It’s almost hard to believe, but in the 1950s doctors were frequently portrayed in TV commercials for. . . cigarettes. That’s because smoking wasn’t just seen as cool and glamorous, but as an actual health-enhancing activity.
Fast-forward to today, and Americans have been sold on a dizzying number of health trends: from grapefruit diets and Weight Watchers to Pelotons and yoga. The health industry churns through information and fads faster than anyone can possibly keep up. As soon as you’re gearing up to start a juice cleanse or go on a Costco rampage for keto-friendly ingredients, a new diet, a new drug, a new piece of equipment shows up to tell you out with the old, in with the new: here is the real key to your health.
One person who consistently cuts through all that noise is Dr. Peter Attia. His new book, Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, is a blueprint—based on the best available science and data—for what really matters to live a healthy life. And not just a healthier one, but a longer one.
Attia is a Stanford- and Johns Hopkins-educated, NIH-trained physician who is at the forefront of some of the most important conversations around health and longevity in medicine today. His work is at the center of a new industry that has been booming in Silicon Valley for the past several years. Tech giants like Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Larry Page, and Brian Armstrong have poured billions into start-ups that research human life extension.
But Attia doesn’t think this is only for the elites of Silicon Valley. He thinks there’s a well of everyday changes—from what we eat, how we move, and how much we sleep, to scans, blood tests, and other early interventions, to our emotional health—that can give people extra years to the very short life we have here on earth.
On today’s episode: what’s possible in the uncharted science of longevity? And—from our broken medical system to our truly unhealthy lifestyles—what are the major factors preventing us from living longer, healthier lives? And what makes a life worth living anyway?
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I am a primary care provider and I came to this podcast expecting to be irritated the entire time. I can't count the amount of times I've heard people say something like "the healthcare system is failing America." I'm so sick of hearing that. Dr. Atria nails it on the head. What people are dieing from they've been running at for 30 years then they show up in the clinic and expect me to wave a wand a fix for them. I can't exercise for you. I can't lose weight for you. Everyone knows this is what you're supposed to do but no one is willing to do it. There's a pathologic aversion to taking responsibility for one's own health. No amount of medical insurance will change that people don't want to do the work.
As an aside to hear a prominent specialist endorse CICO made me legitimately yell out loud in agreement. How some people think they've defeated the first law of thermodynamics in their own body will never cease to amaze me. I have never once had a patient do an honest accounting of food with a food scale and not realize they weren't eating at a deficit.
What cooling mattress pad does he recommend?