594: How to Build a Longer, Stronger, More Meaningful Life | Allison Aubrey

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Max Lugavere (0:32)

That means that summer's officially here.

Allison Aubrey (0:34)

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Allison Aubrey (0:40)

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Max Lugavere (0:43)

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Does anyone have any cash?

Allison Aubrey (0:48)

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Max Lugavere (1:00)

What's going on everybody? It's episode 594 of The Genius Life.

The Genius Life.

What's going on everybody? Welcome back to The Genius Life. I'm your host, Max Lugavere. My guest today is Allison Aubrey. She's a longtime NPR health and science correspondent and the author of the brand new book out just last week, Your Turn, How to Create a Midlife You Love. Allison and I have a lot in common professionally. We both came up as journalists. We both spend our lives interviewing experts, and we both try to translate complicated health science to something that people can actually use. In this conversation, we unpack three big questions. How to make midlife feel like an expansion rather than a decline? Which habits matter most for protecting your brain and body as you age? And how to close the gap between knowing what's good for you and actually doing it? We also get into strength, purpose, the brain care score. What even is that? Diet, alcohol, community, and why hyperoptimization can sometimes become its own trap. It's a fantastic episode. Listen through all the way to the end. Per usual, you're not going to want to miss a beat. And don't forget to share this episode wherever you're listening to it with friends and loved ones who you think may benefit from it. And before we begin, just a quick shout out to my fellow Jewish listeners. Hope you had a fantastic Rosh Hashanah and wishing you a very meaningful Yom Kippur and a really good year ahead. Now with all that out of the way, here's episode 594 Let's rock. Allison Aubrey, welcome to the show. How are you?

Allison Aubrey (2:39)

Great. It is wonderful to be here in person, in the flesh.

Max Lugavere (2:43)

In the flesh. I'm super happy to have you.

First of all, I love the concept of your book, Your Turn. And I just have to share a funny story with you. I was glancing over your NPR column, and a headline stood out to me, that the oldest millennial is now 45 So I read that headline, and I was like, damn, that's crazy. And then I realized that I'm 44

Allison Aubrey (3:07)

Wow, y'all are gonna be the old guys soon.

Max Lugavere (3:09)

I know.

Allison Aubrey (3:10)

You know, as a Gen X woman, we are paving the way for you, Max.

Max Lugavere (3:14)

You really are. Well, what is it about? Cause you wrote this incredible book, the subtitle of which is How to Create a Midlife You Love. Am I in midlife?

Allison Aubrey (3:24)

Yes, you are.

You are. Well, let me reframe it for you. So by 2050, there will be an estimated 3.7 million centenarians walking this globe. So think about it. Not all of us is going to live to be 100, but at a time when a century long life is possible, 50 could just be the beginning of midlife. So I would say you are kind of pre-midlife. But the reason I'm so excited to talk about midlife reinvention with you is that this book is for anyone who's asking the question, what's next in life, no matter what transition you're going through.

Max Lugavere (4:02)

That is very interesting. Is midlife different for somebody who's entering it today compared to generations past?

Allison Aubrey (4:09)

Absolutely, because we can expect to live longer, right? I mean, think about it.

In the last 100 years, there's been so many years added to average life expectancy that if you got to 50, 100 years ago, you were just waiting around. I mean, the word retire really did make sense because you were going to be not working and you probably were going to be tired, right? Average life expectancy was much lower.