Outlive. The science & art of longevity
I'm 70 years old, in the philosophical, crystallized, death mulling phase of my life. I'm a Petter Attia podcast aficionado, notwithstanding the many quibbles I am bound to have with him and his guests. And I am also an aspiring science writer who, unlike Dr. Attia, still thinks I can get better enough to write a book. So with great anticipation, I read his book Outlive. (Peter Attia with Bill Gifford, 2023 Harmony Books, Penguin Random House, New York. 416pp, 13 p notes, 39 p refs.)
There is a lot I remembered from the podcasts and a lot I forgot and re-remembered and some I missed or is actually new in the book. But the climax of the story is his battle with emotional demons that, as near as I know, is revealed for the first time publicly at the end of this book. Like many of his podcast guests, there was a long trajectory of wayward self destructive youth that is the most intriguing part of his high achieving, illustrious career. I had discerned from his podcast discussions that he was hard driving, disciplined and strongly convicted. But despite seemingly having many dear friends and close interesting relationships, I guess he can also be a chooch. A near miss sudden infant death of his baby - well that was a random shocker.
The problem of his emotional journey is that it is really hard to control yourself. Controlling your emotions and behavior is all you can ever hope to try to manage. Trying to control anybody else - fuhged about it. The best a psychological counselor can do is act as a sounding board for your struggle when you are ready. Psych drugs can make you feel different in some physiological ways, maybe, but the science of proven benefits is feeble.
Another insight he discovered is that since all human experience is from just one point of view, life is inherently egotistical. If you have many "résumé virtues" on top of primary egotism that leads logically to the corollary that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All morality is about fighting that selfish tendency.
It's easy to summarize the rest of the book's formula for a longer healthier life. The magic sauce is exercise. Stress is mostly bad. But exercise, and maybe hunger, are big stresses that are really good for you. Everything else, in the battle with the four horsemen of the apocalypse - cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative disease, is of marginal value when compared to exercise. Exercise is even great for emotional well-being.
He spends a deservedly long time saying that nutrition science is stupid but then lapses into many sketchy quips about nutrition - The SAD (standard American diet) rhymes with sad and bad. And there is this from page 331, "Certainly, a number of mouse studies have suggested that restricting protein can improve mouse lifespan. I am not convinced that these results are applicable to humans, however." You readers of me know that I am convinced that those results might be applicable to humans. But Peter Attia's ultimate truism remains that any nutritional machinations are nothing compared to exercise in the quest of outliving.
There are many other quotes in the cogent column:
Strength is like retirement saving. p. 255
Carrying is our superpower. p. 257
It is impossible to give a one-size-fits-all prescription. p. multiple
Next I am going to read and study the writing of Bill Gifford to see if it could help me salvage my book, Fat Science. Or maybe just call him up.