Book Review: Outlive the Science and Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia

I’ve joked before with the phrase, “we’re all going to die,” but leaving the black humor aside, I would add that while we’re alive, it’s good to do our best to stay healthy and enjoy our short lives. 😄

Book Review: Outlive the Science and Art of Longevity

• Author: Dr. Peter Attia
• Format: 496 pages, Hardcover
• Published: March 28, 2023 by Harmony
• ISBN: 9780593236598 (ISBN10: 0593236599)
• ASIN: 0593236599
• Language: English

You might think this book is for people aged 40 or 50+ or another set of “hacks” for healthy living. You’re partially right about the latter. As for the former… I wish I had known in my 20s just how much my body would seek revenge after turning 30 for everything I put it through or everything I neglected to provide. You be the judge. I may not struggle with extra pounds, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t countless other things I overlook while comfortably claiming, “I have good genes.” Yet, I’ve felt tired, depressed, and unhealthy at different times.

About the Book

Will you find it useful? If you’re committed to doing something for yourself, then yes, you will. Otherwise, you might find it overwhelming. The ugly truth about many diseases isn’t sugarcoated. There are plenty of scientific facts and terms, but that’s expected since the author is a doctor, not just another person claiming that drinking water will magically hydrate and “cure” you. Beyond the scientific side, here’s something that might hit you like a bucket of cold water:

Just because you don’t smoke, avoid alcohol, stretch in the morning, and eat eggs, cucumbers, blueberries, and avocados for breakfast (yes, avocado is non-negotiable) doesn’t mean you lead a healthy lifestyle. It only means you’re not adding extra harm on top of the polluted city air, exhausting workdays, and toxic interactions. Surprised? And no, the power of positive thinking won’t help here either.

Eye-Opening Truths

The Outlive is full of wake-up calls like this and more. 😄

Of course, eliminating unhealthy habits is a good starting point. Incorporating nutritious home-cooked meals is essential. Adding an appropriate workout routine signals that you’re laying the groundwork for a healthier future, potentially free from many common illnesses. This is when you’ll look at “healthy living” books differently and more realistically.

What’s Inside

The Outlive the Science and Art of Longevity provides information on bodily indicators to monitor and preventive steps to take, if you choose to. It covers what actions to take to avoid some of today’s most common and dangerous diseases, offering advice on nutrition, exercise, sleep, and emotional well-being (because, yes, your nerves can and do get seriously sick).

“Embrace the useful, discard the useless, and add what is uniquely yours.” —Bruce Lee

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,” it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, readers will discover:

• Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
• That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
• Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.”
• Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
• Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.