HEALTH SPAN

The Health Span Experiment

Episode 1:
Health Span vs Life Span

I’d like to talk about our health span journeys. Health span versus lifespan; what does that mean? Basically, there’s a 9.7 year difference globally between health span and lifespan. So the last 10 years of our lives might contain pain, medical and possibly disease issues. The last 10 years are definitely not as good as the previous years of our lives.

I’m going to track my health span biomarkers, and I will post these numbers on the website. Then I will examine different modalities to see if I can change the numbers for the better. I’m going to experiment with diet, nutrients, training modalities, hormetic stressors, sleep tactics — all to see if anything helps move those numbers to something better.

I’ll post these every month, and please, let ME know how YOUR health span journey is going.

Episode 2:
My experiment begins

Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with chronic diseases like neurodegenerative disease, cancer, and heart disease. So, heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease and type two diabetes are the four chronic diseases of aging that kill the most people in this country.

In my Health Span Experiment, I’m going to take a look at resting heart rate, blood pressure, and heart rate variability. I will look at A1C, blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol. I’m going to track my body fat percentage, visceral fat percentage, and VO2 max. I will examine bone density, lean muscle mass, body water, and probably a few more things.

I will first look at heart disease (the number one killer). I will then design a training, nutritional, lifestyle program to follow for 12 to 16 weeks to see if I can improve my numbers.

Wish me luck and follow along.

Episode 3:
Training for our sport — Activities of Daily Living

Along with pushing and pulling, there’s going to be three different types of carries in this video. In my own daily sport, I’m going to be carrying groceries. I’m going to be carrying grandkids, maybe great grandkids. Carries also help with balance. In this video you’ll see me using sleds, kettle bells, medicine balls, and a sandbag. If you don’t have these items, that’s okay. For example, you can replace some of these items with a shopping bag that has cans of soup in it.

It really makes no difference how much weight you’re using as long as you get some sort of stimulus. This is going to help me with stairs. It’s also going to help me with lower body strength, retaining muscle, and of course bone density.

You can try things like this and let me know if you need alternatives. I’ll be more than happy to send you ideas.

Episode 4:
Experiment — My Beginning Numbers

Let’s check under the hood and take a look at my numbers. I’m going to see if I can make some significant changes over the next 12 to 16 weeks based on the findings below.

We’re going to look at my metabolic age, my body fat percentage, cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels. I’m also going to be checking visceral abdominal fat, and my blood pressure and resting heart rate.

The kicker here is I am not very disciplined. I’ve tried making big changes before, but I just can’t stick to it. So, I’m putting together a program to make little changes in my lifestyle and my nutrition along with incorporating some unorthodox training modalities to see if I can improve my numbers and be a healthier human. I will see you next month with new numbers