The Seven Pillars Of Longevity

Longevity gets marketed like a shopping list: $50,000 of supplements, peptides, IVs, red light, hyperbaric oxygen, and the newest wearable. We’re not anti tech, but we are done pretending that money can replace discipline. The real target isn’t just more birthdays. It’s health span, staying strong enough to enjoy your life, your family, and your independence for as long as possible.

We walk through seven science backed pillars that actually predict long term health: building and keeping muscle (including why grip strength is such a powerful metric), improving VO2 max with consistent zone 2 cardio, protecting sleep as the best “anti aging” lever you have, and keeping blood sugar stable with protein first meals, fiber, fewer processed foods, and a simple walk after meals. We also get honest about chronic stress and how cortisol, inflammation, blood pressure, and poor recovery quietly shorten your good years.

Then we talk about movement as medicine outside the gym and the pillar too many people ignore: relationships. Community, purpose, and connection don’t just make life feel better, they help keep you alive. We also share a practical routine you can adapt without chasing the next trend.

If you want a clear longevity roadmap that doesn’t require a billionaire budget, hit play, subscribe, and share it with someone you love. After you listen, leave a review and tell us which pillar you’re starting this week.

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Transcript

The Longevity Lie On Social Media

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Everyone wants to live to 100. Social media tells us we need $50,000 worth of supplements, peptides, IVs, hyperbaric chambers, red light, stem cells, and biohacking gadgets. But here's the truth. If you ignore the fundamentals, none of those things will save you. Today we're separating facts from fiction and talking about what science consistently shows are the biggest predictors for a long, healthy life. Thanks for joining me. I'm Dr. Denrico Dolcecori on Living a Full Life podcast. Each and every week, we drive tips to help you live more well and healthy. And this week we're going to talk about longevity. And longevity is everywhere. Uh, as far as social media. And the goal of longevity versus what we're actually doing may be counterintuitive. So Brian Johnson online, biohackers on Instagram, billionaires chasing age reversal, social media selling anti-aging. Why are we chasing more birthdays or more or more healthy birthdays? Is that what we're is that what we're trying to do? Are we trying to get to an 85th healthy birthday or are we just trying to get to 100? Because health span versus lifespan are two different things. Health span is how long you're healthy enough to enjoy life. Quality of life. This is the way we've always summed that up. Nobody wants to live to

Health Span And Your 85th Birthday

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100 if the last 25 years are spent in pain, dependent on others, or unable to enjoy family. Now, circumstances are circumstances. We can't control these things. But at a younger age, we want to look at our future and hope for the best, right? Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. And I think that's the best way. And I've been saying this for 20 years since I was in my 20s. And I continue to teach workshops and health lectures for my community and get invited to things all the time. And people always ask, you know, what's your definition of health? I'm like, being 85, and when somebody invites me to go play nine holes of golf, I can say yes. Or I'm booking the cruise ship and not trying to get out of the nursing home to join my family. That's my definition. Now, again, can't control all this stuff, but we can try and do the things that help us down that path. Because a lot of the things we default to are not putting us down that path. There's a longevity lie out there that there isn't just this one magic thing. And it's always every week a new magic thing. So obviously that tells you there is no one magic thing. There's not one supplement, one injection, one peptide, one stem cell treatment, or one vitamin. I feel like being in medicine for 25 years and studying it and now practicing it and being, you know, a chiropractor and helping the community, there's always been the holy grail. In the 90s, we had the holy grail, reversatol, red grapes, tannins. Um, in the 2000s, we had the holy grail, uh, antioxidants, cyberries, blueberries. There's always the holy grail. Then it was oils and avocado. It just keeps happening, keeps happening. There's no such thing. People want hacks because habits are not sexy. I've learned this. Habits, when you talk to habits, people are like, oh, I know, I need to do that, I need to do that. But you say, hey, you should take BPC 157. They're like, Yeah, yeah, is that peptide? Uh, and they get excited because that sounds sexy, BPC157. But I've got the Enrico, you know, 2000 mega 426 AB that you should do, and that's this podcast, and we're gonna go through it. So I hope that sounded sexy. Do the Enrico A B 2040, whatever I said, and let's do that. So I made it sound sexy, but now we're gonna get into the not sexy stuff about longevity. And there's pillars of longevity. I'm gonna do seven pillars, and we'll go quick. I know it sounds like it's gonna be long, but we're gonna go quick through the pillars of longevity. Please listen. Please share this. It pretty much wraps up the last. How long have I been doing this? Four years of podcasting into one episode. This is gonna come from the heart. Share it. Trust me, it's gonna go well. It's gonna land well with whoever you share it with. Muscle is your retirement account. It's your 401k, it's your Roth IRA, it's whatever you invest in. It is your retirement account of your body, muscle. Sarcopenia, losing muscle after 35, grip strength research. Muscle predicts survival. Sarcopenia is

Pillar One Build Muscle For Life

SPEAKER_00 5:04

the loss of muscle as we age. Doesn't have to be. Losing muscle after 35 is almost, you know, a guarantee because it's hard to keep. Grip strength is the number one predictive measure that you can do to showing uh the maintenance of muscle strength in the body, the grip strength. You get one of those grip strength machines, they cost a few bucks on Amazon. You keep one in the house, and you test this thing every year, every six months. You test this thing, and you want to, whatever it is now, you want to maintain that grip strength for as long as you possibly can. That comes from exercise. And you'll see, give this to your grandfather, give this to your to your father, and get them to squeeze, no matter what their age is. My dad's 83. So if your dad's older or younger, give it to them. Get them to squeeze it, both hands, and get the you know, the lowest number that they have. So it might be on their weak hand and record that and tell them, hey, your goal is to maintain this. It's a great gift to give a stocking stuffer or a great gift to give them. Say, hey, this is a grip strength tester. This will this will pretty much test pillar one of your longevity on how well you maintain your future. Independence is dependent on this. So, can you carry groceries in the house? Can you pick up your grandchildren? Can you get up off the floor? How about preventing falls? Muscle does all of this. It's really important. Every pound of muscle today is an investment for your future. Okay? Muscle. We have exercise podcasts, we have muscle podcasts. You, if you've listened to them, you know what to do. It's exercise, resistance training. Your heart doesn't care about your six-pack. Six pack is non-functional, it does absolutely nothing for the human agility, the human uh stamina, endurance. It does nothing. It's a sign of body fat percentage. And in order to have a six-pack or an eight-pack, you have to have very low body fat percentage, which isn't the best idea, honestly, for longevity. No one is 96 with a six-pack. It's just not going to happen. Unless they're in hospice two days before they die, they're completely dehydrated. Fantastic six pack. Don't want that. Your heart doesn't care about your six pack. VO2 max is what we want to go through. How much oxygen can we pull in to the lungs so that the blood can mush that can push that through the body? That's pillar two. Walking zone two cardio. So cardio is zone one is pretty much walking at whatever heart rate your body gets to, an easy walk. Outside, you're just taking the dog around

Pillar Two Train Your VO2 Max

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the block. That's an easy walk. Zone two is an elevated. Typically, it's about 120 on average. If you're over 65, it can be in the 110s. Um, but that's our zone two. We want to stay around there, where we're bringing in oxygen at a healthy rate without exertion. Hit is how we train to pump more oxygen into the body. Short spurts of high-intensity intervals that would be walking and then all of a sudden sprinting for a few seconds. Don't want to do that if you're over the age of 50. I don't want you guys falling coming into the office on Monday. I fell, I hurt my knee. Don't do that. This is on a bike machine. It could be on an elliptical, it could be on a stair stepper, it could be on some type of cardio machine. It could be in your living room doing simple exercise. Maybe you're doing some um yoga stretches, and then all of a sudden you're like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna mix my stretching, my yoga poses with jumping jacks, or I'm gonna mix that with burpees, or I'm gonna mix that with push-ups, something that exerts and gets your heart rate up. And then your resting heart rate. These are numbers. So grip strength and resting heart rate are determinant determinants, numbers, objective numbers you can use that predict longevity. People don't need marathons, they don't need anything crazy. We need consistency. This has to be part of your life, your daily life. Exercise has to be part of your daily life. Those are the habits that create. If you look at the blue zones, we've done two podcasts on blue zones. Go into the search bar, search blue zones. Those two episodes will pop up at the top for you. And what you'll see is the area around the world where we have these seven blue zones, and they studied the people from all those things and the things that overlap that let them live over the age of 100. These were centurions. So people that lived over the age of 100 regularly were found to have no gyms, no gym memberships, no marathons, no 5K runs, no turkey trots, nothing. They don't do any of that. They go out every day, they go to the market, they get their food, they carry groceries back, or they go out to the farm, they do some heavy work for their exercise, and they come back. That was their exercise. But it was consistency every single day, six or seven days a week, up into their 90s. That was it. Our society does not do that. Pillar number three, sleep is the world's best anti-aging drug. Nothing beats it. There's no topical, there's no cream, there's no light, purple, blue, or red that's going to help you reduce the rate of aging than sleep. Growth hormone happens during sleep, your brain detoxifies during sleep, your

Pillars Three To Five Sleep Sugar Stress

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memory recalibrates, cortisol is managed during sleep, and inflammation is reduced during sleep. How many people buy supplements while sleeping four or five hours a night? Looking for more energy. I can really get off track with this one. So we're going to leave it there with sleep. Tons of podcasts on sleep. Pillar number four, blood sugar controls faster than you think. Insulin resistance is a real thing. The more we abuse sugars, the more we abuse carbohydrates, the more resilient we get to insulin, meaning the pancreas has to produce more quickly, which fatigues the pancreas, which causes inflammation, which is hidden deep in the body, which inflames and impacts the hormonal system, the entire hormonal system. The culprits of this are processed foods which hijack our entire hormonal system, our body. And what a great way to help reduce insulin sensitivity is walking after meals. All meals, but most importantly, the biggest meal. And for us, it's usually the dinner meal. Eating dinner, putting the dishes in the sink, and going for a walk. When we eat, we want to focus on protein first. Every meal should be protein-based. Even for your vegetarians and vegans out there that are listening, it should be protein first. And if we're conscious on the protein, how much we're getting, whether it's plant-based, meat, whatever it may be, when we weigh and measure that and know what we're getting, we can then build our meals around it. Otherwise, they become carb heavy very fast. And then at the end of the day, we wonder why we consume so many carbohydrates. Fiber, we forget about fiber. We have to be eating vegetables and fruit. Absolutely have to be eating vegetables and fruit. This naturally leads into metabolic health and not metabolic stress. So blood sugar controls faster than you think. Pillar number four, not carbs. I'm not beating up carbs. We're talking about blood sugar. That's pillar number four. Pillar number five, chronic stress. Lots of podcasts on chronic stress. It directly ages you. You have a constant cortisol fluctuation and spike throughout the day when you're not supposed to. Inflammation continues to build up and never gets a chance to rest. High blood pressure is a direct cause of constant stress over time, which then puts a lot of stress on the heart, cardiovascular system, and depletes VO2 max. We then, the side effects of that is we gain weight, we can't sleep, we have immune suppression, start getting colds and flus more constant. And that's where we get the increase in constant inflammation that turns chronic. In my chiropractic office over the years, I can't believe we've been doing this for 20 years. Uh chiropractor, chiropractic has helped people better manage stress by improving comfort, mobility, and helping them stay active. And that's just something I've just seen as a trend. The people constantly use it for wellness as a tool, once a month, twice a month, whatever it is that they're coming in, they continuously do well with all of those markers. They have less blood work that they need to do and keep up with, they're on less prescription medications. And I've been thinking about what is it about it? It's because we keep people moving. That's the key. And that movement is what controls the entire human body. The body was designed to move. So what we should be focusing on is not, you know, what we're doing tomorrow, what movies we're seeing this weekend. It's talking about breathing, walking, prayer, spending time with family, nature, and laughing. The social aspect of this. That's where we manage stress. And people are isolated, and that just leads to a perpetual negative feedback loop of stress. We don't have the outlet or something to help release that. Movement is medicine, pillar number six. We've talked about VO2, Max, we talked about that stuff, but pillar number six, and a very solid pillar of all this longevity is movement. You don't have to become a CrossFit athlete or sign up for a marathon. You need to walk, you need to get out in the yard and garden a little bit or do yard work. You need to play some golf if you like golf or tennis. You need to

Pillars Six And Seven Move Plus People

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swim, bike, play with kids, stay moving. Movement is medicine. Motion is lotion. Move it or lose it. Use it or lose it. We've heard of all the slogans. Your grandparents have taught you this stuff. They've said these things to you. And this is generational knowledge that's been passed over for many, many generations because it's been helping people from the beginning of time. They know that if they move, they live longer, they do well, and they feel better. And the people who don't decay faster. They just do. We know that. And there's circumstances to how we move and why we may have uh have to sit or have to use a wheelchair or whatever things may happen that cause us to slow down. But if we constantly have it to keep moving, we do better. And number seven, a little bit more into the social aspect, relationships keep you alive. People ask, what's the purpose of life? Now, I'm not going to sit here and answer that question for you. I don't know the answer. But our purpose is people, I don't care if you declare yourself the ultimate introvert of the universe. People are really important. Research continues to show that community outweighs most of the other pillars I talked about. But these are equal seven pillars because if they have people, they have purpose. They have something to wake up for. They're like, oh man, I promised Mary I'd go in and mow the lawn for her or shovel the walk. Or I don't want to let my neighbors down with that garden that we said we're going to plant. Or my kids are getting married soon. Or there's just things that keep us on purpose and gives us a purpose to live. And that comes with relationships. Isolation increases mortality. The blue zone showed that in depth uh 35 years ago when they finished the studies on the blue zones. And they've been studies ever since on population, culture, community, and they all lead to increased mortality with isolated communities. Friends, marriage, church, purpose, volunteering, community, people with the reason to live. Live longer. And that is just something I don't know how to put into a podcast. Uh, but wanting to be part of a community and wanting to be around people is probably one of the healthiest things you can think in your own mind. Now, whether you do it or get out there and book more, you know, dinner, dinners, or invite people over for more barbecues, that's up to you. But just thinking about that, being like, man, I need to hang out with some more people, is just a healthy thing. It gives you purpose. Gives you purpose. Those are the seven pillars. What about biohacking? Gotta talk about this because biohacking is really putting people astray when it comes to all this stuff. People lean into this biohacking thing, and I don't think it's gonna last forever. But we need to consider about some of the trends that I really like out there. Some of the influencers are talking about some great stuff: strength training, protein, creatine,

Biohacking Tools Vs Costly Distractions

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saunas, red light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen, wearables that improve habits. I'm a fan of all of that. I talk about all of that. Heck, we got red light in the office. I use creatine every day. There are benefits to this stuff. But peptides, cold plunges, continuous glucose monitors, IV therapy supplements beyond correcting deficiencies now. Now we might be straying into some gray zone and then buying every new gadget, thinking money replaces discipline. I see this all the time. Got the new aura ring, got this, got that. Great, but you're getting the data. Are you changing your habits? Otherwise, you're just gonna record the data of the pet what you've been doing, and you're just gonna get disappointed. So we got to change the habits. A $20 pair of walking chutes beats a $5,000 gadget you'll never use. So here's my longevity routine. Started this in my 30s, I want to say. Some of these habits come from way back from what I was taught from my uh European parents. But my personal longevity, I thought, hey, if I'm gonna speak this, speak the words, I might as well walk the walk to and tell you how I'm walking. Um the current workout schedule

My Simple Longevity Routine

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that I do is five days a week, strength training based. Okay, my strength training in different muscle groups five days a week. I try and get there. Some weeks three, some weeks four, some weeks five. Maybe a sixth if I can get out there and do a cardio session. But that's what I do, and because the literature shows that if you consistently push heavy things and pull heavy things, you'll maintain muscle mass. So that's mine. Protein intake, one gram per pound of body weight. As I'm losing a little bit of weight, I'm under 200 pounds now. So I eat just under 200 grams of protein per day. That's my goal. I prioritize muscle because of all these podcasts that I talk about. And I know what longevity is, but more importantly, my purpose. My children. I want to be there, I want to be strong for them. I want to be able to say yes to the questions that come up. Can you help me do this? Can we go there? Can we do this? Can we go on this hike? Can we go on this bike? Uh, can we paddle board? Can we can we hang out? They've got a lot of energy, and I want to try and keep up with them. That's my purpose, and it keeps me going. Hormones. Got to talk about this. Definitely have someone supervise this because if we if we truly have a deficiency or a weakness or something going on with our hormones, it could hold us back from being able to even move or exercise. So I'm a big fan of getting those checked. Walking after we eat, trying to get 10,000 steps per day, sleeping eight hours a night, it's non-negotiable. I always kick myself when I stay up a little bit late, especially with this uh World Cup stuff, watching all these soccer games. Um, staying up late, trying because it's super entertaining. But then I realized I only got six hours of sleep last night. And I feel it. But the goal is eight. Red light, I love red light, just anti-inflammatory, um, clear inflammatory around the brain, too. Body, it's great, just helps the body heal and push inflammation out faster. So when I do get a good night's sleep, it helps. Do I try and do it every day? Nah, I really don't. I don't get a chance to do it, but weekly is fantastic. But doing it every day doesn't hurt. Family is my most important thing. I want to spend as much time with them as possible all the time. Like, there's nothing I want to do. People have invited me, hey, you want to go on a golf trip over your birthday, or you want to go there? I'm like, not really. Kind of want to hang out with my kids. I don't want to miss time with them. Um, so that's my purpose. Stress management. It's a lot of things I do. Try and get a good night's sleep, turning off devices before I go to bed. Um, stop working on weekends. I hate to admit that I was a workaholic. I used to just think if I work, work, work, work, work. I don't know. I don't know where the end was with that. And it would be into the weekends. I have to do this, I have to do, I have to catch up with this, I have to do this for this uh client, or or show up for a patient on a Sunday. Yeah, that's nice. That's great. And I want to help. But that's no more. We don't do that anymore. You're I'm trying to build the healthiest 90-year-old possible. That's my goal. Am I gonna be Jack Lelane? I don't know. That guy did so great. I think he died at 97 or 98. But I've got people in my family, my grandmother at 98, my great-grandmother at 108, my great-greatmother at 102, uh, my father's 83, you know, my grandfather died early in his 60s, great-grandfather too as well. But uh, but I don't look at that. I look at my remember my dad got 60, when he turned 67, is when my grandfather died, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. So my dad freaking out, it's like, man, this is like a clock. I guess us guys just die at 67. But he's 83 now, cancer free, all that great stuff. Maybe because his son knows all this stuff. I don't know. But that's the key there. I'm not trying to build the strongest 42-year-old, I'm trying to build the healthiest 90-year-old. Very different. So, your challenge is to take these pillars and start making differences that are going to change your life each and every day. Walk every day, lift weights at least three times per week, push something, pull something, lift something. It doesn't have to be heavy. Keep stressing those muscles. Eat enough protein. Many of you just don't do it. I don't know why. What are you eating? What are you eating if you're not eating protein? I

A Practical Weekly Challenge

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don't get it. Fruits. Seven or eight hours of sleep per night. Spend time with your family. Spend you'll never regret that. Even if they're crazy, you're never gonna regret that. Or pick the ones you want to hang out with. More importantly, there is such a thing as toxic family for sure. You don't get to choose your family, get to choose your friends, you can hang out with them. Reduce processed foods, eliminate them if you can. They do absolutely zero for you. And get adjusted. If pain is holding you back, get adjusted, find a great chiropractor, use them. Longevity isn't about cheating death, it's about earning more great years. You may not even make it to 90. You may not even, maybe, you know, it's it's the average lifespan, 81. Maybe that that's your time. Maybe it's there, but it's quality. Maybe at 78 you were golfing and on a cruise with your kids, and a couple years later, something happened, right? It's about health. It's about earning more great years. Every workout you do, every healthy meal you eat, every good night's sleep, every walk you go on, every laugh with your family. You're making deposits into your future. Don't wait until your body forces you to care about your health. Build the kind of body today that your 90 or 80-year-old self will thank you for later. And share this, like this, leave a comment, stay well, stay healthy. We'll be back next week, just like every other week. And implement some of those things and maybe even use this as a nudge to somebody you love. Pass it on to them. Say, hey, I've got a great podcast. I want you to hear. I know the podcaster. He's my chiropractor, or I know him from somewhere. Listen to this. Um, and tell me what you think about these seven pillars. And we'll go from there. Have a great week.