Live More: Reduce Your Biological Age and Increase Your Vitality – Key Habits for Longevity by Marcos Vazquez

2023-10-23 00:11:47

In Live more. Reduce your biological age and increase your vitality, the renowned health popularizer offers the keys to dying young as late as possible

Its intention is not only to add a few more years to the end of life, but to raise the vitality curve to feel better from now on. Marcos Vazquez (Avilés, Asturias, October 1976), author of the popular blog and podcast Revolutionary Fitness and one of the most reputable Spanish-speaking health communicators – with half a million followers – publishes a new book on longevity.

Live more. Reduce your biological age and increase your vitality (Ed. Grijalbo) comes after other best-selling titles, such as Undefeated or Healthy Mind. In its decalogue of good habits it includes physical activity, real food, certain supplementation and cosmetic active ingredients or small stressors such as cold. But also optimism, curiosity and a purpose to get out of bed every morning as the best shields against the passage of time.

It throws up the debate about whether aging should be considered a disease. What consequences would it have? It is a debate that is taking place in the scientific world. And it is not merely intellectual, but has real consequences. Firstly, aging could be experienced with certain pharmacological and surgical interventions… and, secondly, all known chronic diseases would be directly attacked, from cancer to diabetes, Alzheimer’s or cardiovascular disease. The current approach attempts to attack each disease individually. Isn’t it effective? It’s okay, of course, I’m not saying it’s wrong. But if we put all our efforts into researching, for example, cancer, and tomorrow we find a cure or pill against this disease, we would increase global life expectancy between two and four years, which is not much. If we don’t die of cancer at 80 we are going to die of cardiovascular disease at 83. And the same with cardiovascular diseases. If it were eradicated, there would be another three more years of life expectancy and we would die of Alzheimer’s after those three years. However, if we slow down aging, we would extend life expectancy much more, because we would minimize the risk of other diseases. If it is not considered a disease, the resources will never be provided to approve or experiment with treatments and interventions for it. Hence the importance of the debate. Why is hormesis interesting for living longer? I always say that our genes are better adapted to scarcity than to abundance. We are children of adversity and we know that getting out of this bubble of comfort in which we live 24 hours a day is good. In fact, the first ways that were discovered to increase the longevity of animals was by teasing them a little. If they were a little cold or hot, hungry… they lived longer. But these tools have to be used carefully, knowing the beneficial and potentially harmful effect. He talks about cold exposure as one of those little stressors in daily life to reduce inflammation and as an antioxidant, but not right after exercise. Because? Exercise raises inflammation in a safe way because, unlike low-grade chronic inflammation, which is dangerous, acute inflammation is positive: it forces the body to regenerate tissues. If after training we reduce this inflammation with the cold we lose part of the training adaptations. And there are multiple studies that indicate that cold after a strength/hypertrophy session reduces the effect of training, although it does not cancel it. Now, if what you are looking for is to recover quickly because you do CrossFit and compete, you are in the tour de France, or you do three training sessions a day in the elite, then you want to recover as soon as possible. And in those cases it is good. It depends. He assures that the population has a vitamin D deficiency, despite the fact that Spain is a country with many hours of sunshine. But, on the other hand, dermatologists warn that there is an increasing number of skin cancers. Where is the balance? The sun has been demonized a lot because it has risks. It is one of those stressors that in adequate doses benefits us. In fact, we know that those who do not expose themselves to the sun live less. But an excess is harmful: it produces photoaging, increases the risk of skin cancer… Many people then decide not to sunbathe and supplement that vitamin D. But the sun has many more benefits, it increases nitric oxide, for example [un vasodilatador que mejora la resistencia y fuerza]. Other people say that supplements do nothing. The ideal is to measure our levels, try to sunbathe for about 20 minutes and supplement if you don’t reach what is reasonable. In Spain there is sun, yes, but if we spend our lives indoors or covered up it is of little use. Sunscreen on the face is fine, because it is weaker skin, but the majority of the population is deficient, so supplements should not be demonized: they have to be used wisely. Vitamin D has a very low risk of toxicity. You would have to supplement at very high doses for it to be a problem. The great star of longevity is exercise, to which he dedicates an entire chapter. What are the movement ‘snacks’ that you recommend so much and how can they be incorporated into your daily life? This refers to including bursts of physical activity during the day. I find them very interesting because, from an evolutionary point of view, it makes more sense. What people do now is sit all day and do a cardio or high intensity session. Granted, that’s better than going home and continuing to sit on the couch in front of the television, but if you compare it to our ancestors, it wasn’t like that: throughout the day there was much more movement. Therefore, this way of including physical activity makes you lead a more active life. A few simple stretches, taking the stairs instead of taking the elevator, a small series of squats… multiple bursts of exercise, even five or six in very small doses, added together, have a measurable impact on health. People’s main complaint is that they don’t have time, because they believe that either they train for two hours or it’s of no use. On those days when you can’t exercise, or fathers and mothers who barely make time, they can have in these snacks that were previously despised a tool that serves them while they heat up the coffee and do their five push-ups or getting up every hour for five minutes in the morning. office to go up a floor. Movement snacks are closer to our natural way of living and require little time. Low intensity cardio, strength training and HIIT They are, from their point of view, the most effective way to exercise. However, high intensity used to scare us and it has always been said that it is not for everyone. Has the approach changed? It is true that for decades cardio was the only possible exercise. It was thought that strength training was an aesthetic issue, when that is not the case at all. Strength is a very good predictor of health and the risk of getting sick, not an exercise in vanity. In fact, people with more muscle are healthier and have less risk of getting sick. Therefore, the current recommendation is to include at least two strength days a week where you work all muscle groups. There is also no need to go to the iron area of ​​the gym and lift heavy weights. You can train strength with your body at home, with calisthenics, with a kettlebell or kettlebell… Two minimum, ideally, three or four. And add a weekly HIIT session, because it has been seen to have an impact on our cardiovascular health and improve VO2 max, the maximum capacity to process oxygen. Traditionally it was about improving with low intensity cardio, which is very good, but more intense sessions where we rev the heart more improve that VO2 max and reduce the risk of heart attack. It also proposes a new nutritional pyramid. There is a lot of controversy regarding the Red meat because there are studies that do not take into account the type of red meat it is and whether the harmful thing is really the meat or accompaniments such as French fries. Veganism also has its detractors due to the lack of vitamin B12 or the oxalates. What is your point of view in this heated debate? The most important thing and it will have an impact on your health and longevity is that you prioritize real food and reduce processed foods. If 80% of your diet consists of fresh foods with high nutritional density, you have 90% earned and the remaining 10% is not so significant. People lose sight of the forest and focus on the root of the birch tree. In terms of longevity, it has been seen that vegetarian or vegan diets have benefits, but not because they eliminate animal products, but because of the high amount of fruits and vegetables they consume. If the question is whether by increasing your green consumption and also feeding on animals your health is better, everything points to yes, because you reduce the risk of getting certain nutrients that are more difficult to find in these diets. I think it’s the best option. Studies with white meat such as turkey or chicken are not associated with more mortality. They don’t seem to be a problem. Red meat yes, although, as you clarified in your question, you have to understand what is behind this. And people who eat more red meat, in general, have worse habits: they eat worse, smoke more, accompany their portion with fries instead of salad or do not prioritize quality meat. In other studies, it has been seen that people who eat more vegetables and fruit and also include red meat are no longer associated with more mortality. When we explore consumption in less industrialized and more rural areas, we do not see that red meat is so harmful. It is a sign that there is a more observational problem. Red meat clearly fits the definition of fresh, minimally processed foods. But it is also a mistake to eat a steak every day, as carnivore or ketogenic diets claim. Unfortunately, the world of health in general, and nutrition in particular, tends to polarize and reality can be somewhere in between. A varied diet of plant and animal foods, far from simple sugars, is my recommendation. If we achieve this, the rest of the debates are sterile at that level of detail. Warning that the skin and hair are where stress is most perceived. All you have to do is look at a photograph of Pedro Sánchez arriving at Moncloa versus another current one, to give the closest example. Without getting into political issues, what can the acting President of the Government do to stop his aging? (Laughs). Eating well, resting and exercising protect against stress but, and therein lies the paradox, the more stress we have, we tend to eat worse, sleep worse… So stress is an inflammatory in itself by raising cortisol. This accelerates aging and makes it difficult for us to activate those protectors: not to go to the gym because we don’t have time, not to sleep because we have a worry, to eat poorly to calm anxiety… Stress is a direct route to aging and that is notice in the appearance of gray hair, indeed, and it also makes good habits difficult. That is why you have to be careful and work to reduce it. Concur with dermatologists on an effective beauty routine: vitamin C and sunscreen during the day and retinoids at night. Do creams do as much as they promise or is it a question of marketing? There is a lot of marketing and in this chapter I clarify that nourishing yourself from within is more effective. The effect of physical activity on the skin has also been seen, which looks more oxygenated, looks better and healthier. Habits greatly influence how we age and that internal beauty is important to have good hair and skin. After this, why say no to compounds that we know work? There are a few with a real and measurable effect, but others have a small effect and it is more marketing than reality. Let’s focus on habits and spend the money or invest in vitamin C, vitamin A, hyaluronic acid and little else. With that you will achieve 80% of the benefits in your routine in little time. There is a general problem with sleep. There are many tips, such as adapting circadian rhythms, leaving screens at the last minute… But what solutions exist to rest better for those who don’t even have that working for them? I differentiate between physiological aspects, such as optimizing natural light during the day and minimize artificial sleep at night, have regular rest times and eliminate screens, as you pointed out. But then there’s stress, which plays a big role. If you lie in bed at night and go into a mental loop of rumination, there are techniques like mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapies for insomnia that help you get out of those pending circular thoughts so that they do not affect you. You have to work on both, because the problem can be created or amplified by these more mental aspects and that goes beyond the physiological and is more about relaxation. In the modern world, problems come more from the psychological side than from the physiological side. In your 40s there is a life crisis after taking stock of what you have achieved and what society expects of you. He makes two recommendations: mix with other generations and be positive. What do you mean? Thinking about aging leads us to rest, stress, exercise, nutrition… Everything we have already talked about. But just as important or more important is to be an optimistic person instead of a pessimist. See aging as a gift and not a punishment. Getting together with younger people who offer you other points of view has been seen to infect youth: it forces you to understand how they communicate, to walk faster, to understand technology… More intangible aspects, such as our beliefs about aging or life purpose, and by this I do not mean changing the world, but rather a life plan, something that motivates you to get up in the morning, which can be taking care of your garden, are also associated with greater longevity .WSJ compiles in an article all advances in longevity. This report says that around 25% of the ability to live up to 90 years would be related to genetics, but to live a few more years that importance begins to increase: 50% for 100 years and 75% for 106. Is the true Longevity in centenarians is more in genes than in habits? Everything indicates that, with current technology, to become a healthy octogenarian, lifestyle matters more and 75% is built by habits. But if we talk about exceeding 100, that proportion is reversed. To be a centenarian you have to be the son or brother of a centenarian. This is very curious: many of them have bad habits and are smokers or do not exercise at all. And that’s because they have won the genetics lottery. If we seek to live to those ages, either we have the right genes and we are in that 2% that exceed 100 years or, no matter how much we take care of ourselves, we are not going to get there. That’s why I put a lot of emphasis on controlling what we can: our habits. Training is the basis, but it is difficult to sleep well, eat well… How to be good in all areas all the time? We seek a balanced life, without obsessing. You can’t do everything perfect in your diet, everything perfect in physical activity, eight hours of sleep every night… In the end that is stress and that ages us. We have to try to maintain good habits and this includes mental peace and the more psychological aspects. With this recipe you can live long and live well.

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