Feldman's Faves: July 31, 2023

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

It is hard to believe but our amazing students are finishing up their summers this week. Please join me in thanking Annie, Maddie and Gurratan for all of their excellent contributions to the firm and our section this summer. We look forward to welcoming you back for your Articling year.

This is Emily’s last week before she goes on maternity leave. Wishing you and your family all the very best and I am making a formal request for lots of photos, please.

And last but not least, I would also like to wish Janice a very happy birthday today. Neill will be jumping out of a cake for you later this afternoon. Should be fun to watch.

This week focuses on the work of Dr. Peter Attia a truly fascinating individual.

OUTLIVE – THE SCIENCE & ART OF LONGEVITY By: Peter Attia, MD- Humankind is forever looking for ways to extend and enhance life. But it is not just about living longer but living longer and living well, which Dr. Attia (a Canadian born Stanford trained doctor) defines by asking his patients what it is they want to be able to do at certain ages and then working backwards with a program of sleep, nutrition, mental health and, primarily exercise, as a way to get there. Attia analyses what he calls the Four Horsemen (metabolic disorders, heart disease, cancer and neurological disorders) and explains how they arise and what people can do to reduce their risks. He is a big proponent of “Medicine 3.0”, which focuses on the prevention of these diseases rather then the current Medicine 2.0 that focuses on treatment. He jokingly states, for instance, that if it were up to him, he would put statins in the drinking water supply. This notion is obviously an oversimplification but there is some truth in that emerging technologies in medicine are allowing scientists and doctors to predict heart attack, cancer and Alzheimer’s risk long before any traditional symptoms present. Part of this new approach extends the risk horizon – e.g., not asking what is the likelihood of you having a heart attack within the next TEN years but rather your risk within the next THIRTY years. He then focuses on the types of nutrition, exercise and life plans that are suited to individuals (and not just the “average person’) as a means to get there. Whether this approach is simply another form of “quackery” or not will unfold over time – but his arguments are certainly compelling. Most importantly, while most of the book talks about the “what” and the “how”, the final chapter (in addition to revealing Attia’s own personal struggles) talks about the “why”. What is the point of living longer and healthier unless there is a reason – to see your kids grow up, to be a grandparent, to be able to run a marathon at 85 or to one day hit a freakin’ golf ball properly (although there may never be enough time for the last one for me). As one reviewer notes, “A data- and anecdote-rich invitation to live better, and perhaps a little longer, by making scientifically smart choices. Trained as an oncological surgeon, Attia became interested in longevity because he saw that the “Four Horsemen” worked against it: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. All play a role in an unhealthy system, and all interrelate. If you have Type 2 diabetes, then your chances of developing heart disease, cancer, and neurological disorders increases, and if your goal is to live well in old age, then it behooves you to change your ways in order to keep your insulin reception levels in the clear. How to do so? Attia avoids toss-off recommendations, instead examining categories of self-care. One powerful component of healthful living is the sort of exercise that burns body fats and sugar most efficiently. This, too, interrelates with diet. “The best science out there,” he writes, “says that what you eat matters, but the first-order term is how you eat: how many calories you take into your body.” Accordingly, caloric reduction strategies play a role, combating the effects of what he calls the Standard American Diet, “our default food environment.” Attia, a lucid and careful writer, eschews easy recipes for what to eat and how to exercise, for his conception of what he calls Medicine 3.0 tailors self-care to self, as in “know thyself.” Therein lies a key point: His book abounds in science and not pat prescriptions precisely because biology doesn’t have the same axiomatic certainties as mathematics and because, in order to participate in Medicine 3.0, readers must be truly active and not reactive. “You must be well informed, medically literate to a reasonable degree, clear-eyed about your goals, and cognizant of the true nature of risk,” he writes. It may not produce a new Methuselah, but Attia’s welcome book deserves the attention of anyone seeking a healthier life.” There is no silver bullet to living a longer and healthier life, but Dr. Attia’s ideas are compelling and at least worth understanding as part of achieving this objective. Here is a good review from Ageist - https://www.ageist.com/wellness/health/my-reaction-to-peter-attia-mds-new-book-outlive/

The following are descriptions from The Next Big Idea PODCAST that summarizes the interview with Dr. Attia in two parts:

THE NEXT BIG IDEA - Outlive: Peter Attia’s Guide to the Science of Longevity (Part 1) - Peter Attia had a problem. It was 2006. He'd recently graduated from Stanford's medical school and was completing a prestigious surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, but instead of celebrating his success, he was tormented by frustrations. The medical establishment, it seemed to him, was stubbornly resistant to change and innovation; doctors could easily diagnose the maladies that kill most of us — heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, and type 2 diabetes — but they struggled to help their patients avoid those diagnoses in the first place. Peter believed there had to be another approach. He was convinced it was possible to practice a cutting-edge form of medicine that didn't just manage diseases but tried to prevent them. So he embarked on a journey to figure out how to do it. Now, nearly two decades later, he's compiled everything he learned on that journey in a book, the #1 New York Times bestseller "Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity." It's a comprehensive guide to exercise, nutrition, sleep, and mental health that'll help you live better for longer. Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medicine and host of "The Drive." (This is part one of a two-part episode.)

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-next-big-idea/id1482067226?i=1000617121086

THE NEXT BIG IDEA - Outlive (Part 2): How to Optimize Your Diet, Sleep, and Emotional Health - Dr. Peter Attia, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller "Outlive," is back to share cutting-edge tips for improving your sleep, nutrition, and emotional health. (If you missed the first part of our interview with Peter, you can listen to it here.)

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-next-big-idea/id1482067226?i=1000617948968

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon