Health, life expectancy, and longevity have become muddled. Morphing into a cesspool that dignifies a single variable as truth and diminishes nuance. These niche ideas leave no room for long form discussion. This is not hard to believe. It’s difficult to tell someone “I don’t know” or “there’s more to it than that”; they don’t draw attention, and they certainly don’t fit into any part of the funnel for mass client retention. This has led us to a point in time where we are told metrics will save us. The guiding light for now is VO2 max. In the past it has been lower body strength, the number of steps in a day, and even grip strength. The dimly lit torch is passed from metric to metric. It is crucial to understand epistemology, human psychology, physiology, and the nature of scientific research itself when examining claims as such.
If you’re studying a health metric it is bound to be linked to increased lifespan/expectancy. Lean mass – has been tied to longer life expectancy. Insulin sensitivity – has also been tied to longer life expectancy. Grip strength, aerobic fitness (VO2 max), squat max, steps per day, etc.– all the same outcomes. All these factors, when studied, are going to be tied to an increase in life expectancy . These are all good metrics, but they are just that – metrics. They are not outcomes and should not be treated as such. We are mistaking the map for the territory.
Only when these pieces are regarded as singulars to the puzzle that is longevity can they be used appropriately. When we expand these factors into more than they are, we create a false equivalence. We are projecting a single factor onto a higher regard and making it holy. This is like worshiping the actual Bible more than God. VO2 max means nothing in regards to longevity if your pancreas is not secreting insulin. It is all interconnected, there is no one factor you must aim for. Enacting a healthy lifestyle is much more akin to shooting a shotgun than a sniper. Testosterone, VO2 max, grip strength, are all proxies for a healthy life. As Charles Goodhart would warn us, do not mistake the measure for the outcome.
We must raise the bar when it comes to operationalizing the science we have at our disposal. We are failing in an epistemological sense. We are not being good scientists. We are creating reductionist versions of health when we claim things such as this so redundantly and mistakenly.
Creating false idols will lead us all to shortcomings. This is obvious today. The worshiping of readiness scores, trackable miles, and sleep scores have done more harm than gain when it comes to our health. It has become a one-way trip to burning out via unsustainable progress.
I am not anti-science. I am against poor critical thinking. Our tribalism has replaced being ‘right” over curiosity and actual longevity.
Without a broader and more contextual understanding health metrics cannot and will not help us live longer. What they can do is assist us in understanding the entire picture. Using these as the entire road map will lead us to failure. To make the most out of them we must see them for what they truly are. They are miniature shadows on the wall. But they are not the full reality. We must be able to discern the entire object. It is multifaceted and can create many realities. Mislabeling these as the cause of longevity while they are typically just symptoms of an overall healthy lifestyle is the issue. We are confusing the shadows on the wall for the true object.
This same mental shortcoming happens outside the pursuit of longevity. In strength and Conditioning, for example, coaches may see data regarding eccentric hamstring strength correlated to sprinting ability. They will then overemphasize eccentric hamstring ability through strength modalities while disregarding the crux of the data. Was the eccentric hamstring strength derived from eccentric strength work or was it possibly from the sprint work itself? These longevity factors should not be looked at in isolation (similar to the eccentric hamstring strength), nor should they be labelled as the root cause of a healthy lifestyle. It is the healthy lifestyle that is the cause of these factors.
You cannot extrapolate human health into a simple equation. This would imply that we are linear, basic systems. Basic Biology, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology all dismiss this. We are complex systems that require complex arrangements of variables to survive. We are nonlinear, complex, and antifragile.
A well rounded lifestyle is much more efficient and will do you more good. Do not major in the minors.
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