Outlive

The Science and Art of Longevity

De: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford

Narrado por: Peter Attia MD

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

“One of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,” it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, readers will discover:

• Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
• That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
• Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.”
• Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
• Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of charts, graphs, and illustrations from the book, along with other valuable resources

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Outlive completely transformed my approach to growing old. Peter Attia is among the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, and he’s succeeded in packing a life’s worth of insights into this book. It promises to be one of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

“In Outlive, Peter Attia explores the science of not just prolonging life, but also prolonging aliveness. Attia makes the crucial connection between overall health and relational health.”—Esther Perel, New York Times bestselling author, psychotherapist, and podcast host of Where Should We Begin?

“Finally, there is a modern, thorough, clear, and actionable manual for how to maximize our immediate and long-term health. Firmly grounded in data and real-life conditions, Outlive makes obvious which actions we all need to take, and just as important, what all we need to pay attention to in order to live a long, vital life. As the most accurate and comprehensive health guide published to date, Outlive is not just informative, it is important.”—Andrew Huberman, PhD, professor, Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, creator of the Huberman Lab podcast

“Dr. Peter Attia is my doctor and also my friend. He is a specialist in longevity and someone I trust with my life. What separates him from others is his pursuit of quality of life from all angles—physical, emotional, mental, relational, and spiritual health. This incredible book is a call to action and a reminder to always participate, and never be passive. It will arm you with the tools you need to live a long, meaningful, and fulfilling life.”—Hugh Jackman

“In Outlive, Peter Attia has delivered the definitive look at the complex subject of longevity. Comprehensive and rigorous, Outlive is full of surprising insights into the diseases of aging that will likely kill most of us, and the tactics and techniques that can help us live longer and in better health. Attia’s writing surprises and delights us, while provoking a new way to think about longevity.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of the Pulitzer Prize winner The Emperor of All Maladies and the New York Times bestseller The Song of the Cell

Good insights to maximize healthspan

I enjoyed this book and while I was aware of a lot of the information, Attia pulls it together in a well-organized and balanced ways that's easy to understand. Instead of treating patients when they're sick or broken, why not keep them healthier longer? I already was aware of a lot of the general information but this is a good synthesis, and Attia has a missionary zeal to help more people live better longer.

I have two minor negative comments. First, Attia's a high achiever, which is great, and also a relentless name dropper. Got a little distracting. Second, I didn't expect it to be so much of a personal memoir. I'm glad he got some help for his own mental health, but I was less interested in how his workaholic over achieving temperament turned him into a raging jerk and landed him in residential treatment. I had listened to a podcast with Freakonomics author Steven Levitt and that included most of the relevant information, with less of the personal mea culpa from Attia.

In summary, great data about nutrition, exercise and sleep, but unless you have a personal interest in his residential treatment, you can skip the chapter at the end about his emotional turmoil.

Two best versions of Peter

I'm an avid listener of Audible but seldom write reviews, this one will be my first one, but I really felt compelled to write it as I was so grateful after reading it. I was initially quite unimpressed during the beginning of the book, which deployed several tactics already discussed elsewhere and in Peter's podcasts . In the beginning of the book found the chapter on stability the most useful. The first part of the book is " Peter-mind-of-steel", the sharp, decisive, clear, assertive Peter. Nothing very new, though. The second part, as I would call, is "Peter-heart-of-gold", where Peter exposes himself with a courage I never saw in other authors in the same genre. This second part is the jewel of the book, inspires and touches as Peter show immense courage to share his stories , his challenges, his deepest shadows and wounds, and his insights. And it shines light on the first part as well. I found the epilogue brilliant, bringing unity to the whole book, and the acknowledgement session is the best I have ever read. Being myself also a medical doctor , a seeker of the truth , a perfectionist, struggling with my inner critic, I found immense value on the insights of this book. Hope this review inspires you to read the book and that my comments don't have any spoilers .

Comprehensive Strategy and Tactics for Longevity

The main theme of “Outlive” is not to explore exotic scientific discoveries or secrets of longevity. It is rather to help you to plan and implement the high-leverage interventions to lower the risks of the diseases that will likely prevent most of us from having better and healthy life at the later (or even now) stage of life. We all have a tendency to be attracted to and seek a silver bullet to cure every disease and reverse aging. Our inclination towards easy instant solutions might be reflected in the popularity of “anti-aging” supplements (e.g. NMN) and other mythic do-this/don’t-do-this books. Instead, Petter Attia has proposed a highly proactive and comprehensive strategy to prevent the major diseases that are dominant causes of death in developed countries: heart diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type-2 diabetes. He calls such a radically preventive approach Medicine 3.0 as opposed to the traditional and currently mainstream medicine, which focuses on curing the diseases once you get them or, more ironically speaking, waits for you to become ill and then tries to cure them, often ending up prolonging the lifespan at the expense of quality of life.

While this notion does not sound groundbreaking at all, I think this is the catch. While modern medicine has undoubtedly made significant progress in understanding these diseases of aging (heart diseases, cancer, dementia, and type-2 diabetes), it has failed to eradicate them. On the contrary, these diseases are becoming more prevalent and still killing most of us. Given that there is no magic pill for longevity neither, it is the most realistic approach towards longevity to de-risk these major diseases by addressing all the potential root causes without waiting for these diseases to come to you. This will certainly extend the health span, where you keep on enjoying the quality of life at the same level as you do when you are young. With Medicine 2.0, which focuses on prolonging life span, our quality of life is meant to slowly decay as we age, and so do our physical, cognitive, and emotional states. You might not be able to play football during the weekend or have no mental energy to start new projects in your 60s as you do in your 30s. Medicine 3.0 strives to square the decay curve by paying as much attention to health span as it does to life span. So Outlive is like a manifesto to be a kick-ass centenarian.

Another important feature of the Peter Attia’s Medicine 3.0 is to seek patients to be captains of their own health, not passive passengers. Preventive medicine requires you to do more than just take medication: change behaviors, find what works for you, organize your priorities and time schedule, and so on. Thus, it does not give you a simple do-this and not-do-this list. If you are looking for such quick tips, you will be highly disappointed.

Peter Attia first thoroughly explores the current scientific understanding of centenarians, hunger (and its effect on health), metabolic health, and possible causes of diseases of aging (heart diseases, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease). Informed of these scientific findings, he then draws the framework of principles so that you can plan the concrete actions that work for you. In this regard, he explores again the potency of four tactical (action) domains: exercise (aerobic efficiency, aerobic capacity, strength, and stability), nutrition, sleep, and emotional health. Again, the book does not provide a list of actions or interventions. However, you will have a better understanding of what should be done and what steps you can take to incorporate these tactics into your daily life. In the end, every person is different and needs different actions. So it is not possible to design the perfect plan that fits for everyone. You must do it by yourself.

As a long-time listener of his podcast (Drive), in which he covers almost every aspect of health with top researchers from each domain, I am astonished at his work of compiling and condensing such broad and deep topics into one enjoyable book. Each topic can be easily a stand-alone book at its minimum. Thus, if you feel unsatisfied with the depth of the content of the book, you can listen to his podcast or go through the scientific journals to deep dive into the ocean of scientific expeditions for longevity.

Before hitting the road toward longevity, it is worthwhile to ask ourselves why we want to live long(er). In the end, if life sucks, living longer sounds completely pointless. The answers to this question are different for each person. In the last chapter of this book, Peter wrote his own painful experience on this question, and his work in progress not to ignore the emotional health.

Overall, I highly recommend Outlive to everyone, including all of my friends and family. Yes, this is exactly part of my longevity tactics as well.

Most books suck. Not this one.

Dr Attia makes the complex understandable. I’m so glad he read the audio version rather than a random voice. Now that I’ve listened to it, it’s time to study it, and take action.

EXCELLENT!

I could not wait for this book to release and was not disappointed. Dr. Attia covers everything eloquently without being so complex that you can not follow him. The entire book has a systematic delivery and flow that contributes to the overall objective of improving your health. His own journey at the end puts a realistic and human perspective; many have a sterile do this or that feel. This book builds it very relatable bridge, at least for me, to so many things I see in myself. It was intellectual but very human, probably the best I've read. He is gracious for writing and sharing his story.

Nobel Prize winning stuff here

As a physician, father and athlete, I have the goal of being strong for my patients, children and my 100 year old future self. Thanks Peter. You distilled the knowledge required for my goal in your book.

Grateful for this book

I never use the word life-changing but this book really was! I listened curiously after a series of health related obstacles for which I felt my doctors seemed uninterested in explaining why and incapable of telling me what to do about it besides “weight loss might help.” The first part of the book was a bit tedious but I followed the author’s advice to stick with it and I’m glad I did. I finally have actionable steps to improve my health but not in the form of quick life hacks. I now have a sustainable approach to wellness and the understanding that the best use of my time is figuring out what works for me and my body with its unique set of conditions. Quick takeaways: add more protein, train well now given the anticipated decline over the decades, and get serious about the four horsemen. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the chapter on emotional health…super grateful for the author’s vulnerability and transparency.

required life reading

One of the most important books you will ever read, well worth it even if you have been following Peter for a long time, great summarization of all his work. and so glad he read it himself! thank you

The big picture

As a psychiatrist and physician, this is the best book I’ve ever listened to or read about health and a perspective on living that emphasizes the “big picture” in life, through the lens of our physical and emotional health. It encourages critical thinking and questioning practices in medicine/health that are founded upon faulty experimental design & and dogmatic resistance to change. It is an incredible accomplishment and a major contribution to readers.

WELL ROUNDED READ

This book is educational, entertaining, and motivating. It's definitely on the top of my favorite reads list. It was mentioned in another one of my favorite books, The Choice, and I am so glad I checked it out.