Bubbs Marc - Peak 40: The New Science of Mid-Life Health for a Leaner, Stronger Body and a Sharper Mind

Achieve success and happiness will follow. Get a good job, earn a good living and youll be happy. Right? If happiness does indeed come after success, you would expect mid life to be the happiest time of most peoples lives, a period traditionally marked by the pinnacle of achievement and career success, but heres the rub: happiness does not necessarily follow success.

In mid life, the alarming fact is that, despite what professional, material or personal success you may have achieved after years of effort and dedication, as well as the miracle of kids for many and/or a wide social network, research shows happiness dips to a lifetime low. How could this be? No matter if you drive a bus, run a company, play professional sport or head a Fortune 500 company, the relationship appears to hold true. For how long does this lull in happiness last? Apparently, the bottom of the U-shaped bell curve of happiness continues until the age of 48. (Thats an awfully long time not to feel your happiest.)

Its Time to Be More, Not Do More

In mid life, its easy for the years of hard work, lack of sleep and emotional and financial strain to erode your once positive and bright outlook day to day. Happiness levels appear to bottom out in mid life, with potentially significant and adverse consequences for your mental and physical health. The opportunity for you is to see this mid point of your life as a turning point a good time to re-evaluate, recalibrate and orient yourself towards what you really want in life. An opportunity for you to reboot your mindset and body to achieve your lifelong goals.

If youre 40-something and battling weight gain or trying to lower chronically elevated blood pressure or blood sugar levels, this book is for you. If youre 40-something and struggling with low energy, frustrated by weight-loss plateaus or the idea of following food rules for the rest of your life, this book is for you.

If youre a personal trainer who works with clients in their mid-30s, 40s and 50s to help them lose weight and improve their energy levels, this book is for you. If youre a practitioner helping people in mid life to improve their health in their mid-30s, 40s and 50s, this book is for you.

What Does PEAK40 Mean?

PEAK40 is about achieving your best health and conquering your performance goals in mid life. The challenge is that lack of sleep, high stress, a demanding schedule and lack of time seem to keep you stuck in neutral (or sometimes what feels like reverse!). Weight gain, fatigue, joint pain and the like, seem to creep up on you and, before you know it, youre battling just to live pain free. This downward spiral can also wreak havoc on your mood and mindset. But its not just about weight loss, better energy levels and achieving performance milestones (although you will get all that), its about re-discovering the best version of YOU!

PEAK40 is about simple, evidence-based and time-efficient strategies to help you re-ignite your energy and your passion. Small changes, done consistently over time, yield incredible results. These improve your blood sugar levels, lower high blood pressure, help to avoid heart disease and lose weight to ensure you feel your best today, but also lay the foundations for better health and longevity down the road. Mid life lets you know very quickly that youre no longer indestructible; chronic conditions, like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease or low mood, also infiltrate with no remorse. The years add up and the inflammatory noise in your body begins to drown out the key signals for health and well-being. And its not just your physical health; your mental health also gets heavily tested. No matter what your level of professional or financial success, science tells us people are always looking up at whats next, rather than appreciating how far theyve come. PEAK40 isnt just about a physical transformation, but a mindset shift, as well. Re-assess your values, reset expectations and orient yourself towards your lifelong goals. The right mindset ignites the journey Ill guide you through the process.

The PEAK40 Plan

To get back on track, you first need to shape your path. Do it the right way and you will develop the habits that will set you up for long-term success. It likely took you many months, if not many years, to get to where you are at, so give yourself 612 months to reach your PEAK health and performance.

Your plan to PEAK40 health:

Step 1: Master Your Morning

Step 2: Own Your Night

Step 3: Set Your Protein

Step 4: Turn the Dials on Carbs and Fats

Your plan to PEAK40 performance:

Step 1: Restore Your Aerobic Fitness

Step 2: Rebuild Your Muscular Strength through time-efficient training plans

Step 3: Upgrade Your Sleep

Step 4: Learn the Right Mindset Skills and Kick-Start Your Path to Happiness Mindset is the Keystone to Success

What Youll Find in This Book

In Section One: The Downward Spiral, youll learn how mindset shifts in mid life and how happiness levels can naturally ebb. Youll see the ripple effects this has on other areas of your life your activity levels, your food choices and your attitude and how this also erodes your positive outlook, preventing you from disengaging from negative thoughts and making you more prone to more emotional outbursts. Youll learn how gradual (or not so gradual) accumulation of weight gain over the years can steamroll in mid life into more significant concerns, increasing your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, metabolic conditions like Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. Weight gain and obesity dont just have wide-ranging adverse physical effects, but mental effects as well. When your blood glucose levels are chronically elevated, you are at much greater risk of low mood and depression, stoking the fires of chronic inflammation that wreak havoc on health and mental well-being. Inflammation is a protective mechanism to help the body repair. However, poor health leads to an over-active chronic inflammatory response that exacerbates the problem (rather than solving it).