Olympic medal at age 72, the importance of protein, make your meetings work for you
Published 6 months ago • 3 min read
Issue #81: Olympic medal at age 72, slowing muscle loss, make your meetings work for you
Read Time: 5 minutes
Good morning, 66.1ers. Welcome to this week's Wednesday edition.
A few housekeeping items:
If you missed Saturday's issue on the effects of caffeine on your sleep, you can read it here.
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In this week's issue of 66.1:
The 72-year-old who won an Olympic medal
A protein challenge
Why you need to be walking during your meetings
A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.
Spotlight on Longevity: Oscar Swahn
If I asked you to guess the age of the oldest Olympian in history, what would you guess? There's an extra space here so you can't see the answer. Hint: it's older than 50.
If you said 72, you win. And not only did he compete, Oscar Swahn won a silver medal in the single-shot running deer event at the 1922 Olympics.
Now, there’s not extensive press on Swahn–his Olympic career occurred more than 100 years ago–so it was tough to find a source that unveiled his longevity best practices.
But we can deduce a few things:
Eat real foods: In 1908, it was much harder to come by processed foods than it is today. Swahn was likely fueled by a diet of lean meats, vegetables, and natural carbohydrates.
Exercise: He was an athlete, after all. I’ve got to imagine Swahn was an active guy, even if we can’t find his specific workout program. A human in motion tends to stay in motion.
Do what you enjoy: Having hobbies could extend longevity, according to multiple studies. Swahn kept shooting, and he kept thriving. Find the thing you enjoy doing and keep doing it.
Oscar Swahn. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Food for thought:
Image by Washington Post
Muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30 and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60.
--Researchers at Mayo Clinic and American Geriatric Society
Quality of life: as you lose muscle mass, you will lose the strength required to do the activities you enjoy.
Healthy aging: loss of muscle means you’re going to struggle to recover from injuries. A common occurrence in older adults is the broken hip: due in part to already decreased muscle mass, they slip and fall, breaking their hip and becoming laid up for weeks. This inactivity leads to more muscle lost and further erodes quality of life. The best insurance policy against such a demise is to maintain your strength.
Two things everyone can do to slow the loss of muscle mass:
Eat your protein Studies suggest that 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is the requirement to help your body build muscle.
Lift weights Studies have also shown that resistance training is a key practice for slowing the effects of sarcopenia (loss of muscle). Aim to lift at least 2x/week.
The question for you this week: How can you increase your daily protein intake by just 10 grams? (10g=1.5 eggs, 1/4 C chicken breast, 1/2 C nonfat Greek yogurt)
Want more info on protein consumption? Check out the protein deep dive from a couple weeks ago here.
Workout of the week
A quick workout you can do anywhere.
This week's workout:
The Walking Meeting
Here's the workout:
Instead of sitting through every single meeting this week, I challenge you to take just one of those while you’re on a walk.
Take a walk outdoors, or get yourself moving on a treadmill desk like I use.
If you need to justify it to yourself or your boss, consider this finding from researchers at Stanford: creative output increases 60 percent when a person is walking.
Level: Beginner
Don't do it if: If you're physically unable to walk.
Adaptation: If walking's out of the picture for you, consider doing some static stretches from your chair. Or, better, yet, from a standing position.
Tried the workout? Reply here and let me know how it went! I'd love to hear more.
That's all for this week. Have fun out there. Marcus
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Why 66.1? 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication. We're here to extend that.