I Almost Died in 2022.
Here Is Why I Now Run Trails at Zone 4
We Can Thrive As We Age
I don’t want to live forever. But after I almost died in 2022, I do want to live as long as possible as healthy as possible.
When I tell people I reversed my biological age 15 years (and yes I can see and feel the difference), many are skeptical.
Some think I’m vain.
Women in particular ask me why would I want to extend perimenopause and the 50+ symptoms?
My answer is I no longer have any negative symptoms.
And in many cultures, women do not experience the level of vasomotor (hot flashes) and other issues during this phase of life. I’ve written about some of the reasons why, including diet, stress, and toxins, but the fact remains that not everyone goes through hell on earth for 10+ years.
We live in a world where boldly announcing we want to look and feel great after 50 is met with skepticism.
That’s because it’s difficult to imagine something that hasn’t existed yet for most. I’m here to tell you it’s possible.
“It’s possible to extend to live longer and better, and to alleviate many of the expected symptoms of aging. The science is there and it doesn’t take a million dollars.”— Julie Elaine Brown
Diet, Exercise, & Optimism
The disbelief about the ability to reverse age, or eradicate health issues as we age makes complete sense. Most people are still operating on a model of aging that goes roughly like this: you get older, you feel worse, and you manage the decline as gracefully as possible.
The idea that biological age and chronological age are different numbers, and that we have a great deal of ability to influence how our genes behave, is relatively new science.
But the science is real, and it is accumulating.
Stanford Medicine researchers demonstrated that healthy eating and exercise programs produced measurable increases in average telomere length, a biological marker of cellular aging, and that those gains reversed when participants returned to old habits.
Telomeres are the protective caps on your chromosomes. Longer telomeres correspond to younger biological age. The interventions that lengthen them include exercise, diet, sleeping well and reducing stress. Yet there’s one more factor that few people talk about: being optimistic.
Researchers at Harvard and Boston University, studying more than 70,000 men and women across decades, found that the most optimistic individuals lived an average of 11 to 15 percent longer and had significantly greater odds of reaching age 85 or beyond.
A follow-up Harvard Chan School study of nearly 160,000 women found that those in the highest quartile of optimism were likely to live 5.4 percent longer and had a meaningfully greater likelihood of surviving past 90, with those results holding across racial and ethnic groups and after controlling for chronic disease, depression, and health behaviors.
Diet, Exercise, sleeping, reducing stress, being optimistic. NONE of these require expensive protocols, but they do require an overhaul of the way we live.
I want to be specific about how I reversed my biological age and first disclaim that my fibroid surgeries in 2022 where the result of super high estrogen, high stress, heavy toxin load, and a diet that had way too much dairy and eggs as a vegetarian.
I had to have two surgeries to remove my fibroids (one of which had partially detached and was causing me to hemorrhage).
So, the first step for me was to recover from the surgeries and change my diet and stress load. But then, the things that moved my biomarkers most significantly were not hugely expensive.
What I Did To Reverse My Age
Here are the main things I did to heal from my surgeries, reduce all perimenopause symptoms, and reverse my biological age:
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
This was one of the most helpful things and in fact was what inspired me to co-found my last startup, Reve Health, which interpreted biomarker labs through a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective. The guidance we gave our members was east-meets-west based and included “rx” such as spending time in nature.
Sprints, HIIT, Challenging Hikes
Zone 4/5 training done consistently lengthens telomeres and improves VO2 max, one of the strongest single predictors of longevity. We are supposed to spike cortisol, the key is to ensure we recover to bring it down. The body does well with targeted stress.
Healthy Diet
I am a vegan/vegetarian who eats all organic and zero processed foods. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 12, and go through long periods of time without any animal products.
Sleep
I take sleep seriously because the epigenetic repair that happens during sleep is where a significant portion of biological age reversal occurs. I support my sleep with blackout curtains, the low hum of an air filter, an eyemask that covers my ears, and no blue light 2 hours before bedtime.
Strength Training
Strength training protects muscle mass, supports insulin sensitivity, and reduces biological aging markers. While this can mean “lift heavy shit,” I use my own bodyweight for exercises such as planks, lunges and squats.
Time in Nature
Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing using, means mindfully spending time in the woods. I do this at least once a week as it is regulates our cortisol (stress hormone), lowers blood pressure, and boosts immunity.
Believe You Can, And You Can
We live in a world where boldly announcing that you want to look and feel genuinely good after 50 is still met with a raised eyebrow especially for women.
The photos I share without filters or vitamin D are evidence of a life well lived.
Sure, I have bags under my eyes and wrinkles because I don’t do Botox. I have some grey hairs that look like tinsel.
But I am strong and healthy and can run up a mountain and back.
My biomarkers that show my organs are functioning like those of someone considerably younger are the ultimate proof point.
I am not uniquely gifted and no, it is not my genes (that’s a story for another day but dying young is an unfortunate thing in my family).
I am simply someone who decided, after nearly dying, that I didn’t just want to live, I wanted to thrive.
If you are a woman who has been told that the symptoms you are experiencing are simply what aging looks and feels like, I want you to know that is not even close to the complete picture. You are capable of looking and feeling amazing, and that can mean different things to different people.
The science supports this, and I’m building something new that will help you.
