Book Review: 5/5 Impact On Me (Book By Peter Attia, Bill Gifford)
Read more about the book here
The book's main idea is a bit contentious to accept.
It talks about three stages in medicine: 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
2.0 began when scientific methods, like research on the importance of doctors washing their hands to prevent unnecessary deaths, were introduced. Everybody has flaws, this approach will only try to 'fix' you when you have symptoms / you are broken.
Medicine 3.0 is about not just treating symptoms with medicine but understanding what makes for a long, healthy life and helping people extend it. It asks whether you can stay active enough to dress yourself and play with your grandkids, even if you live to 80 or 100.
I found this idea tough to grasp at first, especially since I had only recently stopped focusing on treating diseases. Now this book talks about optimizing your health markers, like HbA1c or HDL/LDL ratios.
But I'm cautiously open to this idea.
If you're open to this idea, the book does a fantastic job explaining the importance of exercise, diet, sleep, and more. Your mistakes now will impact you 10 years later.
It builds on the ideas from "The Case Against Sugar" book, suggesting ways to prevent diabetes by reducing added sugar intake. I learned from this book about not just doing weight training but also incorporating cardio or HIIT and stability training to increase stability, VO2 Max, and muscle mass. I was amazed by the detailed charts showing how our physical capabilities decline from age 30 to 90. It makes you wonder about the high level of activity you need now to maintain physical ability into your 90s. This led me to add running to my fitness routine.
The book also discusses how genes for living to 100 don't benefit from natural selection because the goal of natural selection is to increase reproduction, which favors genes that help you live to about 50, the age by which most people have children and help raise their grandchildren.
While I thought about revisiting other nutrition books like "How Not to Diet," the author argues that dietary changes often have a minor impact on health compared to exercise, which can offer a 20 to 30% benefit.
I learned about three types of dietary programs: calorie restriction, dietary restriction, and time restriction, along with their pros and cons.
Its research is a mix of epidemiological data and clinical trials. It wouldn't be considered rigorous by Medicine 2.0 standards.
This book is lengthy and packed with information, but thankfully, the chapters are well-titled, even in the audiobook on Audible. This allows me to revisit specific sections, like those on diabetes or nutrition, while skipping others on cancer or heart attacks.