Podcast - 3 Health & Wellness Threats Post 40

Here in this episode, I discuss three of the main threats to health and wellness post 40 and offer some tips and insights that can help.

BTW, I recommend listening to the audio rather than the read version because I go deeper :)

Besides the common lifestyle diseases of Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes and Cognitive health problems, here I want to talk about the three main threats to your health trajectory, in terms of your physical body performance, your mental state and your overall wellbeing.

1.        Your metabolism slows

As you age, your body naturally contends with a variety of changes that causes your metabolism to slow down.  When your metabolism slows down, your body becomes less efficient at processing calories for energy and will store those excess calories as fat.

This of course can lead to unwanted weight gain, fatigue, disruption to your sleep/wake cycle, less efficiency with your digestion and impact to your mental focus and emotional wellbeing.

Now of course, some of the natural changes that are unavoidable to an extent e.g. decline in hormone production - testosterone in men and estrogen in women. 

Also, as we age our mitochondria - energy producing structures of the cells demand less to keep them running, particularly if we stop leading an active lifestyle. This means, unless you adjust your lifestyle habits, you’ll notice the effects of a slowing metabolism.

Keep in mind also, for many people there is a natural propensity to do less physically as they get older, which slows the metabolism, causing the body to store excess energy in the form of fat.

2.        Your Body Loses Muscle

Once you reach the age of 30 your body begins a process of naturally losing muscle mass. And this process goes into overdrive once you hit 40, if you don’t make changes to your lifestyle.

Studies show that each decade after the age of 30, we naturally lose 8-12% of our muscle mass if we do nothing to prevent it.  In other words, once you reach the age of 70, you will have lost 30-50% of your muscle, which greatly impacts your strength, physical functionality, mobility and body composition.

As Dr. Gabrielle Lyon says in her new book, “Forever Strong”, muscle is the organ of longevity.  She refers to it as “Muscle-Centric Medicine”.  And she states that many of the lifestyle diseases and health challenges that people face in the middle and later years, is not because “we are over fat, it’s because we are under muscled”.

So, maintaining your muscle mass and prioritising this in your routine is absolutely crucial if you want to age well.  And unfortunately, most people don’t do this;  A. Because they are either simply not aware of its importance, or B.  Because they are hooked on the wrong type of exercise which does little to preserve their muscle mass.

This is the reason why so many people who suffer from mental and physical frailty or get onto a very slippery downward slope post 40.  If you don’t stem the tide of natural muscle loss by taking your approach to nutrition and exercise seriously and by making the right adjustments where necessary, you won’t prevent rapid muscle loss as you age.

So the bottom line is this…

If you want to live strong into your later years, you need to pay attention to the type of exercise you’re doing that is geared toward muscle maintenance – and that of course is strength or resistance training.  And I’ve shared a lot about this in recent episodes which you can check out here on my website.

For me personally, my greatest athletic attributes over the years have been mostly my endurance…and I’ve done many different events that demand a lot in terms of cardiovascular endurance – cycling, mountain biking, swimming, running, martial arts etc.

But in recent years, I have begun placing a lot more emphasis on strength training because I’ve got the memo – and I now realise that I’ve had to move to less demanding types of training that will build my body up and preserve its performance rather than do things that will eventually take their toll and beat my body down.

3.        Motivation and Consistency

This is a big threat, because as we get into our middle years there’s a reality of life that sets in where we generally want to start winding things down rather than wind things up.

And that can meet we don’t prioritise or pursue health and fitness at a level that we should to optimise the quality of our life as we age.

So, we need to be careful where we choose to wind things up and down.

By the age of 40, we’ve generally been through or we’re in the middle of a lot – career, marriage/relationship, kids, finances, trying to build a stable future, financial security and freedom etc. 

All of things do demand a lot of our focus, energy and pursuit and prioritisation.  But the problem is, if we sacrifice our health and wellbeing for all of these things, it is a big mistake – because what’s the point if at the end of it all we have no health left to enjoy it?

Also you’ll probably agree, that your 40’s, 50’s or 60’s is generally a phase of life where we should be looking forward to a degree of freedom from many of life’s normal constraints i.e. more time for ourselves, our passions, adventures, travel, time to enjoy life etc. but it’s difficult to do if we don’t have the energy to create that next phase of our life.

So, staying motivated to stay on track and to have a plan with your health is important.  Because time is against you and the biological and physiological clock is ticking, so you need to do all the right things if you want to continue to enjoy life as you age, for as long as you possibly can.

And so for me, my motivation is as much based on all the things I want to be able to continue to do as it is based on a fear of losing my health, fitness, energy and physical independence.

I believe that motivation is closely linked to what you value most and the vision you have for the rest of your life because this should give you clarity and purpose when it comes to taking care of your health and vitality.

And until you bring that level of awareness and consciousness into your mind – being honest and clear on the NOW and having a compelling vision for your future, you may struggle to stay motivated to continue to do all the right things in terms of how you prioritise your everyday health and wellbeing.

So if staying motivated is something you struggle with, come up with a REASON to take care of yourself that is outside of yourself - it could be so that you can be the best possible version of you for your kids, your spouse, your friends or your loved ones etc.

Finally, I believe the game of health is an emotional journey.  What moves you emotionally is what is going to drive you to get on track, stay on track, look after yourself, take care of yourself, value yourself and optimise yourself moving forward, no matter where you are now.

Emotion is “energy in motion”. 

So, energise yourself and you’ll build yourself emotionally into a fortress that can withstand anything and you’ll be the best version of you.  This is also the key to avoiding these three threats beyond 40.

I hope you got value from today’s episode.   Until next time, stay strong and live well!

ZT.