I am seventy-eight years old. During my seventy-three alcohol consumption years, like most people, I enjoyed wine and spirits as part of my dining experience. Cardiac and cancer ailments caused my cessation of alcohol. Almost every health related marker improved. The AMA and other health associations have finally admitted that alcohol is toxic to human cells. Docs are still reluctant to change their attitudes because, like their patients, they look forward to their wine and cocktails. We have been psychologically trained by advertising and peer pressure to consume alcohol, but we need to admit to ourselves that the stuff is toxic to good health. Think about eliminating alcohol earlier in your life. You will feel better in your later years. I guarantee it.
These findings align exactly to my personal experience as someone who's always struggled with sleep. I've actually found skipping dinner all together (or having something very light like a smoothie), leads to my best sleep. Unfortunately, I also love cooking and eating and drinking so this isn't a sustainable option, but I try to do it a couple nights a week and it always leads to better mornings.
I switched to only having a cocktail (if any) at lunch, and only on the weekends. (I also don’t get as much joy from alcohol as others do so that’s useful) I also finish my last meal of the day by 7 pm. If a later meal is unavoidable, I try to take a walk afterwards, or lift some weights when I get home. Otherwise I’m guaranteed to have a terrible night, waking up with my heart rate up and terrible dreams. I’m in my early 50s and have been doing this now for about 5 years.
Resveratrol got a lot of attention as a potential therapeutic targeting the biology of aging. Unfortunately the initial study by David Sinclair and his team turned out to be confounded by the fluorescent dye, and more rigorous experiments failed to replicate activation of SIRT1. GSK invested several hundred million in resveratrol in the 2000s, and it ultimately got nothing to show for it. There are, however, plenty other avenues of research in medically intervening in aging biology, some of which have begun clinical trials or are close to beginning. I'm personally interested in Turn Bio, Altos Labs, Cyclarity Therapeutics, Retro Bio, Loyal (for dogs), and others.
One set of studies that seems a bit in tension (but by no means contradicts) is the research around starting high school later. It seems to lead to more learning, better health outcomes, and fewer car accidents. The theory being high school is too early to match high school student’s circadian rhythms, and they get more sleep if school starts later.
This really lands, the older I get, the more I see timing as strategy, not just preference. Whether it’s sleep, meals, or medicine, “earlier” feels less like discipline and more like leverage. ⚔️ #WarRoomWeekly
Ayurveda teaches the largest meal should be the midday one. It says digestion is strongest at lunchtime. France traditionally does this (less so now) but I don’t know of any other culture whose biggest meal is lunch….
I could have written this! That's my way of saying, "thank you ". Life gets interesting with age and our observations about how drink, diet and sleep intersect with the quality of our experiences is one wild ride.
I’m finding this to be so true with alcohol and sleeping. Especially the older I get. My favorite time to have a drink is around 4pm-while making dinner and getting things set for the evening. As long as I don’t have any evening plans that involve driving (have kids), now I definitely plan to keep my late afternoon drink schedule!
You would have to drink about two bottles of wine to get a theraputically viable amount of reservatol btw. Obviously, that amount of wine would negate any health benefits. Nice trick of marketing though the alcohol companies stumbled upon. I'm not lecturing. Go ahead and drink your wine if you like but just realize that there are no health benefits. You like the buzz. Nothing wrong with that.
Chronomedicine & circadian wellness may change the entire healthcare delivery landscape. Companies like Arcascope (https://arcascope.com/), which is rescuing drugs that failed in clinical trials not because they didn’t work, but because they were given at the wrong time of day, are pushing the frontier forward but the field is still quiet young. Everyone's circadian rhythm is different - sometimes slightly, sometimes widely so - and changes across days and seasons of life. Dynamic physiological monitoring to personalize interventions (behavioral, environmental, therapeutic, etc.) based on ideal circadian timing will be a huge unlock across treatment modalities and specialty areas.
I really needed to see this. I'm about to start a job where my shift begins at 4am! I know good sleep is really important as it slows the damage of aging biology compared to poor sleep. At least my shift will be permanent and not constantly change. Thanks for this essay!
I am excited to see the increasing adoption of early prevention. Although, the overall heart attack related deaths have plateaued over the last decade, the number of people living with premature heart disease continues to rise.
I am seventy-eight years old. During my seventy-three alcohol consumption years, like most people, I enjoyed wine and spirits as part of my dining experience. Cardiac and cancer ailments caused my cessation of alcohol. Almost every health related marker improved. The AMA and other health associations have finally admitted that alcohol is toxic to human cells. Docs are still reluctant to change their attitudes because, like their patients, they look forward to their wine and cocktails. We have been psychologically trained by advertising and peer pressure to consume alcohol, but we need to admit to ourselves that the stuff is toxic to good health. Think about eliminating alcohol earlier in your life. You will feel better in your later years. I guarantee it.
So you started drinking alcohol sometime before 5 years old? Wild.
Had the same thought… it would make a lot of sense if it’s a typo for *sixty*-three years, with them starting to drink at 15
Yep, it was an arithmetic typo. I began consuming alcohol as an undergraduate, so I was drinking for about fifty-five years.
As always, everything in moderation.
These findings align exactly to my personal experience as someone who's always struggled with sleep. I've actually found skipping dinner all together (or having something very light like a smoothie), leads to my best sleep. Unfortunately, I also love cooking and eating and drinking so this isn't a sustainable option, but I try to do it a couple nights a week and it always leads to better mornings.
I switched to only having a cocktail (if any) at lunch, and only on the weekends. (I also don’t get as much joy from alcohol as others do so that’s useful) I also finish my last meal of the day by 7 pm. If a later meal is unavoidable, I try to take a walk afterwards, or lift some weights when I get home. Otherwise I’m guaranteed to have a terrible night, waking up with my heart rate up and terrible dreams. I’m in my early 50s and have been doing this now for about 5 years.
Resveratrol got a lot of attention as a potential therapeutic targeting the biology of aging. Unfortunately the initial study by David Sinclair and his team turned out to be confounded by the fluorescent dye, and more rigorous experiments failed to replicate activation of SIRT1. GSK invested several hundred million in resveratrol in the 2000s, and it ultimately got nothing to show for it. There are, however, plenty other avenues of research in medically intervening in aging biology, some of which have begun clinical trials or are close to beginning. I'm personally interested in Turn Bio, Altos Labs, Cyclarity Therapeutics, Retro Bio, Loyal (for dogs), and others.
One set of studies that seems a bit in tension (but by no means contradicts) is the research around starting high school later. It seems to lead to more learning, better health outcomes, and fewer car accidents. The theory being high school is too early to match high school student’s circadian rhythms, and they get more sleep if school starts later.
This really lands, the older I get, the more I see timing as strategy, not just preference. Whether it’s sleep, meals, or medicine, “earlier” feels less like discipline and more like leverage. ⚔️ #WarRoomWeekly
Ayurveda teaches the largest meal should be the midday one. It says digestion is strongest at lunchtime. France traditionally does this (less so now) but I don’t know of any other culture whose biggest meal is lunch….
I could have written this! That's my way of saying, "thank you ". Life gets interesting with age and our observations about how drink, diet and sleep intersect with the quality of our experiences is one wild ride.
I’m finding this to be so true with alcohol and sleeping. Especially the older I get. My favorite time to have a drink is around 4pm-while making dinner and getting things set for the evening. As long as I don’t have any evening plans that involve driving (have kids), now I definitely plan to keep my late afternoon drink schedule!
You would have to drink about two bottles of wine to get a theraputically viable amount of reservatol btw. Obviously, that amount of wine would negate any health benefits. Nice trick of marketing though the alcohol companies stumbled upon. I'm not lecturing. Go ahead and drink your wine if you like but just realize that there are no health benefits. You like the buzz. Nothing wrong with that.
Chronomedicine & circadian wellness may change the entire healthcare delivery landscape. Companies like Arcascope (https://arcascope.com/), which is rescuing drugs that failed in clinical trials not because they didn’t work, but because they were given at the wrong time of day, are pushing the frontier forward but the field is still quiet young. Everyone's circadian rhythm is different - sometimes slightly, sometimes widely so - and changes across days and seasons of life. Dynamic physiological monitoring to personalize interventions (behavioral, environmental, therapeutic, etc.) based on ideal circadian timing will be a huge unlock across treatment modalities and specialty areas.
I really needed to see this. I'm about to start a job where my shift begins at 4am! I know good sleep is really important as it slows the damage of aging biology compared to poor sleep. At least my shift will be permanent and not constantly change. Thanks for this essay!
I am excited to see the increasing adoption of early prevention. Although, the overall heart attack related deaths have plateaued over the last decade, the number of people living with premature heart disease continues to rise.
The energy balance model is always a true description and never a causal explanation.
“British spellings preserved for adorableness.” 😊