Issue #385: Can you Really Change Your Longevity?
Good morning. It’s Friday, September 13th.
In today’s email:
Learn: Luck & Longevity
Try: Make Your Luck
Watch: The Daily Show + Yuval Noah Harari
In the News: Controlling the Rain
Brain Games: Opposite Day
👉 Join the hundreds of readers already signed up for Early Access to our new Personal Longevity Advisor!
Stat of the Day
The number of conscious decisions we make every day - all of them can affect our lives in ways we can’t know at the time. (HBR)
*Random: this was the same Stat of the Day in Issue #382 on a completely different topic.
Favorites
A few things I’m loving right now:
Psyllium Husk - about two months ago (after hearing more and more about the benefits) I started adding this fiber to my smoothie. Gotta say (this is a sample size of 1) that I’m a huge fan. It’s been great for my gut health, and I’ve felt more energetic and leaner since making it a daily habit.
Washington, DC - went back to my old home from 20 years ago for a few meetings this week and found that it never gets old running around the Tidal Basin, past all the monuments, and along the National Mall. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend a trip to the capital.
Pushing Limits - one of my favorite columnists, Nicholas Kristof, talks about “cowboy camping” with his wife - no tent, just a sleeping bag on the trail and a tarp for the chance of rain. I don’t think we’re quite ready for that, but definitely on the bucket list!
Learn
Luck & Longevity
When we win - earn a promotion, receive a raise, finish a race with a personal best - we tend to celebrate our skills, our talent, our hard work.
When we lose - don’t get the job, miss the quarterly sales target, don’t get across the finish line - we tend to blame someone/something else or our bad luck.
So what’s the reality - do we determine our future or is it just luck?
Yes. (it’s both)
We live in a chaotic world - there’s only so much of what we can control amidst the infinite variables of what happens around us and what happens to us. At the same time everything we do matters - a lot.
Back in 1978, neurologist Dr. James Austin defined what he thought were the 4 kinds of luck in his book, Chase, Chance, & Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty.
These are commonly cited as how to boost your chances of wealth or success. But then I thought - how do they relate to the chances of us actually affecting our health & longevity?
Turns out - it’s a pretty good model.
Longevity & Luck
The first type of luck is simple - “Blind Luck.”
This is the stuff we absolutely can’t control - like being born in 1981 in a middle class suburb in the United States vs. being born in 1945 Soviet Union.
As it relates to our health, the first thing that comes to mind with blind luck is our genetics. Not much we can do about what mom and dad passed down to us. It’s thought that our genes influence about 20% of our longevity.
But there’s way more blind luck than that. Did you have access to fresh food? Did your parents have time to cook or did they outsource dinner to Burger King? Did the kid across the street like sports or video games? Did your gym teacher or little league coach make you feel like a champion or act like a total prick and instill in you a disdain for anything athletic?
Much of our life is completely random and beyond our control - especially the hand we were dealt before we could do anything about it for our first 15-18 years.
But luck doesn’t end there.
How many of you have that friend that seems to always be “lucky.” Things just seem to fall in their lap.
Again, the world is random so for a select few people, this will be true (that’s how statistics works).
But most of these people aren’t just getting blind luck, instead they are on the receiving end of what Austin calls “Luck in Motion.”
It’s about putting yourself in a position to be lucky.
Who has a better chance to fall in love - the person going out to social events 5 nights a week or the one sitting on the couch at home every night?
Who is going to find an investor for their company - the entrepreneur that’s gone to 20 networking events in the last 6 weeks or the one who sits behind their computer sending cold emails afraid to put themselves out there?
It’s the same for health.
There’s never a guarantee of anything - but every single action you take increases or decreases the probability of better health & longevity.
It’s the little decisions every single day - those tiny habits and Quick Wins - that give you better “luck” (which is really just “chance”) for a healthier life.
The third kind of luck is “Luck from Awareness.”
This is what happens when we start taking the initiative to deeply learn or understand something. If you’re constantly seeking out the best health information (which you obviously are by reading Thrive25), then chances are pretty good that you’re going to find out about something that might have a huge impact on your health.
Was it lucky that you found out your Apo B scores or was it because you put yourself in a position to learn about this test, take the initiative to request it from your doctor, and find out early that you’ve got some work to do to prevent any heart problems??
Look we don’t live in a world of absolutes - it’s messy, chaotic, and random.
We all know someone who was “really healthy” that was diagnosed with a disease or lost their life far too early. Just recently I reconnected with a friend who has a rare condition that required really serious treatment and put his health at risk.
But life is about playing the odds - going from being pre-diabetic (HbA1c between 5.7% and 6.4%) to running a 3-hr marathon might reduce your chance of early death by 50%. It’s not a guarantee, but that seems like a worthwhile endeavor - not to mention the quality of life from feeling better every single day.
That’s why we’ve written 384 newsletters with the best practices to optimize your health & longevity - because what you do and what you know really matters.
The final kind of luck is “Luck from Uniqueness.” From a health perspective, this luck tends to overlap with the others. We are all different, and our uniqueness can impact our health positively or negatively…genetic makeup, rare conditions, personality traits, talents, interests, values, beliefs, cultural background, life experiences, and the way we perceive and interact with the world.
As a closing thought - to some it might be scary that luck plays such a huge role in our lives. But embracing luck might actually be another driver of longevity.
Recognizing randomness is real makes us more grateful for what we have (I’d say everyone reading this has been blessed with some pretty awesome blind luck) and it makes us more humble and empathetic towards others who might be struggling - giving us a greater purpose to support them.
So embrace the chaos, be grateful for what you have, and do what you can to give yourself the best odds for a long, healthy life.
Try
Make Your Luck
Write down:
How you feel luck has affected your health - good/bad?
What can you do right now to boost your Luck in Motion or Luck from Awareness right now?
Thrive25 Partner Spotlight
Dhru Purohit has called Mark Sisson the “fittest, most muscular 70 year old I’ve ever met.”
Mark started Primal Kitchen with a simple mission: to change the way the world eats. Choosing real food and investing in your health can lead to a more empowered you.
You’ll find these products all over our houses - it’s the food you grew up on and love, just healthier. Get ready for those summer BBQ’s!
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Watch
The Daily Show + Yuval Noah Harari
Check out this segment from The Daily Show earlier this week with one of our favorite authors. It’s a thought-provoking conversation about his latest book, “Nexus,” focused on how we handle information overload, the real risks of AI, the human element in bureaucracy, and reasons for optimism in our complex world.
H&L in the News
Can We Really Control Rain?: The UAE's ambitious cloud-seeding program aims to control rain, but does it work? Discover the science, controversy, and global implications behind the quest to make rain on demand—and why it might be more hype than reality. (WIRED)
AI’s Next Frontier…Hair: Discover how AI is transforming hair analysis for health diagnostics and forensics. This groundbreaking technology could help detect diseases, evaluate hair products, and assist in criminal investigations - all through a single strand of hair. (Source)
Brain Games
Opposite Day
We’ve done this before, but it’s definitely worth repeating.
For one day, try using your non-dominant hand (or foot) for a couple or all your usual tasks. Switch things up and challenge your brain!
This is an easy way to keep your brain sharp and build new neural connections - try brushing your teeth or using your mouse with your opposite hand. Change how you cut your food, use your fork or chopsticks, the order that you do exercises, etc.
Give yourself grace as these tasks will take longer. But these small changes challenge your brain to work in new ways, stimulating areas that might not get as much use in your daily routine. It’s a fun, simple exercise that can help improve coordination, enhance mental flexibility, and keep those neurons firing. Give it a go - your brain will thank you!
Product Recs
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Thanks for another great week!
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Why Thrive25
We’re 40-something dads that felt our bodies and minds start to slow down and we’re not ready for that. We found too much information on every subject. So we started Thrive25 to transform what we’ve learned into something useful for the rest of us to spend just 3-5 min a day to optimize our health & longevity.
This newsletter is for you and we truly value your feedback. Never hesitate to reach out to us at team@thrive25.com.
To health!
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The information in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and may not be appropriate or applicable based on your individual circumstances. Thrive25, Inc. does not provide medical, professional, or licensed advice. Please connect with your healthcare professional for medical advice specific to your health needs.