There are no ways around uncomfortable truths. We can avoid them and we can pretend that they don’t exist. But the truth is the truth whether we like it or not. And it always comes knocking even if we lock the door. It will find its way in.
I spent much of my adult life up to a few years ago disregarding a particularly uncomfortable truth: Only one man in my recent paternal lineage, my great uncle George, lived into his 70s. There are many men in that lineage.
Of course, ignoring reality is part of being young. I don’t think people truly grasp that they’ll die until they’re in their 30s – unless they have a chronic illness or do some kind of duty that frequently shows them that life ends. So, it’s not surprising that I didn’t start acknowledging the truth, and really paying attention to it, until I reached my mid-30s. It’s a product of maturity. But for me, it was also a product of love.
In my late twenties, I fell in love again with things that were my persistent obsessions during my youth, adolescence, and early adulthood – hunting and fishing. Through those loves, I found new ways, and new places, to do them. Western hunting in big mountains and open country became my lifeblood. Everything came together for me in a new way: I’d organize my life so that I could spend as much time as possible hunting, fishing, practicing photography, and writing about it all.
I realized something in the midst of my new romance with life, there is a time horizon. This ends. And for people like me with poor family health history, it often ends sooner than we’d like. Time flashed and I felt afraid. There I was in my 60s with darkness falling and disease stealing my fervor for life. I couldn’t let it happen, so I accepted the truth on the other side of fear. I made peace with the cosmic truth that the deck was stacked against me. To unstack the deck, to live long and do the things I love, I needed another truth.
I needed the truth in real time.
I needed to know how to better manage my training, my nutrition, and my behaviors to give me the best shot at longevity.
We know that the biggest factors affecting longevity and sustaining quality of life are sleep, exercise, and nutrition.
Chris had been using Oura for a couple years and had shared with me how he used it, what learned from it, and how it changed his behaviors. I was finally at a point where I wanted to learn and change, too. So, I bought an Oura ring. Soon after, Joel Jamieson released the Morpheus heart rate and recovery system. I bought it, too.
I decided to use the two tools in tandem to learn as much as possible while dialing in my lifestyle and nutrition. Here’s what happened.
Sleep
I’ve never been a “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” kind of guy. But I have always been a “I need to get up and get shit done” kind of guy. So, even if I went to bed late, I’d force myself out of bed early in the morning. Wearing the Oura ring changed that.
Before I figured that if I went to bed at 11pm and got up at 5am that I was getting 6 hours of sleep – which seemed like enough to me. The truth is that I wasn’t actually sleeping for all 6 of those hours. Oura showed me that I was often awake for an hour or more, and I’d end up only getting 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep. No bueno. As a result, I started winding down and getting to bed earlier.
Oura also gave me insight into the quality of my sleep and what was affecting it. I’ve never been a big TV watcher, but throughout the years I’ve consistently worked right up to bedtime. I’d write or do some other work on my laptop right up to bedtime, then I’d close it, read for a little bit and expect everything to be fine. But without a decent wind down routine, my sleep quality sucked a big one. I didn’t get enough deep sleep or enough REM sleep – meaning I wasn’t rested, and my brain didn’t get the necessary maintenance. That’s a problem for someone that has dementia in their family health history.
So, while I started going to bed earlier, I also created a sleep hygiene routine. I stopped looking at my computer at least an hour before bed. I started stretching and doing breathing exercises. I turned all the lights down in the house. I did everything I needed to do to tell my body that the day was done, and it was time to rest.
The result was far better sleep. I won’t lie and tell you my sleep is perfect. I’ve always had to work to get good sleep. But it’s definitely better, and as a result, so is my life.
Alcohol
I love beer, wine, and gin and tonics. I like the feeling of a slow creeping buzz that settles in, lightening the mood and warming my body. It makes me loose and chatty, and likely a little kinder. It’s nice.
While all of that is pleasant, I don’t drink much anymore. If there’s occasion for it, I don’t behave like a soapboxing teetotaler. I’ll toss a few back and enjoy myself. But I used to drink most days of the week. I’d only have one or two beers or glasses of wine, thinking that it wasn’t affecting me. I was wrong.
The human body can’t store alcohol because, well, it’s poison. So, it has to metabolize it before it metabolizes any other potential fuels. Even drinking one or two per night adds a fair number of calories to the weekly count. No wonder I had a hard time getting, and staying, as lean as I wanted to be. Carrying excess fat isn’t good for anything related to longevity, especially for folks prone to heart disease and diabetes.
The drinking also wrecked my sleep. Because my body had to work harder to metabolize the alcohol, my resting heart rate was elevated as I slept. (Likely also the result of chronic, mild dehydration.) The booze also killed my REM sleep. So, my sleep cycles were a mess. Seeing this feedback from my Oura ring gave me the truth I needed in real time.
Morpheus also helped out. My morning HRV readings were abysmal. I was giving my body too much stress. The alcohol was a negative stressor detracting from my performance and longevity.
I cut the booze.
Training
Exercise is good for longevity. Full stop.
That being said (I guess it wasn’t a full stop), smart training that includes the right proportions of different types of exercise makes the biggest difference for longevity.
Like most people, I spent most of my training career sticking to what I was good at. I am built for strength, speed, and power. I lifted heavy weights; I sprinted; I jumped; I did fast, high-intensity conditioning. Aerobic capacity training just wasn’t my jam because it doesn’t come naturally to me. I had to get over that. Preparing for Western hunting, wanting longevity, and daily HRV readings combined to help me get over it and give my body what it needs.
Western hunting is a strength endurance event. You backpack around the backcountry most days with at least 30 pounds on your back. If you’re lucky enough to kill an animal, you backpack out with significantly more weight. I knew I had to develop my aerobic system if I wanted to be ready and stay ready. So, I got started.
Then I noticed something. Not only did I have more energy and a clearer mind, but my HRV scores steadily increased. When I started, my HRV readings were topping out in the 60s. Now, they’re consistently in the 80s and reach the 90s. High HRV scores are associated with cardiovascular health and longevity. That’s a big deal for a guy whose grandfather died of congestive heart failure at 68 years old.
Daily HRV measuring also helped me to train smarter. I am a meatstick that believes he is tough and can train through anything. While that mindset has its advantages, it also comes with huge drawbacks. I’d give my body misappropriated amounts of training stress and put myself into dumpster at least once per year – usually twice. Some folks call it over training. I call it being a butthole. Most likely, it should be called poor training management and under recovery.
I committed to dropping the meatstick act and training commensurate with my Morpheus HRV readings and recovery scores. If my recovery is good, I drop the hammer. If it’s not, I train to promote recovery. If it’s somewhere in the middle, I pay attention to how I’m feeling and make sure that I leave the gym, or the trail, with energy in the tank. Training this way has done wonders for improving my fitness, my recovery, and how my body feels. I know it’s also improving my chances of pounding the western mountains as an old man. I love that thought.
Next Step
Chris recently did bloodwork with InsideTracker. It gave him a comprehensive panel that included a ton of different markers for health, performance, and longevity. He used the information to further modify his behaviors and also further dial in his nutrition and supplementation. Bloodwork with InsideTracker is my next step. I’ll do the initial test, follow their recommendations, and then retest at regular intervals. That way I’ll keep getting the truth in real time.
Long Live us All!
I’m not promoting a clinging to life – a promotion of longevity just for longevity’s sake. It’s a gratitude for life and a will to enjoy it in the moment and for as many moments as possible. When it’s time to let go, I’ll do that. But for now, I’ll accept the truth as it’s given to me and do my best to live it out. And I’ll keep using the best tools to help me do that.
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- VO2 MAX INTERVALS: INTENSE TRAINING THAT ISN’T STUPID
- YESTERDAY DON’T MEAN SH*T
- WHY YOUR HEART RATE JUMPS DURING PLYOS
- WANT TO MAKE PROGRESS? PUT SOMETHING HARD ON THE CALENDAR
- STRENGTH LOVES REST: WHY YOU NEED LONGER REST PERIODS TO BUILD STRENGTH
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- WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO COOL DOWN AFTER TRAINING
- MORPHEUS HEART RATE TRAINING: WHAT IT IS, WHY WE USE IT, AND HOW YOU CAN GET THE MOST OUT OF IT
- START NOW: WHY WAITING FOR THE PERFECT TIME IS THE WORST THING TO DO
- HOW (AND WHY) OUR YEAR-LONG TRAINING PLAN WORKS
- WHY WE TEST AT BEYOND STRENGTH
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