Ep. 103: Tips for Successful Aging with Dr. Roger Landry- Author, Physician of Preventive Medicine

Dr. Roger Landry is a Harvard University and Tufts University alumni who practices preventive medicine. In 2014, he published “Live Long and Die Short, A Guide to Authentic Health and Successful Aging” where he details his ten tips for successful aging. Dr. Landry is also the President of Masterpiece Living, a multi-specialty group which provides a support system that promotes successful aging. Dr. Landry and Masterpiece Living works to build environments that empower older adults to maximize their unique potential. In this episode, we discuss the mentality of aging, as well as what we can do now to improve how we age for the future.

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Show Notes

[1:59] That 10 year long study smashed the stereotype of our understanding of what it takes to age well. You know, we thought it was genes and a little bit of luck, but they told us that 70% of how we age is really due to our lifestyle, so the choices we make every day.
[3:16] The whole idea was to give older adults the tools to take a look at their lifestyle, where am I now? What's the snapshot physically, mentally, socially, spiritually? And help me understand where my risks are and help me to get content and learn about what I need to do.
[4:25] We used to think that we're just going to lose things, you know, as we age. Now we know if we do use it, make the choice to use it, we're less likely to lose at a pace we thought we were going to.
[5:43] Life throws us curve balls and how we respond to that is critical. Whatever you got, use it and continue to use it. Even if it's a little more limited than what it was. Use it.
[6:21] It's about a $53 billion price tag in the country for health care just being sedentary.
[6:54] The more we sit, I think the more we're not as vital.
[8:17] I challenge my brain by learning new things. That's the key, learning new things and being physically active because the brain needs nutrients and blood. You do those things and we can see on brain scans, brains getting thicker in areas like if you take on a language or a musical instrument, you can see that the brain significantly changes.
[8:50] "It's better to eat fries with friends than broccoli alone."
[9:04] It is basic to who we are to be with others. When someone isn't connected, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, cancer, they're all more common up to 2-5x more common.
[9:41] It is an absolutely critical need we have and so many of us as we age self isolate by staying in a place where it's inevitable, we're going to end up with just our spouse or alone. And that's just not who we are. We absolutely need to be with others.
[11:14] For me, resilience is about the head and the heart, and the heart, not so much the cardiovascular part, but the passion and the grit that is associated with the heart. And the head, because so much of it is attitude and how we look at things. To the extent we're a half full kind of person, we tend to live seven and a half years longer if we're a half full person versus a half empty, it is astounding.
[11:56] Expectations can be our limitation, it can also be a stimulus.
[12:43] What our brain sees as possible and what we want to achieve, the body will try to bring that to reality.
[13:12] It is about believing that no matter what life throws our way, that we can respond to that. We may not bounce back the way we were before, but there's no reason to think that this means that we're only going to decline.
[15:04] The limitations we have are really based upon our expectations of what we want in our lives and what we can achieve.
[16:32] We have to be able to be able to shut off that mind, if only for seconds.
[18:06] If you don't have a purpose and something bad happens to you, you're pretty much just sort of fade away and wither.
[22:26] I don't think we're going to settle for anything but continuing to grow.

Thank you for joining us on Health Gig. We loved having you with us. We hope you'll tune in again next week. In the meantime, be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast, and follow us on healthgigpod.com.

“Life throws us curve balls and how we respond to that is critical. Whatever you got, use it and continue to use it. Even if it's a little more limited than what it was. Use it.” - Dr. Roger Landry
“What our brain sees as possible and what we want to achieve, the body will try to bring that to reality.” - Dr. Roger Landry
“The limitations we have are really based upon our expectations of what we want in our lives and what we can achieve.” - Dr. Roger Landry

Keywords

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