A Shoutout to Peter Attia, MD
Ten things I've learned from a master in longevity science
Hey everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving!
This week, I wanted to give a shoutout to Peter Attia, M.D., someone I’ve been following ever since my knee surgery in early 2021. Although he trained as a general surgeon at Johns Hopkins, his medical practice focuses on the applied science of longevity, with the goal of increasing healthspan (quality of life) and lifespan.
Dr. Attia is a fascinating person to me for a variety of reasons, including his highly nuanced and data-driven thinking or his quarterly three day water-only fasts. He’s the host of The Drive Podcast, which is a deep-dive into all things science and longevity. This is no doubt the place where I discovered my great interest in science.
I’ve learned so much from Dr. Attia, and in the future I plan to share some of my research and amusing self-experimentation with you. For now, here’s ten things I’ve learned from him.
You don’t have to choose between living longer and better. In fact, making better choices in the short term to do proper exercise, nutrition, and sleep, among other things, will truly improve the quality of your life. This is just one example of Jocko Willink's phrase, "Discipline equals freedom," or as Jerzy Gregorek put it: "Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”
From his TED talk: in many cases, poor metabolism and insulin resistance may be the cause of obesity and the accelerated onset of chronic disease (heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer), not the reverse.
Centenarians are not immune to death: they just get chronic disease much later in life. One key to living longer is delaying the onset of chronic disease.
Smoking or diabetes will double or triple your chances of death, but if you have a very high cardiorespiratory fitness (elite VO2 max), your risk of death goes down more, by a 5x reduction in all cause mortality.
Some of the strongest associations with longevity are VO2 max, grip strength, and muscle mass. Strength training and cardio (both moderate and high intensity) are essential.
There are no drugs out there that are more powerful than exercise and nutrition.
Always be skeptical of the conclusions of scientific studies.
To build and maintain muscle mass as we age, strive to consume something like 2g of protein per kg of body weight (about 1 gram per pound).
Dietary cholesterol has virtually no impact on serum cholesterol (the test you see at your doctor’s office).
Don’t eat banana nubbins: a surprising number of people die from this.
Obvious disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, but Dr. Attia does a great job at providing something accessible to anyone out there, even those who don’t want to dive deep into the science of it.
As I mentioned, I've been a listening to Dr. Attia through my entire knee rehab process, and if there's anything I've learned in the past two years, its that having your health is a true source of wealth. As Tim Ferriss best put it:
“Treat health as number one, because without it, everything else will fall apart, and with it, everything else becomes easier.”
If you’re interested in learning more, here are some places to get started:
Dr. Attia’s TED Talk: What If We’re Wrong About Diabetes?
Dr. Attia’s Lecture: A Reverse-Engineered Approach to Longevity
Dr. Attia’s Website and Newsletter Signup
Dr Attia’s Instagram
To read this on my website, click here.
Be well,
Baxter