The longevity dividend is a concept I came up with to describe the framework one should consider when it comes to improving your health and lifespan.
We all want to live long, fruitful lives filled with meaningful experiences, and the way that you yield the maximum returns on those experiences is to invest in your health.
In the financial sense, a dividend is a distribution of a company’s earnings.
In our analogy, you are also the stakeholder, but instead of financial distributions, the distributions come in the form of more healthy years on Earth.
Longevity needs to be conceptualized as an investment because you get no meaningful returns unless you start now and let the effect of compound interest take over.
Investing in your health is the best investment you can make.
Most of us don’t start thinking about our health until middle age.
That’s when the common signs of aging begin to take a foothold.
And while by definition, aging is a slow, inevitable senescence, the rate at which you age is highly modifiable.
And the condition you end up in during your last decade of life is highly dependent on all the years that came before.
So, if you are middle-aged – or any age for that matter, and you have started to take note of your declining health & aging body, it’s time to get proactive and start investing in your health.
Invest in Your Health
Maybe you don’t have the energy that you once did.
Or maybe you find it challenging to run around and play with your children or grandchildren.
Perhaps your doctor is unhappy with your elevated blood pressure & cholesterol.
Or maybe you are unhappy with the extra pounds you carry around your waist.
Trust me, so many of my middle-aged clients felt the same way.
These are just a few of the most common afflictions that middle-aged adults face.
If you start implementing a comprehensive strategy now – you will be rewarded with the longevity dividend for years to come.
The Burden of Health Conditions For Middle-Aged Adults
There is an excellent paper that examined the burden of 10 particular health conditions for a nationally-representative sample of adults aged 50 years and older in the United States.
These health conditions are the ones that disproportionately afflict middle-aged adults as they age.
The researchers collected data from the 1998–2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study.
At each wave, participants indicated if they were diagnosed with the following 10 conditions:
1.) Cancer
2.) Myocardial infarction
3.) Diabetes
4.) Hypertension
5.) Arthritis
6.) Stroke
7.) Fractured Hip
8.) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
9.) Back pain
10.) Congestive heart failure
Years lived with a disability and years of life lost to premature mortality were summed for calculating something called disability-adjusted life years (DALY).
These disability-adjusted life years were calculated as a function of:
1.) Years lived with a disability.
2.) Years of life lost to premature mortality as a result of these diseases.
The data suggest that the burden of these health conditions accounted for over a million years of healthy life lost for middle-aged and older Americans over the 16-year study period!
The green bars represent years of life lost.
The yellow bars represent years lived with the disease.
This is a staggering number.
These individuals were clearly unable to cash in on their longevity dividend.
How to Cash In On Your Longevity Dividend
Although the results from this study are depressing, not all hope is lost.
The risk of those 10 diseases rises significantly as you progress into your middle-aged years, but the great news is you can actually modify that risk significantly.
In fact, even though these disease states appear to be a statistical inevitability, they don’t need to be for you.
And that’s because you are deciding to invest in your health now.
Not only will you reduce your disease risk, but you will also feel better, look better, and have an abundance of energy.
You’ll be able to show up for your friends and loved ones and have meaningful experiences with them for years to come.
I’ve written at length about various strategies to improve your health so that you can cash in on your longevity dividend later.
But here are a couple things you can implement today.
Hire a Professional
When it comes to improving your health & fitness, you need someone in your corner that will create the right strategy for you and keep you accountable.
Research shows that being held accountable drastically improves the odds that you will follow through with a goal.
This is common sense, but it helps illustrate that we all need coaches in various aspects of our lives.
When it comes to your health, you need a loyal & dedicated individual.
Shameless plug, but I’ve been helping middle-aged individuals improve their health & fitness for over a decade.
It’s my passion and obsession.
Why?
Because I have witnessed firsthand what can happen to an individual’s ability to enjoy life in their later years when they are afflicted with health conditions.
I will create a comprehensive plan to improve your health & longevity through evidence-based diet, movement, and lifestyle modifications.
I’ll coach you each step of the way and show up for you, every single day.
When my clients refer me to their friends, one word always comes up.
Reliable.
I pride myself on providing a high-end experience that is tailored to my clients’ needs.
Take a look at my coaching options below and reach out.
Begin An Exercise Program
This is the first thing you must do to cash in on your longevity dividend.
Exercise is arguably the most impactful tool that we have for increasing lifespan and healthspan.
I highly recommend starting with zone 2 training.
It’s a type of low-intensity aerobic exercise that yields immense dividends when it comes to your longevity.
You’ll increase your stamina, lower your blood pressure, reduce your A1C level, and decrease your cardiovascular risk.
It’s a win-all modality.
Then once you have begun a regular zone 2 protocol, you need to start strength training.
Unfortunately, strength training gets a bad reputation because most older adults think they will get hurt doing it.
But the truth is, strength training is arguably the most important exercise modality for older adults.
You just need to perform exercises that are safe for your body.
You lose 1-2% of your muscle mass each year after 50!
That doesn’t seem significant, but it compounds quickly.
Sarcopenia is associated with increased rates of all-cause mortality.
Implementing a strength training program stops this rate of decline.
It’s an absolute necessity.
I could go through various strategies that center around sleep hygiene, diet, and other modifiable lifestyle factors, but the truth is – exercise should be your number one focus.
The rest is equally important, but it’s best to start with exercise and then add other strategies over time.
If you start trying to change your life in too many areas at once, you will likely get overwhelmed and not follow through.
If you want a fat longevity dividend, start with a comprehensive exercise program and gradually add more strategies over time.
I’d love to help you with this process, so please email me.
I’d be happy to help you get started.
Invest in your health today for a longer life tomorrow.