Tips on How to Live Younger Longer

Dr. Andrea Klemes:
Most Americans say they'd like to live to the age of 100 or older, according to an MDVIP study on aging. But are they taking into account the last 20 years may not be so graceful? The quest for greater longevity has mainly focused on lifespan. But longevity pioneer, Dr. Michael Roizen says the attention needs to shift to what's called our health span.

I'm Dr. Andrea Klemes, Chief Medical Officer OF MDVIP, and I'm joined today by Dr. Mike Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer Emeritus at the Cleveland Clinic, and author of, The Great Age Reboot, to talk about the things you can do to live younger for longer. Let's dive in.

Mike, can you explain more about this term, health span?

Dr. Mike Roizen:
Well, most of us want to live long, which is our life span, which for the average American is about 70 years, in the upper 70s. But, health span is the period of time that you are healthy enough to enjoy doing everything you enjoy doing. So, life span, how long you live. Health span is the period free of disability and chronic diseases that would limit your enjoyment of that life. So, we want a longer health span.

Dr. Klemes:
In our study, 70% of people said they want to know the secrets to living and feeling younger than their calendar age. That's, in fact, the premise of your book, and the, Reboot Your Age app which you co-developed. But as we know, the secrets to a long and healthy life aren't really secrets at all, right? Everyone has heard them. Eat well, exercise often, get enough sleep, manage stress. Mike, what are your tips for improving health span that people may not already know?

Dr. Roizen:
Well, my favorite two are developing a passion, and having a posse. So, passion is obviously, and I wanna thank you for letting me do this because my passion is helping people to live younger for longer.

And, posse, well, you've got to keep developing it. And hopefully you're part of my posse. And that means your friends, your relatives, even your trusted advisors like your physician. All of those are part of your posse. And when you get posse and passion combined with the other things, you've got a large chance of living longer and younger.

Dr. Klemes:
That point's very true, but often overlooked. And I'm glad I'm part of your posse, Mike. Having a support system and a sense of community is a critical aspect of health. But we learned from our survey that most people don't talk about family, relationships, or even mental health concerns with their primary care physician. These are all areas that MDVIP affiliated doctors regularly discuss with their patients.

Dr. Roizen:
By staying with a physician for longer, you compound the health benefits. It's like compounding interest on your wealth. That means the longer you stay with that physician, the more you can trust them, the more they know about you, the more they can deal, and you will feel comfortable dealing with them in mental health issues, in stressful issues, in family relationships, all of which are really important in how long and well we live.

Dr. Klemes:
And then add in heart disease and diabetes, right? What other advice do you have for helping prolong your youthful years?

Mike Roizen:
Well, the key is your brain. So, we know that we can reboot many of the other organs. In animal models, we're seeing that in almost every organ. The toughest are the brain and the nervous system. So my tips are, there are 33 things you can do that change your brain's rate of aging in at least two studies in humans. My favorite two, speed of processing games and speed in exercise.

Speed your workout, you turn on a gene that increases the size of your hippocampus, it's the only organ in your body where size matters, making it less likely that you're going to develop dementia.

And speed of processing games, Double Decision and Freeze Frame, they're both embedded in the app, they've been shown in three randomized studies over a 10-year period to decrease your risk of dementia by over 40%, just 18 hours of practice. So, crossword puzzles are good, executive function games are good, but speed of processing are the best for your brain.

So, add speed to your brain, and your workouts.

Andrea Klemes:
I love how you said that, and I agree. Everyone deserves a life that feels good to them and you don't have to strive for perfection. Regardless of how old you are or where you are in your journey, if your aspiration is to extend that health span, the best time to start is now.

Thank you again, Mike, for joining me and sharing this time with us. Hopefully we've given you some tools to help jump-start your own longevity journey. Go to MDVIP.com/longevityIQ to learn more about aging well.