Exercise Scientist’s Masterclass On Longevity - Dr Mike Israetel - #872

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr. Mike Israetel. He's a professor of exercise and sports science at Lehman College and the co-founder of Renaissance Periodization. As technology advances at an unprecedented pace, the idea of humans living forever feels within reach. But what's the truth about extending our lives? What does the latest science reveal about our pursuit of extended lifespan? Expect to learn the biggest determining factors to increase longevity, the role of genetics, whether fasting is the ultimate hack, how steroid usage impacts lifespan, the best exercises for living longer, the biggest predictors outside of your body that determine how long you live, the biggest myths for extending your life, the truth about blue zones and much more. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dr. Mike Israetel. Mike Israetel, welcome to the show.

**Mike Israetel** (1:12)
Chris, thanks for having me, again.

**Chris Williamson** (1:15)
In a barn, this time.

**Mike Israetel** (1:17)
Yes, the person who picked me up blindfolded me, put a shot in my arm. I woke up in a helicopter being rappelled down to a barn. I have no idea where we are, but interestingly, I do have some ideas about longevity on the brain.

**Chris Williamson** (1:30)
And an erection.

**Mike Israetel** (1:31)
Always. Just kidding, never.

**Chris Williamson** (1:34)
Talking about longevity, bit of a buzzword, especially the last sort of five to 10 years on YouTube. How do you come to think about longevity, constituent parts? What is it?

**Mike Israetel** (1:47)
Longevity is kind of the big concept. And there are two underlying concepts at least that are important to chat about. One is the duration of your life, how long you're alive. And the end run of that is mortality.
Like if you die at 97 versus you die at 57, then you lived 40 years longer or whatever, you had more longevity in that sense. And that used to be kind of sort of the only way longevity was discussed, a generation ago or so and times before that. But there's an important subcomponent, sort of part two of longevity, that has to be in the discussion for it to be the most meaningful discussion possible. And that is a variable, the end run of which isn't mortality, but it's morbidity. And that is quality of life. So the two parts of longevity are how long do you live for, and what is the quality of life that you're experiencing during that time? So mortality is how soon you die. Morbidity is like, what are the last five, 10, 15, 20, 30 years of your life like? Because it is a very, very different situation to have two people live to 90 and croak summarily at 90 and one day at the same time holding hands, very romantic. But one of them up until two years ago was living life to the fullest, active, independent, healthy, generally speaking, could travel, maybe could drive all the way up to-

**Chris Williamson** (3:26)
Few restrictions on what they could do.

**Mike Israetel** (3:27)
Very few restrictions.

**Chris Williamson** (3:28)
Yep.

**Mike Israetel** (3:29)
The alternative is there are people currently in their late 40s that suffer from morbid obesity, that if you somehow just kept them alive and with technological innovation that is increasingly more possible, that they kick around for a while. Let's say magically you got someone like that to their 90s or something. Let's use a more realistic example. After age 70, a person is mostly bedridden, requires the care and attention of many people, is bereft of family and friends, and lives in a nursing home, 10 to two hand and foot, very identical mortality, same day of death, very different degree of morbidity. One person experienced almost none, one experienced a significant amount. So for the rest of the discussion we're gonna have here today, we're attending to variables that don't just enhance the probability that you live longer, though they will, but they're also going to enhance the quality of life you experience as you age, which is really, really important. Because if someone's like, do you wanna live longer? And you're like, yeah, they're like in a nursing home with tubes everywhere. You're like, ooh, how much longer? Like years, decades, you're like cashmere, I'm good. Some people want that sort of thing, some people don't. So very important distinction.

**Chris Williamson** (4:45)
Is it a trade-off between the two?

**Mike Israetel** (4:48)
Almost never, but almost. Sometimes there is a trade-off between the two. For example, in very difficult athletic pursuits, there are some data indicate that if you really grind it as an athlete, especially into your later years, you could technically be throughputing so much through your metabolism. The total human metabolism and the amount of sort of damage and chemical alteration your body takes is kind of like, like a candle. If you burn it really fast, it burns out a little quicker. And just low key, there is a situation like that.