The average lifespan in the US is 79.11 years.
And the average lifespan of doctors is 79, unless they are an emergency room doctor, their life span has been reported to be in the late 50’s!
With doctors not appearing to have a better life expectancy than folks with less medical knowledge what does that tell you?
Longevity has a lot to do with lifestyle!
So how do all these centenarians do it?
I recently came across a story of a neurologist in Ohio who is 101 years old and still practicing!
Dr. Howard Tucker has been practicing neurology since 1947.
Gosh, think of all the advances he’s seen in his field!
He’s the focus of a new documentary on centenarians called “What’s Next?”
When asked what was the secret to his longevity…
…he mentioned 5 things he doesn’t do.
The top thing he doesn’t do?
He doesn’t spend his days retired!
Apparently, neither does his wife as she’s 89 and still practicing psychoanalysis and psychiatry.
Conversations in their house have to be entertaining!
He goes on to talk about the effects of not engaging the brain and becoming inactive.
Two things I see as a theme over and over agin when it comes to longevity.
My podcast with Marcell Hanson, the creator of “My Stable Table” a program that’s helped thousands learn what it takes for them to create a stable foundation of wellness comes out today.
In our podcast we talk all about health tracking and longevity. (click HERE to listen in)
While Dr. Tucker doesn’t mention health tracking as a part of his daily routine, he does highlight the importance of staying active and indulging in moderation.
Health tracking can help you identify if you’ve decreased your activity and if you’ve been overindulging in certain things that are not serving you well.
Tracking certain health metrics improves awareness of how the ebb and flow of your lifestyle impacts your health.
Combining annual labs with heart rate and heart rate variability data can give you a great idea of how your life impacts your health.
Your cardiovascular system is controlled by your nervous system.
If your nervous system isn’t happy, then you’ll get a rise in heart rate and a decline in heart rate variability over time.
You can identify the snack and food kick loops your body likes and doesn’t.
Plus you can pin point what things in your environment stress you out.
And you can tell what things your body loves too!
Heart rate and HRV trends yield a lot of fascinating data if you’re open to matching them up with your habits, routines and behaviors.
Marcell Hanson, charts her health data daily.
I am a weekly charting kind of gal.
Putting the two pieces of information together on a weekly basis I can see what’s working for me and what isn’t.
This is crucial in helping me test out the adjustments I make over time.
How could health metrics tracking help with longevity?
You’ll be able to identify when you’ve created a habit, routine or behavior that is negatively impacting your health.
From overindulgences for too long to being more sedentary.
Your heart rate and HRV improve when you spend time with others.
You are a social being and when you’re in good company it’s joyful for your heart and your soul.
What’s the surefire way to enhance your longevity?
Dr. Krause’s Protocols
Instructions Included
Traveling soon? Looking to detox or reset your gut? Try one of Dr. Krause’s Fullscript plans.
Find a social outlet where you can share your knowledge with others and stimulate your brain with good conversation.
Create a routine that keeps you moving and infuses some socialization.
Look into annual labs to assess your overall health status…
- comprehensive metabolic panel (electrolytes, kidney and liver function)
- complete blood count (immune system and nutrient status)
- hemoglobin a1c (blood sugar over time)
- lipid panel with a fractionation study (at least once to see the size of your lipid particles)
- c-reactive protein, ferritin and uric acid – to assess total body inflammation
- vitamin D, B12 and folate
- thyroid function – TSH, free T3, free T4, T3 uptake, Reverse T3, thyroid antibodies
- autoimmune antibodies screening
- hormones + DHEA-sulfate
If you have chronic health symptoms then dive deeper into those conditions.
Want to optimize your health?
Look into annual Metabolomix – organic acids testing or micronutrient testing with Spectracell.
Curious about how fast you’re aging?
Check out TruDiagnostic’s advanced epigenetic testing to see your true age versus your chronological age.
What’s best for heart rate and HRV monitoring?
You could go old school and your pulse each morning before getting out of bed to know your resting heart rate each day.
You’d need a watch with a 2nd hand on it and some math skills to multiply how many beats you felt between the 12 and 3 on the watch and you multiply that by 4.
Example: In the time it took the second hand to go from 12 to 3 you counted 15 beats.
Multiply that by 4 and you get 60 as your heart rate.
If old school pulse taking sounds like too much work then…
…grab a watch like the Whoop, a Garmin or even a Morpheus to track your heart rate and HRV.
Minimize your EMF exposure by wearing them for a few hours a day vs 24-7.
Put the watch on before you get out of bed so you can see your baseline heart rate.
Any increases in the heart rate over 10 points on a daily basis indicates you’re not recovering from the day prior.
That could be due to mental, physical or even dietary stress.
If you’re keeping tabs on yourself you’ll have a better idea of what’s happening.
Knowledge is power and the more you can relay to a doc that geeks out on data the quicker interventions can be made and issues resolved.
Putting in a little effort now saves guesswork, time and money in the long run.
No one knows you better than yourself, use this to your advantage to live a long healthy life.
On Saturday I’m releasing a 2 part podcast series on optimizing your health.
If you want to put your balance your hormones, have all day energy and fully experience all the things you have on your bucket list – this is the podcast series for you! Stay tuned!
Here’s to your health,
Dr. J
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