Living Healthier for Longer
Notes on Health
Deep Life Notes | Health
No-one will ever be more invested in your health than you. That means prevention, knowledge, and seeing as far ahead as you can.
I had originally planned to write this much earlier. About six months earlier. That’s the kind of gap even the most procrastinating of procrastinators would shudder at. But the delay was because of my own serious health issue, which adds a layer of unwanted irony to the topic. Doctors informed me I required open-heart surgery to address a serious issue with one of my heart valves.
I put writing on hold, and although I began typing again in January after a successful operation, it took some time to return to writing about health. I wasn’t sure if my original thoughts and raw notes still held true. I needed to look at them again in a new light. So I did. And they do. Maybe more than ever.
The one certainty we all face
There is one certainty facing every human being on this planet: at some unknown point in the future, we will take our final breath. This stark reality has been with us for two million years. Understandably, we don’t like to think about it, and most of us do our best to avoid the thought. In psychology, there’s a theory called terror-management theory. It suggests that when we’re confronted with the idea of death, we defensively turn to things we believe will shield us from it, literally or otherwise.
One such example is the efforts of technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, 46, who has been on a three-year quest for eternal life. Johnson’s two million dollar immortality techniques include a strict diet of 2,250 calories per day in a six-hour period, 111 supplements daily, a rigid bedtime routine, blood transfusions, and daily health tests, among many other things. However, unless he’s discovered a groundbreaking genetic solution for everlasting life, Mr. Johnson is still likely to face the same eventual outcome as the rest of us.
Living healthier for longer
Bryan Johnson’s quest for immortality highlights the extremes some will go to in an attempt to defy ageing. A more balanced and realistic approach appears in Peter Attia’s book, Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, where longevity is presented as two parts of the same coin: lifespan—the length of our life, and healthspan—the quality of our lived years. This approach envisions a life that isn’t just longer but also freer from the debilitating grips of disease, which we can delay or prevent, allowing us to get the most from life in our last decades.
To move in that direction, four ideas seem worth considering. They all point towards a more personalised and proactive approach, where we become better informed, act earlier, understand trade-offs, and treat quality of life as seriously as length of life. The aim is not to live forever, but to live longer with good health for as long as we can.
And that usually means paying attention earlier than we might prefer.
As John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
1. Prevention before crisis
Prevention sits at the heart of a more serious approach to health. While new technology plays an important role, adopting a preventive mindset is even more important. When I turned 40, I committed to getting a full health check-up each year. It was during one of these check-ups that doctors identified an issue with my heart valve. At that time, it wasn’t serious, but early detection allowed doctors to monitor it. Eventually, it did become serious, but without prior knowledge, I might have gone for a run one morning and not come back.
Preventive measures like regular health screenings help detect potential health issues early and reduce the risk of chronic illnesses. Advances in precision medicine and genomics provide detailed insights into individual predispositions. For example, genetic testing can reveal a predisposition to certain cancers, prompting earlier and more frequent screenings.
This kind of prevention also gives people more knowledge and responsibility. By staying well-informed and medically literate, especially if certain conditions run in the family, we become more invested in our health. I track all data related to my heart condition, including my blood levels, conversations with doctors, and other key information.
I’m not the expert, but I do want enough knowledge to ask better questions and make better decisions.
2. Everyone’s health is different
No-one will ever be more invested in your health than you.
Everyone’s health is influenced by a different mix of genetics, environment, history, and lifestyle. Too often, especially on social media, people force health advice into a generic cigarette-packet approach, often motivated not by genuine care, but by algorithmic reasons.
Journalist Derek Thompson has written about this phenomenon, using the example of mental health anxiety. Thompson highlights that some ‘experts’ on social media advocate for an avoidance strategy to deal with anxiety, walking away from or avoiding fears to stay safe. By contrast, therapists typically encourage those suffering from anxiety to develop highly personalised coping strategies, often involving careful and calibrated exposure to the problem. So, the complete opposite of the earlier advice. Avoiding problems often increases anxiety.
The Dunning-Kruger effect exemplifies this issue. It’s a cognitive bias where individuals with limited knowledge overestimate their confidence. On social media, this often leads to generic and unhelpful health advice, and sometimes worse. Instead, personalised health strategies, like tailored nutrition plans based on metabolic and genetic profiles, can support better decisions.
Choices tailored to our individual needs, and a recognition that what works for one person may not work for another, make it more possible to identify and confront problems specific to us, even those that are uncomfortable and scary.
3. Risks, benefits, and trade-offs
In health, as in most aspects of life, there are both risks and benefits.
Most serious health decisions involve a trade-off. That often begins with an honest assessment of your health and lifestyle, including acknowledging where you are on your current journey. It also means weighing the potential benefits and downsides of medical treatments, lifestyle choices, and preventive measures.
For example, while certain medications can offer significant benefits, they may also come with side effects that need careful consideration. I faced this decision when choosing between a prosthetic and a mechanical heart valve. Each option had its pros and cons. A prosthetic valve required no lifetime medication but typically only lasted 10 years, necessitating further open-heart surgeries, whereas a mechanical valve usually lasts a lifetime but requires daily medication for the rest of one’s life. After weighing the risks and benefits with my surgeon, I decided the mechanical valve was the best option.
Similarly, lifestyle choices such as taking part in extreme sports or following strict diets carry their own sets of risks and rewards. There’s also the risk of doing nothing. The point is not perfect certainty, but a better-informed decision. This is the difference between drifting and taking some responsibility for the direction of travel.
4. Prioritise living well, not just living long
We want more out of life than simply the absence of sickness or disability; we want to flourish and enjoy life. Maintaining the quality of one’s life is as crucial as extending lifespan. Quality of life encompasses physical health, mental wellbeing, and the ability to engage in meaningful activities with those around us.
Four areas tend to matter most: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and emotional health. None are surprising.
Regular physical activity improves cardiovascular health and enhances mood and cognitive function. Good nutrition supports overall health and energy levels, while sufficient sleep and strong emotional health are essential for mental performance and resilience.
Recognising the earlier point that everyone’s health is different, the way someone approaches each of these four areas is likely to vary depending on each person’s situation. Not everyone may need nine hours sleep or find that rising at 5am is the key to a good life. There is no universal approach and needs are also likely to change as we age.
A reason to live longer
Each of these ideas matters more when connected to a reason for wanting more healthy years in the first place. Longevity means little unless there is something we want those years for. Life shouldn’t be about one big optimisation process. We aren’t computers or systems. We are highly complex, extraordinary, living and breathing organisms.
We might ask ourselves these questions: Why do we want to live longer? For what and for whom?
Purpose is the belief that we are alive in order to do something.
I asked myself that question again after my heart surgery. During those months of recovery, I realised more than ever the importance of living with intention, presence, and meaning.
For me, that meant continuing to grow, staying open to new possibilities, staying true to my values, and using my coaching, writing, and creativity to have some positive impact on others.
That may change over time. But, right now—and now is the only time we ever have—it feels good to me.
Living healthier for longer is not only about extending our years, but enriching them. Taking health seriously will not protect us from everything. But it can give us a better chance of living with more presence, agency, and meaning.
Even when life interrupts the plan.
Pass It On
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