Looking ahead, not down. 🚗

Jamie Stumpe
Aug 17, 2023
2 min read

I. Look ahead, not down 🚗

At the age of 16, I had a 50cc motorbike! Looking back, I often wonder how my parents trusted me on the road with it ( I was not a sesnaibe kid). However, I do remember one of the first lessons my Dad taught me about driving: “Don’t stare at the ground in front of you; look ahead down the road; that's where the danger is. If you stare at the ground, it will be too late by the time you see it.”

It's interesting how we need to view our health in the same way. In Peter Attia's new book, “Outlive,” he talks about health and how the risks from our choices may not show up right away but much later down the road. Neglecting how much we eat, move, and sleep may not lead to problems like heart disease, diabetes, and other lifestyle-related diseases tomorrow or even next year, but in 10+ years' it’s a different story. Just like those dangers on the road, once they are in front of you, it's often too late to swerve and avoid them.

Peter Attia raises an interesting question: How do we want to be living in our later years? How do you see yourself in your 80s? What is your quality of life then?

The choices we make today shape our future. If we want to continue to be mobile, active, and still living life to its fullest in our 80s, we should prioritise our health early rather than later.

Let's start with some simple measures. Are you consistently getting 7-8 hours of sleep? Do you have a height to waist ratio of 0.49 or less? When was the last time you had a blood test done (guilty as charged; I'm a wimp for needles)? What is your V02 max score? With these measures, we start to build a picture of your overall health and wellness.