00:00Now, you mentioned exercise. There are different compelling arguments about cardio versus strength
00:06training versus things that are more reliant on flexibility and stability. How are you talking
00:11to your patients about what they should be spending their time? All three. All three. All three.
00:15Welcome to The Future You, a new series by Men's Health, where we talk to the leading experts in
00:19health and longevity to help you live longer and stronger. I'm your host, Rich Dormant. In this
00:25episode, we're talking with longevity expert, Dr. Mark Lacks, about the importance of activity
00:29and its impact on aging. There should be some flexibility work. I'm a big yoga person. I go
00:36to yoga probably five times a week. What I love about yoga is you can modify. It's so compelling
00:43to me when I see the most talented instructors with an injury effectively doing a minor modification
00:49and the lack of ego, which is the problem in sort of much exercise. I think aerobic exercise
00:56is critical. That could be walking. And, you know, what I say to people is weights. And
01:04I don't care if it's curls or work out with some weights.
01:07Resistence training, strength training.
01:08Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know, muscular mass is what determines in your 40s whether or not
01:17you're going to be able to get out of the bathtub yourself at 75 or need someone to help you.
01:22So I really do think that, you know, use it or lose it. And the problem is, Richard, when we're
01:30younger, we don't have the perception that we're losing function. Right. Right. You know,
01:35unless you're getting re-signed to the New York Yankees, right, and they measure your fastball,
01:42okay, and it loses two miles an hour, or you're an astronaut and they measure your lung capacity
01:47between 32 and 34, you wouldn't recognize that. Okay. Although the Fitbit and the quantified self
01:54is changing that in a good way because it's forcing us to do more when we lose ground.
02:01Muscle training with protein, a lot of intake, a lot of protein intake?
02:05Yeah. And it depends on your physiology. I mean, if you have some kidney problems,
02:08you don't want to overdo the protein. It really, it really depends on what your physician says and
02:15what kinds of exercise you're doing. Spend your money on a trainer, on a gym, on a, I mean,
02:23I'm a big fan of automated stuff at home, the Peloton, the tonal, the mirror, the treadmill,
02:32where you can get some feedback. If you can't socialize, you can do some social things and
02:37compete in those environments. I mean, the pandemic was terrible for fitness and mental health.
02:45Well, it coined a phrase that we used a lot, which was alone together, which is this idea that
02:49places like, or devices like Peloton or tonal allowed the semblance of community and interaction,
02:56but whether you were stuck at home or whether you would like with one other person. I'm glad you
03:00mentioned the sociability aspect too, because I think diet and exercise has been a cornerstone of
03:05quote unquote, good health for a long time. Yeah. I think it's only in the past generation,
03:10I think that we've really come to see compelling data around how socialization and how you build
03:16your social life, however you define it and the impact it has on longevity. Can you tell me a
03:21little bit about that? Well, I mean, the surgeon general has said that a loneliness, severe loneliness
03:26is the equivalent of smoking a pack a day or being sedentary. You know, when I started doing this in
03:32the eighties and you asked me what I did in the eighties, I told people about loneliness. They thought I
03:36was a hippie. They thought I was tree hugging. And then slowly this data started with a study called
03:42the Alameda County study in the late seventies, where you probably know about this, where when you
03:49lose a spouse, your risk of death in that year goes up. Spikes and then plateaus, right? Adjusting
03:54for your illnesses. And then we started seeing these studies in the eighties and nineties, recovery from
03:58illness, a famous study looking at recovery from a heart attack, looking at emotional support. After
04:05you're adjusting for the severity of the heart attack, if you had social support. You recovered
04:11and so the best thing to do is to exercise with people not virtually because then it's a twofer
04:18you're combining the physical exercise. You know, I'm not a big golfer, but I love going out
04:24and get made fun of because I'm with a bunch of buddies. And I feel really good, you know,
04:31pickleball. Pickleball. Yeah, I'm taking a pickleball.
04:35Pickleball. Pickleball. Pickleball. Let's bend your body to my liking.
04:39Pickleball. Try myself, let's bend your body. doin you.
04:42PοΏ½derball. Let's break it up.
04:44Pickleball. Any more fist shadows?
04:46Pickleball. You know, I think it's pretty quick.
04:50Pickleball. Do you want when you bring a child?
04:52Pickleball. Make your children breathe away.
04:55Pickleball. Pickleball. Two of them do you want to control over and start with your heart attack?
05:00Pickleball. lernen.
05:02Gold. Pickleball.
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