The quest for living forever isn’t a new concept, that’s for sure. But it’s taking on new life as a normalized lifestyle hack instead of a search for the fountain of youth. Longevity is now a word that gym bros invoke when they use disordered eating behaviors or freak out when they can’t make it to the gym on their normal schedule. So, what’s real and what isn’t? We don’t really know yet. Research into longevity is obviously difficult to perform because it means following a person through their entire lifespan, controlling for any possible variable that would impact their mortality, and then needing to do that with thousands of other people. There are some things that we’ve been able to nail down as drivers of good health and long lifespan - eating fruits and vegetables daily, moving your body most days per week, having good relationships and a social support system, having access to good medical care, and more. In this video, Bryan brings up 1-2 of these things as part of his routine to attempt to live past 100, but a lot of the things he is really proud of (and spends the most money on) aren’t really guaranteed to be doing much for his lifespan. I talk about this throughout the video, but at the end of the day I support this guy’s bodily autonomy and ability to choose how his spends his time and resources. The reason I’m even commenting on this is because it might influence the way we think we should be taking care of ourselves. For the rest of us who don’t have excess free time and a couple million to spend on possible wellness hacks, this lifestyle could actually do a lot of harm. Taking away precious time with loved ones, leisure time to rest and recuperate, resources to spend on vacation or household expenses, and so much mental energy going toward your health is a surefire way to send yourself down the spiral of orthorexia or another eating disorder. This much mental energy going toward “health” in ways that are unfounded and extreme is actually textbook orthorexia and studies continually show us that orthorexic behaviors are not healthy or supportive for our wellbeing.
You may notice that this first video is only 5 minutes long. I actually spent about 45 minutes critiquing this video (and, in reality, recorded it 2.5 times r/t some technological mishaps :(…). Over the next 2 Wednesdays I’ll send out parts 2 and 3 for paid subscribers. Thanks to all of you for being here, learning some things, and supporting this project - it is not lost on me how lucky I am to have this creative outlet.
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