It’s been such a long time since I’d finished a book. This was definitely a great read, and gives so much insights and meaningful perspectives on how to approach health and longevity–how to increase both lifespan and healthspan. We should not resign to the fact that we will experience decline in old age, and that the last decade of our lives will be spent being in a frail physical and mental condition.
The primary content of the book is how to avoid (well more like minimise the risk of) the four Horsemen of death in a modern society: neurodegenerative diseases (eg Alzheimer’s), cancer, artherosclerotic disease (eg what causes heart attacks), and metabolic disease (eg Type 2 diabetes). The key strategies to focus on are exercise, nutrition, sleep, and emotional health.
I have been reading and learning about fitness and nutrition since college, with the goal of getting bigger (I was a scrawny 45kg kid) and looking better. But now I also learned to appreciate how much it helped improve my quality of life, and how thankful I am for starting a journey that would put me on good physical track for the next (hopefully) 50-60 years of my life. I no longer exercise for the primary goal of looking better (although it’s still a goal) but for increased strength, mobility, and just functioning better as a human. The book definitely gave a lot of good pointers on how to approach exercise for the sake of increasing healthspan and lifespan.
Dying is a very scary thing to me. I honestly want to live as long as possible, as I do enjoy life and I am so intrigued by what the future will bring that I wanna be there for as long as I can. I want to play with my grandkids and even great grandkids while still being sharp mentally and physically. I hope to see a civilisation on Mars before I die. And I want to maximise the times that I am happy while I’m alive.
Here’s to the next 70 years.