Whether it’s a morning cup of tea, a daily meditation, or a call to your closest friend, your daily habits impact your health and happiness.
While Dr. Peter Attia, author of New York Times bestseller Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, said there’s no “silver bullet” to increase one’s health span and life span, there are still a variety of longevity-linked habits that may work for you to stave off age-related disease and early mortality.
“People have so much more agency over this than they will ever believe if they don’t take the step to educate themselves on it,” Attia tells Oprah Winfrey this week for a series called The Life You Want on Oprah Daily. “A lot of people think, ‘Well, this is my lot in life’…It’s not the case at all.”
Exercise, nutrition, sleep, and managing emotional health by engaging with others and trying new hobbies are all associated with a longer, healthier life.
For Attia, moving without distraction and staying outside is his secret sauce.
Attia’s weekly movement routine
Attia told Winfrey he does cardio and strength four days a week. He also said he swears by rucking—walking with a weighted rucksack or backpack.
“It’s literally a backpack with a weight plate in it,” he said. “I carry 60 pounds in a backpack on my back, and I walk up and down hills all over my neighborhood.”
Start with a plate as heavy as one-sixth of your body weight and slowly work up to one-third of your body weight, he added. It’s not just trudging uphill that gives you a good workout.
“When you’re walking down the hills, you’re really strengthening your legs,” he said. “This is called developing the brakes. When you get older, most people fall because they lose the brakes.”
He added: “What it does is it increases basically the strength and cardio fitness without increasing the joint tension.”
Another benefit of rucking is that it keeps him in the present moment, Attia told Winfrey.
“I never take a phone. I’m not listening to books or podcasts,” he said. “It’s 100% in nature. No sound but the wind.”
