Surprising Insights from 5 Years as a Longevity Lab Rat

Longevity: Arising From The Ashes

Diets not working for you? Surprised by who looks back from the mirror each day? Low energy or brain fog issues? Trouble getting up from low chairs or out of cars? Wary of going down stairs? Yes, getting old is no fun.

So, how do Hollywood movie stars and Silicon Valley CEOs stay seemingly forever young? Is it just endless cosmetic surgery, or do they know and do things that we don’t? When I retired five years ago with a good pension at 67, I promised myself I’d try and find out.

I decided to reinvent myself for retirement, as I had done every 3 to 5 years to stay current during a 46-year career on the bleeding edge of information technology. As a health and fitness enthusiast, I was reasonably fit, weighing in at 88kg / 194lbs — slightly overweight for my 185cm / 6ft 1in frame. I was an avid biker, played tennis weekly, and enjoyed golf monthly.

My big motivations were:

1. To enjoy a long, happy, well-earned retirement; having fun, traveling the world.
2. To watch my five children grow up — the youngest two were 16 and 17.
3. To stay fit, healthy, mobile, relevant, interested, and interesting for as long as I could.
4. To start a new part-time career that would supplement my travel budget.
5. To avoid the prolonged decline into isolation and frailty I witnessed in my father, who passed away at 93.
6. To prevent mental decline, particularly Alzheimer’s.
7. To navigate the challenges of being single again after separating from my wife, which had left me with ED and a sense of impotence.

Having lived and worked globally — in the UK, Australia, USA, Belgium, Norway, Greece, and Portugal — I was no stranger to change. I had embraced quests on MindValley.com and was having a blast when an unexpected issue arose.

Sports had been a significant part of my life, but I’d struggled with lower back and sacroiliac problems since I was 17. Other than a few major spasms requiring bed rest, I managed well until I started having issues with simple tasks, like putting on my left sock and shoe. The problem escalated, affecting my tennis and golf, to the point where biking became a challenge.

This predicament led me down an unexpected path as a Longevity and LifeSpan Lab Rat. I delved deep into holistic wellness, biohacking, longevity, diets, supplements, flexibility, exercise, intermittent fasting, gut health, detoxification, and dating.

I devoured books, searched the internet, YouTube, MindValley.com, and LifeBook.com for insights. As my own lab rat, I tested various approaches, debunking myths and sifting through misinformation.

Now, at 72, I’m fitter, stronger, healthier, and more flexible than I’ve been since my mid-30s. I’ve shed 10kg / 22lbs and built muscle, regaining my younger physique. Impressively, I haven’t fallen ill once in the past four years, even during the Covid period.

The journey also allowed me to address and resolve several health issues without medication:

1. I reduced my blood pressure from 150/90 to 120/70.
2. I normalized previously elevated triglyceride and uric acid levels.
3. I alleviated hip, back, and shoulder stiffness and discomfort.
4. I decreased my enlarged prostate, resolving urinary problems.
5. I significantly improved my sexual health, rediscovering a vitality akin to my younger years.

Along the way, I’ve developed a healthy skepticism toward mainstream media, the medical establishment, and the pharmaceutical industry. Billions in excess profits are made from public ill health, and as we saw during Covid, media-led fear can manipulate public perception and decision-making.

Those familiar with Dr. Peter Attia’s “Outlive” will recognize the shortcomings of Medicine 2.0 in addressing our modern health crises. The over-50s, who could benefit most from holistic wellness and longevity principles, often surrender to age-related health issues as inevitable, despite scientific evidence to the contrary.

I’m also shocked at how quickly my fellow boomers have transitioned from the world’s powerhouse to increasingly docile and fragile shadows of their former selves. Is it the result of past indulgences, unawareness, or a resigned acceptance of aging?

Despite the gains, it’s been a solitary journey. Few friends share the drive to escape the slide into old age. Yet, I’m here to share everything I’ve learned for those who refuse to fade away quietly.

So, for those who do NOT want to just fade away slowly and painfully, I’m willing to share everything I know. The new truths, what’s worked for me, and what I consider to be myths, half-truths, and deliberate confusion.

What I’ve seen hinted at in many podcasts, suggests one underlying root cause for almost all age-related degenerative illnesses. It’s a massive mismatch between our ancient biological needs and the stress-filled, always-on environment of the 21st century.

As Yuval Noah Harari explained in “Sapiens,” our biology was shaped hundreds of thousands of years ago for a short and brutal life as marginal hunter-gatherers. Our brains and social capabilities helped us survive and gradually thrive. But our ancient hardware and biology evolves very slowly and can’t keep pace with the rapid technological and societal advances of the last 50 years, resulting in metabolic illness. And metabolic illness is the main cause of almost all age-related illness; obesity, heart, circulation, stroke, inflammation, type 2 diabetes, brain fog, Alzheimers.

It’s like putting diesel in a petrol-engine car and driving away, expecting it to perform properly. Even draining the tank and refilling with the correct fuel does not fix the damage. The same is true of us. Years of damage from metabolic mismatch cannot just be fixed by a diet change and a bit of exercise.

But I’ve proved to myself that there are six pillars of holistic wellness and longevity that can slow, stop, and even reverse this decline. And it’s not even that difficult or time-consuming. While the rewards are truly life changing.

So, please comment below — both good and bad — to gauge interest in exploring these topics further. Let me know your fears and doubts… and what you’d like to learn more about.

Mr. Badass Boomer