The Portfolio to Live Longer

🔗 Source link: https://www.joincolossus.com/episod...

⏰ Clipped on: 2023-05-16 11:18:47 (UTC+8)

✂️ Generated by Feishu Clip

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TLDR

• Dr. Peter Attia's book "Outlive" discusses strategies for longevity and healthspan. Patrick recommends listening to Peter's recent podcast episode with Tim Ferriss for more tactical details. ​

• Writing the book helped Peter become a better thinker by forcing him to articulate complex concepts in clear and precise ways. ​

• Peter used to suffer from imposter syndrome and feelings of fraudulence, but writing the final chapter of the book helped him come to terms with some personal issues and overcome those feelings.​

• Patrick frames their discussion around the mantra "strong body, calm mind, house full of love." They discuss each of these in relation to health and longevity. ​

• Exercise is the single greatest factor that impacts longevity, but it has to be the right kind focused on strength and cardio fitness.​

• For longevity, living longer without chronic disease matters more than simply living longer with chronic diseases.​

• Medicine 2.0 focuses on intervening after a disease is visible, while Medicine 3.0 takes a lifetime risk approach focused on prevention.​

• Nutrition becomes less important once you're at a healthy weight and metabolically healthy. Exercise arguably has a greater impact.​

• Developing emotional awareness, catching when the mind wanders, and narrowing one's sense of purpose to friends and family can all contribute to a "calm mind."​

• Relationships and a "house full of love" bring more purpose and motivation than achievements and external validation.​

Introduction

Patrick: [00:01:00] My guest this week is Dr. Peter Attia. I've had Peter on the show twice before, but it's been more than five years since his last appearance. In that period, his work has exploded. And today, he's one of the clear leaders on the topic and practice of longevity and health span. He has a new book out called out Outlive, which I heartily recommend. You'll hear us refer to the last chapter of his book early in our conversation, but we chose not to reveal the whole story live, so you can read and enjoy it.​

Also, if you want more of the nitty-gritty tactical stuff from Peter, I highly recommend his recent podcast episode with Tim Ferriss. In our conversation, we highlight the big picture, including the transition from Medicine 2.0 to Medicine 3.0. I always leave these conversations with Peter, full of ideas and in this case, highly motivated to go outside and move my body in nature. I can think of no better actionable advice. Please enjoy my conversation with Peter Attia.​

The Process of Writing Outlive

Patrick: [00:01:54] Peter, I was so excited to do this with you. If you can believe it, both of the prior times we've done this were actually in person, which means they are both pre-COVID, which is kind of a gnarly thing to imagine how much time has passed. But it's so nice to see you again. I so enjoyed your book that came out a few weeks ago. I think it's one of these books that will still be read in 10 years and teaching people about health and longevity and how to live.​

As I talked about framing our conversation, a mantra that my friend, Sam Hinkie shared with me, keeps coming to my mind, and I think it might make for interesting architecture for our discussion. So the mantra is strong body, calm mind, house full of love. And I would love to take that outline with you in discussing all that you've learned.​

But before we get into strong body, I'd love to just understand how you personally have changed in the process of writing this book. I know it was an ordeal. You restarted it a number of times. You worked incredibly hard on it over a period of years. What did the process of writing the book do to change you most?​

Peter: [00:02:53] Great question. Before I answer it, though, I do want to give a shout out to you, Patrick, because you are definitely one of probably three people that had the greatest impact on me starting a podcast. So both times that you interviewed me and I sat down with you, were not only pre-COVID, but they must have been pre-2018.​

Patrick: [00:03:13] They were, yes.

Peter: [00:03:14] Yes, I started that podcast in 2018, almost exactly five years ago. And I remember both times very well that we sat down together, and you constantly said, Peter, you really should be doing a podcast. And I had 100 reasons for not doing it. And I don't know why on the nth time of your nudging, I said, okay, you know what, Patrick, introduce me to the guy, Matthew Passy, who is your producer and does your podcast and I'll at least entertain the idea.​

And of course, here we are five years later, still working with Matthew, thanks to your introduction. So it's actually not clear to me. I would be doing a podcast were it not for you. And I can tell you that from a process perspective, this book would be a fraction of what it is if not for the podcast. In other words, the podcast is basically the vehicle that is a forcing function for my learning.​

Patrick: [00:04:03] Amen.

Peter: [00:04:04] The book would s*** if it weren't for the podcast.

Patrick: [00:04:06] Very cool. That's awesome to hear.

Peter: [00:04:08] Okay. So your question was how have I changed? I think greatly. And part of that is just, I think, the natural evolution of change that would have occurred if I wasn't writing the book. But I think what the book does and what writing does in general, whether it's blogging or doing something as involved as writing a book is it forces you, at least it forces me, to be a better thinker. And I think that's probably true for most people who write.​

I never thought of myself as a writer and growing up was more the math, science guy. But when I did start blogging in 2011, I immediately fell in love with it because it became another expression of thought. And I always wanted to think of a better way to explain something. And doing it in words requires more precision than doing what we're doing right now. You can tell right now, I'm wasting time, wasting words and things.​

You can't do this when you write. So that's the first thing. It just made me a better thinker and it made me go back and imagine more accurate, articulate, interesting orthogonal ways to explain difficult concepts and create frameworks. I've always gravitated towards frameworks, but I think it became more important as the complexity of the subject matter evolved. There's a really deep and personal reason or way in which I think I changed through this book, which was -- and I kind of alluded to this a little bit in the epilogue.​

There was always an uneasiness and attention I felt in writing this book, which is captured in the last chapter. And then, again, I think synthesized through the epilogue, which is there was always a little bit of a feeling of hypocrisy, which was -- but you're really focused on this living longer thing, but you're really failing in the living better thing, in particular, through the happiness, emotional health, connectivity side of things.​

And I do think that a lot of the fits and starts that I experienced in 2017, '18, '19 were as a result of that internal conflict. And so in some ways, finally getting to the point where I could write the book and finish the book required coming to peace with addressing some of those issues if that makes sense.​

Patrick: [00:06:32] It does. The last chapter of the book is incredibly powerful, and I think those that read it and have read it would agree it's probably the best chapter even if it's maybe the most unexpected. What was the process of that resolution? Because it's very easy to say like I went on a big journey.​

I learned a lot, and I'm coming back with sort of the classic Hero's Journey, Architecture, like I'm coming back with new truths with the grail. I went to the belly of the beast and I got the grail and here it is. I came back with it. And what people gloss over is, what hell that belly of the beast can be. And so what was that process like for you, piggybacking off that final chapter coming to that resolution, so powerful?​

Peter: [00:07:11] Well, it depends, right? I think the belly of the beast part was horrible as you describe it. And it is interesting, right? The Hero's Journey. It's a bit of a cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason. I think most people who have gone through something that is defining for them will relay some elements of that story. While I'm going through it, of course, I'm not thinking about anything other than the anguish or the shame or the guilt or the pain of it.​

But it's interesting how when I emerged from it, I finally felt ready to write. And that was something I couldn't have done before, write about that topic. And I didn't feel ashamed anymore, and I didn't feel like I was a fraud. This was probably the single biggest thing. We talk a lot about imposter syndrome. And I think a lot of people feel it. If there was an imposter syndrome Olympics, I could have been the Michael Phelps of it.​

It made me so sick if anybody praised me. It made me so sick if anybody said great job. It was very weird. I mean, it was weird even having my medical practice where people would come to me thinking that I could help them. And on the one hand, I felt like I could help them. And on the other hand, I had this awful feeling, which I'm sure many people can relate to, which is, "Oh my God, I hope they don't find out how much I don't know."​

The Portfolio to Live Longer​

The Portfolio to Live Longer