muscles or low muscle mass Increases the likelihood of early death from almost any health issues one significant study published in the BMJ Found that people with higher muscle strength had a significantly lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those with weaker muscles in this study Participants with greater hand grip strength a reliable measure of muscle strength had up to a 30% reduced risk of death over several years Compared to those with the weakest grip strength. This study highlights how strength even in something as simple as grip correlates strongly with longer life expectancy Muscle mass and strength are critical as we age because they support vital functions in the body Strong muscles improve our metabolism Support joint health and maintain balance reducing the risk of falls and injuries, especially in older adults low muscle mass on the other hand can lead to frailty making it harder to perform everyday activities and increasing vulnerability to disease and injury Essentially weak muscles don't just limit physical abilities They also increase the likelihood of health complications that shorten lifespan So now here we do this by comparing low to high achievers and other metrics. So if you look at Low muscle mass versus high muscle mass. What is the improvement and It's pretty significant. It's about 3x So if you compare low muscle mass people to high muscle mass people as they age The low muscle mass people have about a 3x hazard ratio or a 200% increase in all-cause mortality Now if you look at the data more carefully, you realize that it's probably less the muscle mass fully Doing that and it's more the high association with strength and when you start to tease out Strength you can realize that strength could be probably three and a half X as a hazard ratio meaning about 250% Greater risk if you have low strength to high strength muscle mass and strength are not the only benefit from exercising that Drastically affects how long you will live if you look at cardiorespiratory fitness, it's even more profound so if you look at people who are in the bottom 25% for their age and sex in terms of vo2 max and you Compare them to the people that are just at the 50th to 75th percentile You're talking about a 2x difference roughly in In in the risk of ACM if you compare the bottom 25% to the top 2.5 percent So you're talking about, you know bottom quarter to the elite for a given age You're talking about 5x 400% difference in all-cause mortality. That's probably the single strongest association. I've seen for any modifiable behavior Here are five science-backed strength exercises that support longevity by building muscle mass Improving balance and boosting overall strength one squats Stand with feet shoulder-width apart Keep your chest up and lower down by bending at the hips and knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor Push back up through your heels to the starting position To deadlifts stand with feet hip-width apart with a weight like a dumbbell or barbell in front of you Bend at the hips and knees to grab the weight keeping your back straight Stand up by driving through your heels and engaging your glutes then lower back down with control Three push-ups start in a plank position with hands shoulder-width apart Lower your body until your chest is just above the floor keeping your elbows close to your body Push back up to the starting position for lunges step one foot forward and lower your body until both knees are at a 90-degree Angle keeping your torso upright push back to the starting position and repeat on the other side Five dead hangs this exercise involves hanging from a pull-up bar engaging the shoulders back and core You know, we we have a whole strength program that we do with our patients. We have something called the SMA So it's the strength metrics assessment and we put them through 11 Tests that are really difficult, you know, like a dead hang is one of them Dead hang for about a minute seems like a really good goal for a lot of people at least that's our that's our goal I think we have a minute and a half is the goal for a 40 year old woman two minutes is the goal for 40 Year old man, so we adjust them up and down based on Age and gender great and then the wall sit. What's it? What are some we don't use a wall sit We do as just a straight squat air squat at 90 degrees And I believe two minutes is the standard for both men and women at 40 great We use we use farmer carries So we'll say for a male you should be able to farmer carry your body weight for I think we have two minutes So that's half your body weight in each hand You should be able to walk with that for two minutes For women, I think we're doing 75% of body weight or something like that Yeah, great. Here are five exercises that anyone can do to improve their vo2 max or cardiovascular fitness One brisk walking or jogging start with brisk walking and gradually increase to jogging as your fitness improves Aim for 30 to 60 minutes at a steady pace and consider incorporating intervals short bursts of faster pace to boost intensity To cycling whether on a stationary bike or cycling outdoors Maintaining a moderate pace for longer durations can help increase your cardiovascular Endurance incorporate intervals by alternating between higher and lower intensities Three swimming swimming laps is a full body workout that builds endurance and lung capacity Try different strokes to keep it varied and aim for continuous swimming sessions of 20 to 30 minutes for high intensity Interval training short bursts of intense exercise followed by rest or low intensity periods can effectively improve vo2 max Exercises can include sprinting jumping jacks or body weight movements like burpees For example alternate 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise with 30 seconds of rest for 15 to 20 minutes Five jump rope jumping rope is an excellent cardio workout that can significantly elevate your heart rate Start with short intervals Gradually increasing duration and intensity as your fitness improves Aim for sessions of 10 to 20 minutes with short breaks in between For some people thinking in terms of vo2 max is a little more complicated They might not have access to the equipment or the to measure it, etc um What can we talk about think about in terms of cardiovascular? So run a mile at uh, seven minutes or less eight minutes? It's a good question. So there are vo2. There are really good vo2 max estimators online and you can plug in your Activity du jour so but be at a bike run or rowing machine and it can give you a sense of Consider sharing it to someone you care about so they can also benefit from it