6 Strategies To Improve Healthspan For Each Decade
Yes, you’re going to die. But aside from a chance accident killing you, you have a lot of control over your lifespan and your healthspan. Unfortunately, the latest trendy supplement or the recent diet fad isn’t going to have much impact. What will, is the unsexy stuff that you do consistently. These generally fall into the six dimensions of health: stress management, movement, nutrition, socialization, mindset, and sleep.
The best thing to do to avoid chronic illnesses and get a good ROI for your overall health is to optimize each one of these areas now and then do it consistently for the rest of your life. The issue is that we’re human and humans can’t successfully begin multiple habits at once and continue to carry them out for long periods. At best, we can start one habit at a time but even those take a ton of effort with high failure rates (hence an 80% failure rate for new years resolutions by February).
So what if you had a full decade to focus on each of them? This is a bit tongue in cheek but each decade of your life is marked by sociological distinctions and putting a magnifying glass up to those differences will help to support each of these areas of health. Let’s break down the most appropriate pillar as it relates to the biggest stress point of each decade in order to live longer and better.
Note: everyone is different but I’m going to make plenty of generalizations based on ages. Don’t take it all personally (😉).
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Find a way to get 8,000-12,000 steps per day, lift 2-3 days a week, have a high-intensity workout every 1-2 weeks (sprints and HIIT count), and balance this all with 3 hours of Zone 2 training (a minimum of 45 minutes per bout) a week, endurance and a rest day here and there. These are the minimums.
Modify your sleep hygiene by incorporating black-out shades, taping your mouth shut for better nasal breathing, and avoiding food and blue light for 3 hours before bed. Track your sleep with wearables such as Fitbit or Garmin watches.
According to that same life satisfaction survey mentioned above, 69 years old is up there with 23 years old as the best years of your life.
The average age of retirement in the US is 62 and the average lifespan is 79. That’s 6209.25 days to live it up with people you love.
Practice gratitude. Focus on the process, not the achievement. Look at every situation as a way to get better. Jocko states this perfectly in one of my favorite videos of all time.
If you’re interested in learning more about these pillars of health, subscribe to the MindBodyDad newsletter for a free PDF.
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