Shifting Perspectives on Aging
Our scientific understanding of the aging process has shifted dramatically in the past 10-15 years, and our social perspective on getting older has transformed as well. People used to say '50 is the new 40' but now it's not uncommon to hear things like '60 is the new 50' and '70 is the new 60.' Our perspective on aging is changing for the better. And each year we’re learning more and more about what the human body is truly capable of in the last 2-3 decades of life.
20 years ago, many doctors thought it was nearly impossible for people in their 70s and 80s to gain a substantial amount of muscle or strength. Yesterday at my gym an 82 year old client deadlift 85 pounds for six reps.
20 years ago, many doctors thought that insulin medication was the only way for people with diabetes to control their blood sugar. I had a client with Type II diabetes decrease the average morning blood sugar from 140 to 105 in one month at Strength School, with no other changes. He now takes about half the medication that he used to.
Even today, there are still some physicians who believe that you can't reverse osteoporosis. If you google something like “Is osteoporosis reversible or curable?” you’ll find tons of results saying definitively that you cannot reverse the bone loss due to osteoporosis.
Yet, I have had (3) clients in the past two years who have been downgraded from osteoporosis to osteopenia because of lifting weights and proper supplementation to improve their bone density scores.
The lesson here is that we are continually finding out that humans can be strong, resilient, and pain-free throughout their lifetime - given the proper lifestyle. And exercise is a foundational part of a healthy lifestyle.
All the way back in the early 90s, a group of scientists and doctors from Tufts University found that muscle mass and strength were the two most important factors for good health after the age of 60 - the more muscle and the more strength, the healthier older adults tend to be. Those researchers found that muscle and strength were better predictors of mortality than things like cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, body fat, bone density, and other factors. A good exercise program is the closest thing we have to the fountain of youth.
So . . . why don't doctors prescribe weight lifting for good health? Some do - I have a few physicians who are clients at the gym, and they recommend me to all of their patients. But the average doctor usually looks toward medications, surgeries, and other medical interventions for their patients.
There's no money in exercise for the medical industry. In fact, the best thing for them is for us to be alive and sick - we're not profitable for them when we're healthy or when we're dead. Alive and sick is the sweet spot for maximum profits for the medical industry.
I think we can look back now at the past two years and see clearly that many of our medical establishments and many of our government agencies do not care about helping us live long and healthy lives. In the earliest days of the virus, my gym and almost every other gym in the country was closed for almost two months - yet Burger King, McDonald’s, and Taco Bell remained open. We spent billions of dollars providing free tests but offered no incentives for people to exercise or eat healthier. And when the CDC released a study showing that over 90% of people who died with Covid-19 also had, on average, 2.6 comorbidities such as obesity or diabetes, public policy didn’t change. You could get free donuts from Dunkin but no help with joining a gym or working with a personal trainer.
The bottom line is that you need to take control for your health - you have to be a strong advocate for yourself. When I was working on my Ph.D., we learned that about 75% of your health is due to lifestyle factors - things that YOU control. The other 25% is driven largely by your genetics and may be outside of your influence. But the majority of outcomes are up to you and your decisions. So I urge you to take responsibility and take control.
-Shane