Vegetarian or Paleo?  Eight hours a night or take a nap?  Living long or living well?

Longevity research is so confusing.  Let's cut through it so you have clear science-based advice on how to live longer, happier and healthier.  Here are the five pillars to follow:

1.     Eat a healthy diet primarily focused on plant-based foods

2.     Engage in regular moderate exercise of at least 20 minutes a day

3.     Get sufficient restful sleep, generally seven to eight hours a night

4.     Sustain a rich social network

5.     Have a sense of purpose and act on it.

When I met people who discover I research the neuroscience of longevity, they always ask me what they should do to live longer.  Like all good questions, they answer is: it depends.  It depends in part on your genes.  There is nothing you can do about that (that's not completely correct, one can influence the epigenome but let's save that for a different blog). But, it also depends on choices you make. Let's go through the list. 

Weight: if you are overweight, solve that issue first.  You have to consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.  The easiest ways to do this are to cut out fatty and fried foods and to limit sugar and carbohydrates.  One tablespoon of fat is 100 calories so this is a very dense calorie source.  For comparison, one tablespoon of sugar is 48 calories.  Eating fibrous plant-based foods gives one a full feeling, limiting caloric intake.  Now the five pillars get interesting.  When people lose weight, they sleep better and are more likely to exercise.  They also get a mood boost and socialize more, thereby checking off items 2, 3 and 4.  The five pillars are not independent of each other so starting one often provides benefits from the others.  I would call this a "free lunch" but since we're focused on losing weight that's a poor word choice.  Let's say it's an added benefit.

Exercise: Just twenty minutes daily is enough.  I have a big dog that needs a big walk every morning.  I roll out of bed, make a big cup of coffee and immediately walk the dog for 2-3 miles.  It’s a routine. Because it’s a routine, I do this even when travelling without my dog.  I'll put in ear buds and listen to an audiobook or podcast while I travel up and down hills with my dog.  Then, I do another mile walk in the afternoon after I have been siting all day.  Having a routine is key.  Here's more good news--aerobic exercise is appetite suppressing.  I have a light breakfast after my walk and I'm good until lunchtime. The afternoon walk burns some accumulated frustration from my workday and I sleep better as well.

Sleep: People are quite variable on the sleep they need.  Most do well on 7-9 hours, while others function perfectly well on 5 hours a night.  As we age, our sleep at night tends to be shorter and many people make up for this with an afternoon nap.  Even younger people benefit from naps.  A new trend called a  "nappuccino" involves having an espresso or cappuccino before one lies down for a nap.  Coffee removes the neurochemical adenosine from the brain's synapses that makes us sleepy.  This takes effect about 20 minutes after consuming a coffee.  Voilà the perfect nap and wake up system.  You can guess the next part of the story--when people sleep well, they have improved mood, are more compassionate which improves their social relationships, and are more likely to exercise and eat properly.

Social life: Research from Oxford University has shown that about one-half of our happiness is due to the richness of our social lives.  Great, what does "rich" mean? Is it how many friends I have on Facebook or how many followers on LinkedIn?  No.  A rich social life is one that generates enough value to boost mood and energy.[1]  I have named the brain's social-emotional valuation network "Immersion."  This is a one-second frequency measurable stream of neuroelectrical data that quantifies the "richness" of social and emotional experiences.  My lab has shown that one needs six peak Immersion experiences per day to build up emotional fitness.[2]  The importance of quantifying social-emotional value is precisely why the Immersion Neuroscience team built and released our free emotional fitness app SIX.  SIX shows users what activities give them the most value so they can live radically fulfilled lives.  SIX is your free guide to start living a better life … so you can sleep better, eat better, and exercise more.

Purpose: One's purpose is a set of activities that are energizing, that make people happy to be on the planet.  Purpose activities almost always involve others.  Even if you want to excel in rock climbing, you seldom train alone.  Rather, you learn from others, help others, and get better together.  This togetherness with a purpose is the easiest way to get those essential peak Immersion moments (surfaced as ‘Key Moments’ in the SIX app) one needs to be emotionally fit. Living one's purpose of course improves the other four pillars of longevity. 

Where should you start?  Download SIX and invite five friends to join you on a journey together to live longer and healthier lives.  You should do this not only for yourself, but for your family and friends who love you and want you to be around for as long as possible.  Share SIX with them and they will know you love them, too.

 
[1] Merritt, S. H., Krouse, M., Alogaily, R. S., & Zak, P. J. (2022). Continuous neurophysiologic data accurately predict mood and energy in the elderly. Brain Sciences, 12(9), 1240. [2] Merritt, S. H., & Zak, P. J. (2024). Continuous remote monitoring of neurophysiologic Immersion accurately predicts mood. Frontiers in Digital Health, 6.