Longevity doctor shares secret to a long life
A doctor who specialises in the science of longevity has shared his secret for living longer, and it's much more simple than you would think.
Dr Peter Attia, a U.S.-Canadian physician, says exercising for just three hours a week is not only essential for a healthy lifestyle, but can reduce your chances of an early death by 50 per cent.
“Exercising is the most underutilised change we can make to affect the length and quality of our life,” Dr Attia said.
He encouraged everyone to include both strength training and cardiovascular fitness into regular exercise routines, and to eat enough protein in a balanced diet.
“You want to make sure you're covering all your bases and that means both lifting weights, because strength is one of the most highly associated features with longevity, but also doing cardiorespiratory fitness,” he told the Sunrise breakfast show.
Dr Attia believes that, in simple terms, if you're starting from zero, exercising for just 30 minutes a day, six days a week, can half your death rate.
However, he said the “right” amount of exercise a person should be doing per week is dependent on an individuals’ level of fitness.
While Dr Attia shared the physical benefits of regular exercise, he also reiterated how important daily movement is for mental health.
“What we know is exercise is the single biggest elixir for brain health. And it's amazing how much more powerful it appears to be than nutrition, even sleep. And those things are very important, but exercise is on a league of its own,” he said.
“I thought there had to be something more powerful. But as important as sleep [and] nutrition are, exercise kind of takes the cake.”
Image credits: Instagram