Kick the Bucket List: Your Guide to an Epic Last Year on Earth

Bad news, you’ve got a last year on earth. Good news, if you’re lucky you’ll accept that “grand father dies, father dies, son dies” is the best blessing you can have (imagine a different ordering). If you’re luckier, you’ll have age appropriate health right up till that last year, or even better that last few months. If you’re even luckier you’ll have the strength to do what you want in your personal “centenarian Olympics”.

This post draws heavily from Peter Attia’s work on longevity and healthspan, particularly his book Outlive, which explores how to live better and longer through the concept of the Centenarian Olympics.

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• You’re going to die
• Centarian Olympics
  • The Inverted Parabola of Health
  • Your peak health age
  • Your rate of decline
• The Four Horsemen of Death
• Physical Health Components
  • Stability
  • Strength
  • Aerobic (Zone 2)
  • Anaerobic (Zone 5)
• Spirtual Health

You’re going to die

First read this …

Now watch this …

Centarian Olympics

Compressed Morbidity. Ideally you’ll stay healthy till the very end. What does that mean when you’re a 100? It means you have the strength to do the functional things you’d like. So what should we call this set of activities? How about the Centenarian Olympics, containing the following activities:

• Lift my 4 year old grand kid
• Go for a 1 hour walk
• Get off the ground with 1 hand (otherwise can’t play on the floor)
• Carry 2 grocery bags

This is a great idea from Peter Attia. Those things sound awfully easy you think, except:

The Inverted Parabola of Health

Regardless of your training, your health will be parabolic, initially your training will make your health positive, then it will be neutral and then it will decline. Once you’re on the downward curve, it’ll look like the following:

\[Health(YearsPastPeak) = HealthAtPeak - \sum\_{n=PeakYear}^{PeakYear+YearsPastPeak} HealthDecline(n)\]

Your body decline is inevitable, you can control 2 things. 1/ Your starting health, 2/ Your rate of decline.

Your peak health age

You want to train as hard as you can till you peak. The better your starting position the more room you have for the inevitable decline.

Your rate of decline

You can’t stop your decline but you can slow it down. Same as the plan to build your starting health

The Four Horsemen of Death

While the Centenarian Olympics give us functional goals to strive for, we must understand what we’re training against. Peter Attia describes four major threats to our longevity and health span - the Four Horsemen of Death. Let’s examine them from most to least influenceable through our actions, starting with the foundation we have the most control over:

1. Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Dysfunction

   • The foundation that influences all other horsemen
   • Characterized by insulin resistance and blood sugar dysregulation
   • Increases risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration
   • Prevention through diet, exercise, sleep, and stress management
   • Regular monitoring of markers like HbA1c, fasting glucose, insulin

2. Cardiovascular Disease

   • Heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular issues remain the leading cause of death
   • Risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, inflammation
   • Prevention through cardiovascular fitness, diet, stress management
   • Early detection through regular screening of markers like blood pressure, lipids
   • Zone 2 cardio training is crucial for prevention

3. Neurodegenerative Disease

   • Including Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cognitive decline
   • Risk factors include genetics, cardiovascular health, metabolic health
   • Prevention through cognitive engagement, physical exercise, sleep quality
   • Both aerobic exercise and strength training protect brain function
   • Social engagement and purpose help maintain cognitive health

4. Cancer

   • The second leading cause of death globally
   • Risk influenced by genetics, environment, lifestyle choices
   • Prevention through metabolic health, immune system strength, avoiding carcinogens
   • Early detection through regular screening based on age/risk factors
   • Strength training helps maintain muscle mass during treatment

We start with metabolic health because it’s our greatest point of leverage - the condition we can influence most through daily choices and habits. While we can’t completely control any of these conditions, improving our metabolic health creates a strong foundation that helps protect against all other horsemen.

These horsemen don’t just threaten our life - they threaten our ability to compete in our personal Centenarian Olympics. Our training isn’t just about being able to lift our grandkids or walk for an hour – it’s about building resilience against these major threats:

• Metabolic Health requires a comprehensive approach of exercise, nutrition, sleep, and stress management
• Cardiovascular Training (Zone 2 and Zone 5) helps fight cardiovascular disease through improved heart health and vascular function
• Strength Training helps fight cancer through improved metabolic health and helps prevent muscle wasting
• Stability Work reduces fall risk and supports brain health through complex movement patterns
• Cognitive Training combined with physical activity helps ward off neurodegenerative disease

The key insight is that these horsemen are interconnected - metabolic health influences cardiovascular disease risk, which affects brain health, and so on. This is why we need a comprehensive approach to training that addresses all aspects of health.

Physical Health Components

Stability

Strength

Aerobic (Zone 2)

Anaerobic (Zone 5)

Spirtual Health

Read a great book about a guy who found out he was gonna die in 100 days. Smart guy used to be CEO of KPMG, cool to see what he did. Book is Chasing Daylight. Hi stop advice, what ever you plan to do before you die, move it up.