A long time ago I read a book by a Polish army officer.

He escaped from a Soviet prison camp and walked 4,000 miles to India, and freedom.

A very good film was made about his story, called The Way Back.

What struck me was the sheer willpower of the men who managed this feat.
They had the will to live, where others would have given up hope.

The will to live isn’t usually something we think about when dealing with our health or lifespan.

We usually think in terms of purely physical effects.
But can you quantify the will to live, or purpose in life, and how it affects health and lifespan?

Turns out, a recent study did just that.

It followed about 7,000 people for a number of years.
People who had "low life purpose", in the lowest category, were 2.4 times more likely to die during the follow-up period.

Most of the increased mortality came from heart disease, which somehow seems apropos.

People who have little purpose may feel without hope and unmotivated.
They might not feel that trying to be healthy is a worthwhile pursuit.

There’s probably a lot more instant gratification going on...

And there’s probably also an element of actually willing yourself to live, which has a real effect.
Since aging is a huge risk factor for health, and given what we see about purpose...

Retirement appears to be a danger for health.

And indeed, a number of studies have found that early retirement brings a greater mortality risk.
Possibly people who retire early had only their jobs to give their lives meaning, and when they retired...

Purpose was gone.

The greater mortality risk, 2.4 times, from having little purpose, is large.

Lots of things we talk about and are concerned about have much lower risks.
Furthermore, purpose in life seems non-overlapping with many other health factors.

In other words, if you have purpose in life...

You may get something extra, beyond what nutrition and exercise would yield in theory.

So allow me to get a little philosophical
If you lack purpose, consider the following quote from the famed physicist Richard Feynman:

“Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter.”
Another lesson is about retirement, which we tend to see as a golden land beyond the realm of offices, commuting, and drudgery

Based on what I’ve written above, it is not

If you ask me you can't go wrong with making your purpose something like being the best version of yourself
Health and fitness is at the center of being your best self, obviously.

It's an enabler for everything else... or a limiting factor, if you don't take care of yourself.

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More from @Mangan150

21 Oct
The Risks of Excess Medical Treatment

A short-thread about why your relationship with the medical profession and Big Pharma is not risk-free...

And may even be a net negative

(continued on the next tweet)
1) Medical treatment is not risk-free.

In an ideal world, medical diagnosis would be perfect. And treatment would be appropriate for your condition. Meaning, no adverse side effects.
2) In the real world... the risks of excess medical treatment arise

From the fallibility of the healthcare system both to properly diagnose illnesses and to provide appropriate care.
Read 18 tweets
24 Sep
What makes you fat and sick VS. What makes you lean and healthy

A short thread about the most powerful levers to look good, feel good and live a long healthy life

There’s a big overlap between the things that make you lean and the thing that affect your health markers
If you take action to look good, a happy “side effect” is that your health markers improve

-insulin resistance
-blood pressure
-inflammation
-testosterone
-cholesterol
Vanity is healthy

Nothing wrong with wanting to look good. But even if you don’t care about how you look, it impacts how you feel.

Get leaner = more energy and libido.

Plenty of mental health benefits such as stress and anxiety reduction.
Read 7 tweets
15 Aug
Type 2 diabetes can be readily reversed, in most cases, by weight loss.

"Type 2 diabetes can now be understood as a state of excess fat in liver and pancreas, and remains reversible for at least 10 years in most individuals."

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…
"Calorie restriction" reverses T2D by promoting loss of liver and pancreatic fat, which is the first to be lost in weight loss

Low carb diets result in "spontaneous calorie reduction" in most cases - you could look it up.

Type 2 diabetes is not a "lifelong, progressive disease"
Remission of type 2 diabetes is associated with a major fall in liver fat export

Re-emergence is associated with increased liver-derived plasma triglycerides

Lose the liver fat, lose the diabetes

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Read 6 tweets
3 Aug
This is amazing.

Supplementing mice with alkaline phosphatase, a natural enzyme, targets the gut barrier to increase lifespan dramatically.

Leaky gut is real.

via @mike_lustgarten Image
How to increase intestinal alkaline phosphatase?

Viatmins K1 and K2 both do so.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17874826/
Read 4 tweets
26 Jul
Physical weakness leads to mental weakness.

Physical strength leads to mental strength.

Get mentally and physically strong in less time than you thought possible.

20-Minute Home Fitness: The Anti-Weakness Alternative.

Next 15 copies only at 25% off.

gumroad.com/l/rKjTLG/father
11 left.
6 left.
Read 4 tweets
24 Jul
The bad science of saturated fat has also pushed a great deal of aging research in the wrong direction.

The fact is, much of aging is driven by high insulin.
Looks like absence of carbohydrates does more for lifespan than not eating meat - which does nothing at all.
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Reduced Circulating Insulin Enhances Insulin Sensitivity in Old Mice and Extends Lifespan

"lowered insulin caused significant lifespan extension, observed across two diverse diets"

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Read 4 tweets

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