The Longevity Cult

There are some people who are spending a bit too much time on the internet who want to live a very long time. Who doesn’t? But they are doing 500,000 push-ups, drinking bone broth, and abstaining from sex because they don’t want to waste the energy. This is a real thing, and at the center of it is Peter Attia.

I actually set out to write a comprehensive takedown of Attia, the author of Outlive and the purveyor of a large-ish podcast on longevity, but he’s a doctor, and I’m not, and I’m not about to attempt to refute any of his scientific findings, though scientific findings have a tendency to be falsified over time. And he doesn’t seem like a dick. Attia’s whole thing is about something called “healthspan,” which is the idea that you can remain sharp and active into your old age—not necessarily living into your 100s as a fossil in a wheelchair. I’m sure we all know people who are playing golf in their 90s and I’m sure we all know people who are confined to a chair at age 62, and we want to be like the former, rather than the latter. Again, I don’t dispute a single thing that Attia is saying. If you watch your diet and exercise and get lots of sleep, you are more likely to be active in your old age. A lot of this is just common sense.

But like a lot of fads or movements, some people take it to an extreme. It has turned into an obsession for some, not just the focus on healthspan, but the focus on lifespan—there is this probably apocryphal story about how eating a hot dog reduces your lifespan by 39 minutes, and people actually believe this shit. I’m of the belief that both healthspan and lifespan are shaped by psychology more than anything else. Having a purpose. Being part of a community, stuff like that. But that’s not what this essay is about. This essay is about death, which—you know what? We will all experience it. Nobody gets out alive. And the reality is that no matter how many spinach salads you eat, when you check out is not really up to you. People die randomly all the time—there is a lot of luck involved. So instead of trying to maximize the amount of time you spend on this earth, you should instead try to maximize your happiness on this earth in the time that you have.

So, a dumb example: let’s say you said that eating nothing but spinach salads would add three years to my life. Guaranteed. Would I do it? Probably not! I like burgers, and I like steaks, and I like fast food, and all of these things enhance my enjoyment of life. I would rather be happy living to 80 than unhappy living to 83. That is a rational decision. Now, not everyone would make the same choice that I do, because people have different priorities. Some people would eat the spinach salads. That’s what makes a market. Though, like I said, that is a dumb example, and not really what I am talking about.

This is what I am talking about: what is the point of living an extra ten years if you are just going to spend it watching TV? Let me use an example that is near and dear to my heart. You probably know that my favorite writer is Barry Hannah, from Oxford, Mississippi. Barry Hannah died at the age of 67. He battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma for a while, and died of a heart attack. Barry Hannah wrote 13 books, and is one of the most acclaimed and respected writers in America. If I could be Barry Hannah, I would not mind dying at age 67—his impact on the world has been enormous. If you want to take it to an extreme, would you want to be Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, or Amy Winehouse, who all died at age 27? Coincidentally, Barry Hannah was the world’s biggest Jimi Hendrix fan. Now, I’m not suggesting that living hard and dying young and leaving a smoking crater is a good idea, but it is 66 years later and we are still talking about Jimi Hendrix. And Mozart, for that matter. Again! I’m not saying I want to die young! These two things are not mutually exclusive—you can have an impact and live a long time. But as my good friend Violet Guo said last week, those who are obsessed with not dying never truly live.

I know some people who are obsessed with not dying. How do they spend their days? Not doing a whole hell of a lot. You bought yourself an extra ten years. What are you going to do with it? Publish a novel? Travel the world? Hike the Appalachian Trail? Get a black belt in jiu-jitsu? The irony is that because these people believe that they are gaining extra years, that they don’t live their life with any particular urgency. You’re in that boring, stultifying job. You have savings. Why not do the thing you always wanted to do? Life is short. Wait a minute—no it isn’t! It’s long! You just got an extra ten years! That is what the prospect of death does—it tends to focus the mind, to compel you to live every day on earth to your fullest. Death is what gives life meaning, and if you think you’re going to live forever, then there is no particular rush to write that novel.

So I am in a big fucking hurry. My health has deteriorated dramatically in the last five years. In 2020, when I was 46, I was playing hardcore racquetball pretty much every day, and I was in very good shape. The pandemic happened, no more racquetball, and I put on 25 pounds. My cholesterol and blood pressure are high. My hair went gray. I am feeling it. I am feeling age. And no, I no longer play racquetball. But guess what? I have written five books in the last five years. People are more rational than you think they are, and I am making a rational decision to use the time that I would have spent working out to write books and do other stuff. Am I shortening my lifespan? Maybe. Am I having more of an impact? Absolutely. Let’s say you had some hypothetical person who did nothing but work out and eat spinach all the time, didn’t have a job, and just spent all their time and mental energy on living forever. Let’s say they lived 200 years.

Nobody would remember their name.

There are tradeoffs in everything we do. If you spend time on longevity, you are not spending time on something else, and time is finite, we only get 16 hours a day from age 18 to 80. How you spend that time is up to you. Also! This is not an argument for not exercising. If exercising makes you feel good, and doesn’t hurt anyone else, then do it. If that is how you want to spend some of your 16 hours a day, then terrific. But there is a tradeoff. What else could you be possibly doing with that time? Well, if the answer is watching the tube, then by all means, go ahead and exercise. But if you are foregoing important things (dreams, goals, time with family) in the pursuit of longevity, then I’d suggest rethinking your priorities. I am actually watching the tube right now. I am watching the Yankees play the Red Sox. Having been a Yankees fan since 1979, this is exactly how I want to be spending my time. And writing this dumb essay, which is probably going to get me a lot of hate and discontent in the comments.

You want to live a long time? Terrific. You want to be healthy into your old age? Terrific. There are tradeoffs in everything we do. But if you want to do a thing, and get really good a thing, and become great at it, then you will need that time you are spending exercising. Because greatness requires obsession, and you can’t be obsessed with playing the guitar or writing and longevity at the same time. For what it’s worth, I don’t want to die anytime soon. But not because I am afraid of death! I just have a lot of stuff left to do. Maybe when I am 70, I will run out of things to do, and I can transition to the next life. Maybe that happens at age 80, or 90. Maybe it never happens. Barry Hannah published his last novel, Yonder Stands Your Orphan about a year or two before his death. He was proud of it, because it was his first “airport” book—the first book that ended up in airport bookstores. It was just announced that two of his books, Airships and Captain Maximus are getting second printings. He’s been gone for 15 years, and most people are reading his work than ever. I’m 51. Sixteen years would be enough, for me.

P.S. RULE 62: Meditations on Success and Spirituality is being released in 18 days. You can pre-order the e-book here.