**EP413: Younger Sharper Stronger**
**Dr Warrick Bishop:** Welcome, my name's Dr Warrick Bishop. I'm a cardiologist, an author, and a keynote speaker. I'm the CEO of the Healthy Heart Network. I'm all about trying to help people live as well as possible for as long as possible. Heart disease is huge in Australia. Every 20 minutes, someone suffers a heart attack. Most of these could probably have been avoided if only we knew what to do. This podcast is all about helping you understand blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, for better health. If you enjoy this podcast, I would be honored for a five-star review. You can share it with your family and friends. It may well save someone you love.
**Warwick:** Oh, good day. It's Warwick here, and thank you for joining me. Look, today I would like to talk about aging with some strength. I'm 60. That's my disclosure. I turned 60 a little while ago, and I'm pretty clear that I'm starting to lose muscle strength, and I know I'm not alone. So, I'd like to talk about how we try and hold on to some of that strength really to stay younger, sharper, and stronger for longer.
It turns out that as we age, there are three key systems that we need to be looking after as best as possible, separate from our heart, which of course, if you've been following me, you should have all that done and dusted by now. What we really need to be looking after is our brain, our bones, and really importantly, our muscles.
When we talk about putting in place an investment in your future, like many things that occur over time, the sooner you start, the better. But if you haven't started, then now actually is the best time. So let's start off by talking about the brain and trying to protect that cognitive function. Your brain really is a bit of a high-performance engine; it sort of needs fuel, obviously blood flow, and we don't want inflammation because inflammation can impact cognitive function.
We know that cognitive decline doesn't just start overnight. It's a process that can start decades earlier. With the things that we know about it, we know that vascular health is really important for brain health. So looking after your heart will also look after your brain. Things like high blood pressure, inflammation that I alluded to, and poor metabolic health are all factors to consider.
A fairly recent study came out on keeping cholesterol levels down and even using statins for lowering cholesterol, demonstrating a reduction in all-cause dementia, not just vascular dementia, all-cause dementia. And that's really quite compelling. We know that things like insulin resistance, that sort of metabolic and cardiometabolic health problem associated with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes, are linked to cognitive decline. In fact, Alzheimer's disease is sometimes called type 3 diabetes; that's how bad it is.
We know sleep's essential, so if you're going to look after your brain, you've got to sleep. That allows the brain to literally drain away. There's a change in the way the fluid moves around your brain overnight, and proteins that can build up within that fluid can only escape during the time you're asleep. It turns out regular aerobic activity and strength training both are linked to improved long-term brain outcomes.
If you're going to look after your brain, don't forget there is a component of nutrition in there. Mediterranean-style diets appear to be brain-friendly from what we can see. Antioxidants may be beneficial; it's hard to know. Omega-3 oils—we know that EPA probably has more data supporting heart function, but we know DHA has more data supporting its role in retinal and brain-related health. So looking after the brain? Tick that box.
What about the bones? This is really big, and I'm going to flag it because I've also got a virtual bone check and bone survey that I put together. What's your risk of bone problems? So look those up. Go to Virtual Heart Check and Virtual Bone Check. Look up Virtual Bone Check just as it sounds, and you'll find it. I've got a website now allowing people to do a survey to test, well, get a feel for whether they should be considering a bone mineral density scan or not. It's pretty sensible to do so.
Please check it out because, in fact, if you don't measure your bone mineral density, you won't know where it is. You just can't guess it. There can be reasons why yours might be low apart from hereditary factors. Actually, conditions like partial celiac disease—I actually saw a patient the other day with a condition called mastocytosis. Now, no one expects you to know what that is because it's a really rare condition. But this gentleman appeared with a spinal fracture. He was shown to be osteoporotic. As they dug and researched and investigated to try to find an explanation for his osteoporosis, it turned out to be mastocytosis. He had no idea he had that condition.
What's the point? Please get your bone mineral density checked. A bit like I ask people to please get a calcium score. If you don't actually look, you don't actually know. Well, back to bones and strengthening bones because you need to look after them. But please go and get a bone mineral density scan done. Go and look up Virtual Bone Check. It'll save you having to go to a GP or a specialist unless, of course, you're over 70 or had a low-impact fracture, in which case there's a Medicare rebate available for you.
But let's go to load-bearing exercise. We know that that's really beneficial. Yes, osteo-strong type protocols have real evidence. They talk about multidisciplinary combined exercise. Any load-bearing is really, really important. We know vitamin D is important, and vitamin K2—I'm really advocating that for people for heart health and bone health these days. Magnesium is important in bone health; you probably think of it in terms of muscle cramps and maybe even think of it in terms of rhythm stability for the heart and blood pressure for the heart, but it's also really important for bones. Many people can be a bit magnesium deficient, so don't miss that.
Protein and collagen, the raw materials for building bone, are also really, really important. Your bones are dynamic, constantly. If you give them the right building blocks and stress them the right way, there's a very good chance you'll be able to build more bone mineral density. And wouldn't that be a good thing?
Let's talk about the third thing. We've talked about looking after your brain as you age, we've talked about looking after your bones as you age, now let's talk about looking after your muscles. Having good muscles isn't all about having a great figure when you wear your cozy down at the beach. It's more than that; it's metabolic, it's structural, and it's protective.
Really importantly, as we age, we lose muscle mass. There's a word for that: the word we use is sarcopenia. "Sarco" pertaining to muscle, "penia," meaning less. But the word you probably know is frailty. And frailty sucks. It stops you from getting out and about. It stops your independence. It puts you in a nursing home. It stops you from carrying your groceries up the stairs.
But the good news is, for the vast majority of people, as long as they don't have a disease or drugs that can prevent them from building bone, that you can build bone. Even in our OsteoStrong Centre, we've been seeing improvements in strength in individuals who are into their 90s. Into their 90s! So don't give up on trying to get stronger.
By improving muscle strength, you can improve insulin resistance. By improving muscle strength, you can improve insulin sensitivity. You can support better posture and balance, and by that, you then reduce the risk of falls. This is really important. Strength training increases mitochondrial health and therefore resilience and will start to impact your metabolic rate and, in fact, improve your metabolic condition. You have better sugar control.
What do you need on top of weight training? Well, of course, you need protein so that your body can build the muscle. Many individuals are not getting the one and a half plus grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day that they need. You've got to check that out. Actually, within the center at OsteoStrong, we sell an amino acid powder by a local Australian company called Frontier. So Frontier amino acid powder is a really good way to get those important proteins in when we often don't get enough in during a day and in our regular diet.
Creatine, a really well-researched and affordable supplement, is good for brain and muscle. I take it regularly. Strength training— a couple of sessions a week can make a huge difference. And remember, recovery and sleep—you always need that.
So as we are in the final stages of this particular podcast, summing it up: feed your brain with movement, nutrients, and good sleep. Stress your bones with intelligent loading and make sure you've got the right building blocks available for your bones to take advantage. Also, fuel and train your muscles. Get them stronger and leaner. They will support you, and the more you look after them, the more they'll look after you.
Well, I hope you found today's podcast informative, possibly even entertaining. If you've enjoyed it and you can think of someone who could benefit from it, please don't feel shy about sharing. If you'd like to leave a review, that'd be wonderful. If it's a nice review, if it's not, if you've not got anything nice to say, then like my mother would say, keep it to yourself.
I'm going to jump for now. I do wish you the very best. I do hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible. Until next time, take care and bye for now.
**Dr Warrick Bishop:** Hi, ever wondered what your risk of heart attack is? You should. It's the single biggest killer in the Western world. We're talking one death less than every 30 minutes in Australia, one death less than every 60 seconds in the United States, 9 million deaths globally per annum.
Well, how do you check your risk? You can go to www.virtualheartcheck.com.au. You'll find out about your risk and what can be done beyond that to be even more precise.
