This week's video is going to be a bit
different from my normal videos
because of a few things,
one in particular that have
happened recently which have made me really
think about the bigger picture in life
and the bigger picture which really underlies
what I'm trying to do on this channel.
So apologies in advance if a get a
bit upset when I record this.
It's Monday.
And to be honest it's been a bit of a crazy weekend
so this is Rudy by the way.
He's our Rottweiler.
He's just here for a bit of moral support.
So it should have been a pretty normal weekend.
I did two shifts doing my normal
work
but on Saturday evening ah
the dog died.
It was a pretty sudden thing.
My wife came home on Saturday evening
to find he was struggling
and breathing.
She checked that he wasn't choking
he wasn't so she called me.
I came straight home.
It became pretty clear that things
were really bad so
we called our vet who
came came to our home
and he thought that his larynx
had become paralyzed.
So apparently that can happen
sometimes.
We made the decision to have him
put to sleep.
He was right here on the sofa where
I am now sitting.
Now I'd then Leo for about 13
years which is pretty much
the same amount of time that I've known my
wife.
In fact they came as a pair
or more accurately a double
act
but he was only 15 when he died which
I think we can all agree is a pretty
damn good age
Leo was kind of fast in his day.
He was after all three quarters Grayhound
and despite the fact that he'd slow down
earlier but in recent years he was still
enjoying his walks
and he still jumped up from wherever
he was lying down.
As soon as he heard he'd pick up his lead
we knew leo was really old
and that we probably didn't have long
left with him
but for his age.
He was really pretty healthy it didn't have
any major illnesses in the entire life
and that's what this video is about.
It's about living a long
and healthy life.
Now I deal with death
and dying on a regular basis
because my job I spend the majority
of my professional life working as a
home visiting doctor
and that means I go to the homes of people
who are physically unable to get to
the clinic in order to see a doctor.
So most of the patients I go to fit
into one of three groups.
The first are people in nursing homes
usually pretty elderly.
Many of these people they're primarily
in care due to the fact that they have dementia.
The second major group of patients are
people I see in the last few
weeks or maybe days of their lives
often because they have cancer
and it's my job to help keep them
as comfortable as possible during
their dying days.
And the third group of patients are people who
are housebound due to chronic illnesses
such as obesity
arthritis heart disease
strokes
or commonly people who are having complications
related to Type 2 diabetes.
Often these people are much younger
and it's not uncommon to see people in their
50s and 60s who
are housebound for
these reasons
and most of this weekend I spent
seeing patients just like this.
But this weekend I
also met someone who was in
the late 90s who was
living on their own living
completely independently still
going out to the shops
and having a very active
social life
with great relationships
with neighbours and friends who'd
come over on a regular basis.
They had take any regular medications
because they didn't have any significant
health problems just some age
related hearing loss
and the only reason I was even there
was because they had a bad vomiting
bug and just couldn't leave the house.
Honestly they didn't look a day older
than 80.
I just remember seeing a guy about a year
ago who was 102
and still drove himself from the local
village into town
every day to go
and meet his friends for lunch again
completely independently.
I do meet people at this from time
to time and I just think wow
it must be amazing to be
living this long life
and still be in really good
health despite nearly being a century
old
and this is what people mean when they talk about
a long health span
and not just a long lifespan.
The goal is not to live a long life
the goal is to live a long healthy
life. I was chatting to a friend
recently who had been reading
a lot about this subject
and he told me that people in the 18
hundreds actually live longer
healthier lives than we do today.
When you correct for the fact that many
people used to die young of infectious
diseases that we
can now easily treat
and I found this really shocking
but it doesn't surprise me.
The modern world isn't really one
that humans are meant to thrive
in. I mean the food
we eat and the resulting rates of
obesity and diabetes
the work we do
and the cars we used to get around
in that mean most of our lives
are sedentary.
The stress we carry
with us on a day to day basis in how
the modern world is you know supposed
to be less stressful because
of all the technological advances
which are supposed to make our lives
easier yeah in fact
we actually seem to be more push for
time than ever.
And yes sleep deprivation
has become a badge of honor in the modern
world
and so often our health
services are just trying to
paper over the cracks
with pills rather than addressing
the underlying causes of
our illnesses
and that's ultimately what this channel is all
about. It's about the quest
to live not only a long life
but a long healthy life.
So why start
with weight loss.
It's because to me being overweight
is one of the first signs that
something is not right in our bodies.
And whilst for many years we've thought of
it just as a problem of consuming
too much food
and not doing enough exercise.
I think it's much more helpful to think
about it as an early sign
that something is going wrong
with your metabolism
and we know that issues
with our weight strongly linked
with things like type 2 diabetes
high blood pressure Hearts Attack
strokes
but also with cancer
with obesity being the second
highest risk factor for cancers.
So I make no apology for the core
focus if this channel
being about weight loss for me
weight loss is only partly
about looking better I'd be lying if
I said it's not got anything to do
with it but it's got everything to
do with increasing health span.
So losing weight for me was the
trigger to really start getting my
health in order.
I didn't really start exercising
until over a year after I'd lost
the majority of my access
way.
It's only now that I exercise
not only for the last year
and a half that exercise has
really been a key part
of my everyday life.
So I feel stronger than ever
and I'm more motivating than ever
to try my best
to live a long healthy life.
Not only joy eat better
and take more regular exercise now.
Prioritize my sleep
and I make much more of an effort
to structure my life in a way that is
as free from stress as I can make
it. Because yes I do want
to get old
but I want to be healthy
in my old age as well.
Whilst there's no guarantees in life
I might die in a car crash tomorrow
we can just go through life saying
I may as well live today because
tomorrow might never come because
more often than not it does.
And believe me because I spend much of
my life helping people who are
effectively disabled because of conditions
that are preventable.
It's a real struggle
and life may be sure
but it's the longest thing you'll ever
do. So you may as well try
and stay as healthy as you can for as
long as you can.
It isn't easy.
It won't happen by itself
and you have to work at it
and you've got to make your health a priority
if you want to stand a chance at having
a long health span.
I'm going to leave it there for this week.
Next week I'll be back on track
with the the normal
and more practical videos about how
to behind everything I've been talking
about this week.
If this week's video has at all struck
a chord with you
and you want to keep up to date as I release
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I'd love to hear your thoughts on
the things I've just talked about in this video.
Hit me up in the comments section
and I'll do my best to
respond to all your comments.
See you next week.