Your Health 401(k)

For days now, I’ve been pondering this concept, but not in terms of money, but rather in terms of health. If we have defined retirement plans, contributions to pension funds to support us in reaching that wonderful golden age, in order to truly live what the word describes, to be jubilant, we must think of an equally defined plan to reach that point with a high quality of life, health, mobility, memory, in short, enjoyment…

Reading Peter Attia in his book “Outlive” (by the way, one of the top 3 best books I’ve read on health and well-being), on the topic of exercise and physical activity, he describes how if we want to have the ability to climb a flight of stairs without assistance when we’re 80, then in our 40s and 50s we should be able to run up those stairs. What????? How is that possible???

I am a somewhat sedentary person; I have always been active and love physical activity (my favorite being classical ballet). Within my practice as a health coach, I advocate strongly for people to engage in both scheduled and unscheduled physical activity (movement throughout the day). I’m one of those people who climb the stairs of the building where I live and the stairs of the company where I spend most of my time every day, and I insist that my colleagues do the same… but running up a flight of stairs made me think that I need to work more on my lung endurance, strengthening my legs and abdomen to withstand such explosiveness. All for what? Yes! To think about my retirement, not just as a mere formality of quitting work and starting to receive money from my pension (which, by the way, in many countries things are changing, and this is in jeopardy). But as a moment of joy and enjoyment of life, not only because of the feeling of accomplishment; children educated, own home, a good pension, free time to do things. But above all, with quality health (or healthspan in English), meaning health not as the absence of disease, but as a set of things that help me thrive in that stage originally designed for enjoyment.

I am convinced that it is never too late to start investing in our future health and well-being, just as it is never too late to start investing in the future health of our planet.

So the proposal is to create your own 401(k) or pension fund, planning our nutrition, physical activity, rest, and management of my environment (including recycling, minimal use of plastics, and other actions to save the planet), thinking about what we must do today for that future retired self, which perhaps we hadn’t thought of before, but that from now on we can visualize as a happy, independent, energetic self, with mobility capacity (oh yes! Being able to keep dancing!), with intact memory and memories, and joyful about life.

And just like pensions, the later we start contributing, the more effort we have to make. So why not start now (or continue, that is, please don’t give up just yet).

Part of the plan may be to intensify or maintain routines of cardio, strength, and stability (without exaggerating since all extremes are bad), and above all, pay more attention to not sitting for long periods of time; taking micro-breaks, climbing more stairs, and parking farther away in supermarkets and shopping centers. These small changes in our movement routines can have a big impact on this aspect of your future self.

So, every time you’re about to make a decision, which may not necessarily be the best for your health and well-being, whether it’s that hot dog loaded with sauces, going out partying with aguardiente or tequila, staying up all night to finish the entire series on Netflix, or putting exercise aside, just for today, I invite you to give yourself a nudge and not think about what might happen tomorrow if you don’t climb those stairs, but about your 85-year-old self, who will thank you for today’s effort, to be able to move independently in the future.