Frank Lipman - The New Rules of Aging Well

The New Rules of

AGING

WELL

A Simple Program for Immune Resilience, Strength, and Vitality

Frank Lipman, MD, and Danielle Claro

Photographs by Gentl & Hyers

artisan | new york

With my lightning bolts a-glowing

I can see where I am going.

Arcade Fire

Contents

Preface

In my medical practice, theres something I see again and again: patients in their 40s and 50s who feel as if theyve been betrayed by their bodies. Theyre gaining weight, feeling exhausted, experiencing aches and pains, generally going south. They find that theyre getting sick more often, catching everything theyre exposed to and taking longer to recover.

People come to me assuming that these symptoms of aging are unavoidable. I tell them what Im going to tell you now: These problemslosing mental sharpness, looking puffy, feeling generally lousyare absolutely not a given of aging. Theyre a call to action, a sign that you need to change your lifestyle. When patients follow my advicewhen they improve their lifestylethe impact is often immediate.

Ive had my own practice in New York City for more than 30 years, a blend of Chinese medicine and Western medicine. But even with my decades of experience, I personally had an awakening in my mid-50s. I changed a few things (habits I once believed were healthy choices), and quickly saw results. These days Im often mistaken for someone decades younger.

Much of whats effective goes back to the principles of Chinese medicine. Older cultures get so much right about physiological processes and staying vital and strong decade after decade. Now cutting-edge research confirms this thinking. My advice on aging well and building immune resilience comes from this place: Its ancient wisdom backed up by modern science. And its more important than ever. With new viruses appearing, its critical to prioritize immunity and overall wellness. Aging does not have to make you more vulnerable. It can be a wake-up call to become the healthiest youve ever been.

Theres no magic pill for health and immunity. Theres a lifestyle that makes your immune systemand all other systems in the bodystronger. And I want to teach you that. Thats why I joined forces with Danielle Claro to write this booka straightforward guide that details the strategies Ive seen work over and over again for patients in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. A blueprint for optimal function.

It contains everything I teach my patients, and then some, about turning around the so-called symptoms of aginggetting to your ideal weight, staying strong and nimble, sleeping well, enjoying life moreall of which plays into immune resilience. In many cases, this regimen has people looking and feeling younger at 60 than they did at 45.

The ordinary choices you make each day can have extraordinary effects on your overall health and your bodys ability to protect itself. You only need to know what to do. Im thrilled to say, the secrets you need are all right here.

Frank Lipman, MD

Introduction

You know that guy at work you thought was 50 and turned out to be 70? Or that woman in yoga class who seemed 40 until she introduced you to her 30-year-old kid? This book is here to help you become like them. To let you in on the health habits of people who age amazingly wellwho look great, feel well, and are energetic, happy, sexy, agile, strong. Its not luck, and its not something thats randomly bestowed on people. Its a result of specific life choices, and its something anyone can have with motivation and commitment.

How you age has everything to do with the choices you make right nowwhat you eat and how active you are, but also how you spend your free time and how you see the world around you. Theres a lot to it, and yet in some ways its simple: What you put into your body and mind affects the whole organism, determining function and resilience.

If youre not aging well, there are answers: elements you need to add to your daily life (certain practices, foods, supplements) and others you need to subtract (same list, but different specs). Your body is a complex machine, and keeping it humming along beautifully as you age calls for a planone that preps your body to handle whatever the world throws at it.

Aging optimally is not just about living long. Its about being vital and happy and continuing to be able to do the things you love for decades to come. It means tuning in to your own health, becoming your own personal wellness coach, and learning to sense what you need when you need it. It involves responding to changes, preventing injury, building resilience, and being open to new approaches and new behaviors.

In your 40s and 50s, your body begins naturally shifting into a mode where its taking care of whats theremaintainingbecause its not producing and growing anymore; hormones shift, and cellular function is generally less efficient. But you can still thrive.

If youre achy, tired, gaining weight, not sleeping well, pay attention: These are warning signs. Signals from your body to get your sh*t together while you still can.

This is not a drill. If you want your body to run well as you age, you cant be cavalier anymore about how you treat it. Otherwise, what can happen is that your organs and other systems underperform; this is what makes you feel physically terrible from day to day and weakens your immunity over time. The right choices can radically alter, and even reverse, some of the symptoms our culture has come to accept as normal signs of aging.

You have power in this situation. Some folks worry that theyre destined to age a certain way because of the way their relatives did. Nope. The idea of bad genes creating your destiny is grossly exaggerated. You can look at your family and gather useful information. You can get genome testing and learn a lot. But this info is only the beginning of the story, because lifestyle choices have a tremendous impact on whether certain genes turn on or off. Studies on identical twins prove this: How you age, in many ways, is up to you.

Its never too late to start

Dont despair or get stuck on changes you wish youd made sooner. Many studies show that its never too late to launch new habits and see results. Improvements make a difference at any age, and at any point in your health journey. Today is a great day to start. Youll notice positive effects pretty quickly.

Building a strong immune system

All the advice in this bookfrom when and how you eat to how much you sleep to what type of exercise you getis designed to build immune resilience. Many of your immune cells turn over every month. How well they function is a direct response to the way you take care of yourself. Sure, theres some loss of function as we age, but its a myth that weak immunity is a given after a certain point. Were going to show you the everyday practices and larger life philosophy that keep immunity hardy.

One of the most important things that happens when youre taking good care of yourself is that the immune systems self-cleaning mechanism, known as autophagy, kicks in on a daily basis. The definition of autophagy (accent on the second syllableau-TAHF-a-gee) is digestion of cellular waste by enzymes of the same cell. In other words, its your cells cleaning up their own debris. When your autophagy is bright and awake and working well, your body recovers faster and better. Everything in this book helps boost autophagy and keep the immune system operating optimally.