The Importance of Being Earnest- From Aha to OH Shit!

I meet and speak to a lot of people about the aging process.  Lots of people have noticed I look younger than the number of birthdays I count.  Even better is it seems like the older I get the younger I look.

But all is not as it seems and I promised you I would be honest.  For instance, my signature beard has been snow white since my mid 30’s!  It’s amazing how old that can make you look.

Next if I did not use stem cell activation products on my skin on a very regular basis I would look wrinkled as a prune.  Fair skin and sun exposure do not mix!

As a matter of fact, way back in my mid 30’s I had 6 different deep lines going across my forehead.  I think it was a byproduct of extremely long stressful hours and lots and lots of very sick people that needed my constant attention on me on a regular basis.

That takes its toll my friend!

Now I only have one deep line across my forehead which one person on YouTube called a “dent”.

To be precise it’s a “dermal anchor” where the outermost layer of skin and its associated layers are glued down to the dermis (the deeper layer) by scar tissue.  No amount of amazing skin care products are going to touch it so I live with that.

In addition, while I do not wear glasses most times I do have to “long arm” some fine print these days.  I attribute that to lots of hours writing emails and blogs for you over the past 15 years.  At last count, the total number of emails exceeded 15,000 and the total number of blogs was at least 1500. Somewhere out there, there are dozens of long lost podcasts as well.

And while I am on true confessions (this by the way is the oh shit part of my journey) my hair is thinner than it used to be.  I might still be the only male in my family to have a full head of hair though and it’s so fine in character that even a little thinning is pretty visible.

Finally, as I mention in some of my exercise related entries here I need to spend lots more time stretching and in tissue release (Yamuna balls etc.) than I did even 5 years ago.  Truth is 5 years ago I didn’t do any of this stuff.  I just dove right in and started whatever workout I planned.

Not the smartest thing and one I would gladly take a Mulligan on if I had a do over!

Now for the good news.

I can do everything I did 10 years ago just as well.  I am lighter, pound for pound stronger, am steadily approaching the best running speeds I have had in the past and expect to surpass them.  I love the physicality of my late 50’s and have no reason to expect the 60’s will be any different.

I have occasional self-inflicted aches from overdoing things but as I acquire knowledge about my body that I never had when I was younger I make fewer and fewer training mistakes.

I think you can and should expect the same for yourself.  I will as much of the how to’s on this journey to age in reverse as I can but I want to get to today’s secret.

This is the crux of successful aging.

Be objective. Measure the things that matter and adjust your routines if the results are not happening or are going in the wrong way

Now I am all for feeling good and allowing yourself to not stress over performance specifics.  Most of what happens to us is simply due to changes in priorities.  For instance, I do not intend to do a bunch of ultra runs any time soon so I am not out there running 50K training runs any more.

But it’s nice to know I COULD!

That is where objectivity comes in.  I keep workout diaries.  They are not super detailed but they do have numbers and performance stats I can refer to as I lever up certain aspects of my workouts.

I also follow my cholesterol and many inflammatory bio markers to assess my diet.

I check my Omega 6/3 ratios 2x a year. Vitamin D once a year.

I measure my telomeres every one to two years.

Couple that with things like VO2 and my performance diaries, I have a pretty good idea of how age is treating me and I can say with surety I am living my truth.

Now it’s also true measuring stuff costs money and some of it is more for people like me who do this for a living than the average person who just wants to age well.

But here is your health secret for the day: Do as much of what I do as you can because nothing we have available right now has a strong influence on the aging process.  Lifestyle and genetics are still biggies and count for as much or more as any vitamin concoction or stem cell treatment for anti-aging.  But if you can afford telomerase activators and stem cell therapies to reduce the consequences of aging, by all means do!

A bunch of little steps which is what we have to fight aging right now, can add up to bigger steps.

If you do measurements of the things I mention above every 2 years, it will keep your cost down and give you linear objective data to look at and no BS yourself on how you are doing!

Lots of people still want to BS themselves and you!  I find this particularly true at trade shows and conferences where so called experts do not have objective data to prove what they say and do works.

Again, DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN!  That way when the big strong stuff comes along that will really impact how we age, you will be big, strong, fast and flexible too!

I can’t think of a better way to spend your time and money!

The one and only Dr Dave!

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