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966: 4 Longevity Hacks for Dentists – Dr. Uche Odiatu

People want a longer lifespan. But it’s also important to focus on health span. In this episode, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Uche Odiatu, one of ACT’s favorite health and wellness gurus, to share four keys to longevity that will help you live better, not just longer. To learn how you can sync up your health span to your lifespan, listen to Episode 966 of The Best Practices Show!

 

Learn More About Dr. Odiatu:

Learn More About ACT Dental:

More Helpful Links for a Better Practice & a Better Life:

Episode Resources:

Main Takeaways:

  • Consistency is key to longevity. Slow and steady wins the race.
  • Become a master of sleep. Good sleep increases longevity.
  • Stress impacts life expectancy. Learn how to manage it.
  • Supplements can be important, but more isn't better.
  • Food is fuel. Tone down junk food consumption.
  • Sitting is a killer. Move as often as possible.
  • Stay curious and keep your mind active.

Quotes:

“Everyone wants to live longer, but living better is just as important.” (1:28—1:32) -Dr. Odiatu

“You want your health span to equal your lifespan. You don't want a 100-year lifespan and have a health span of 65 years, then you spend the last 35 years dependent and with sickness and chronic disease. So, you really want your health span to equal your lifespan.” (3:08—3:23) -Dr. Odiatu

“The science shows that . . . if you have more fat on you, you have more inflammatory cytokines circulating. So, it's like you have drunk security guards. The security guards are important. But when they're drunk, they cause problems and they make mistakes. So, the more adipose tissue we have, the more our immune system makes mistakes, and the more macrophages we have. The more macrophages we have, the more inflammation we have. That's like keeping matches next to the fireworks, next to the gasoline in the garage. So, I think one of the biggest driving forces from 1970 to 2025 [for the decrease in lifespan] is that we're heavier. We're 35 pounds heavier. That's a lot to change in 50 years when you think of human history, Homo sapiens, 400,000 years. Things don't change that quickly. So, automatically, if you're heavier, your knees are going to take a hit, cardiovascular — just being heavier makes you more likely to have 30 different diseases. So, being heavier is making us have a shorter lifespan.” (6:35—7:38) -Dr. Odiatu

“Sitting is a killer. It's been the buzzword for a while: sitting is the new smoking. Sitting is a death physiology. They've shown that women are more impacted negatively by sitting than men, but sitting shortens your life. I forget exactly how many years, but the physiology is a death physiology because the only time cavemen and cavewomen sat 100,000 to 500,000 years ago was when they were sick or dying. So, the minute you sit, your Fred Flintstone physiology goes, ‘Oh, you must be sick and dying,’ and it starts shutting down. We also change how we breathe. We breathe shallower when we're sitting, and it takes more muscle work at our upper neck, back, rhomboids, and trapezius to move oxygen to our brain. And a brain starved of oxygen increases free radicals and beta-amyloid plaque. That goes along with increased chances of all the different dementias, Alzheimer's being the most common one. So, sitting, alone, is killing us. How many people actually earned their money sitting all day back in 1970? But you get 18, 20-year-olds, 30-year-olds, these server farms, day traders sitting all day. It's exciting, but they're sitting. So, they might be earning the Bitcoin or mining Bitcoin, but it's a death physiology.” (7:47—9:00) -Dr. Odiatu

“Deepak Chopra, author of a hundred books — he's a psychoneuroimmunologist — said, ‘Anyone who says been there, done that, I know it all, run from them. Run towards someone who is curious.’ Curiosity is youth; curiosity is the scientist; curiosity is the researcher.” (10:42—10:57) -Dr. Odiatu

“Once you get rid of the junk food or you've eliminated your junk food, that's the biggest bang for your buck. Once you start eating healthy, the whole body starts self-regulating. So, the biggest bang for your buck, in terms of what you want to do, is tone down the junk food, eat less junk food, and now put your time and energy into something else. Maybe having pitch-black curtains [to improve sleep]. Maybe it could be spending more time outside.” (13:29—13:52) -Dr. Odiatu

“When it comes to fitness, health and wellness, longevity and health, what I've seen from my 48 years of lifting weights is the fact that consistency beats intensity.” (15:03—15:13) -Dr. Odiatu

“Consistency is something a lot of people could figure out. If it works well at the workplace, giving your employees and team consistent leadership, it also works in your fitness. So, dentists who are doing all this leadership, taking all the courses, been to Pankey and Seattle Study Club and everything else, but then they try this hot and cold workout, guess what? You need consistency with your workouts and your diet, and you'll have the same rewarding relationship with your body that you do in your office.” (21:22—21:49) -Dr. Odiatu

“Sleep is not the sexiest thing. I've never heard anyone say on New Year's Day, ‘I want to sleep more.’ But literally, poor sleepers don't live a long time. There's a really good book by Matthew Walker, a PhD neuroscientist out of Berkeley, called Why We Sleep. He said, plain and simple, poor sleepers don't live as long. Shift work is called the graveyard shift because it kills you. Shift work also makes you more insulin resistant. Right now, there are 30 million diabetics in the United States and 80 million prediabetic. So, one out of three Americans are prediabetic or diabetic. And not sleeping well — which is 70% of the adult population — 70% of adults say they wake up not fully rested. So, only 30%, three out of ten people, wake up feeling good. Well, if you don't wake up feeling rested, you're probably going to be more insulin resistant. Insulin resistance, over time, where the pancreas can only pump out so much insulin, then all of a sudden it lets your blood sugar rise, and all of a sudden, now you're prediabetic. Then, 70% of people who are prediabetic go on to full-blown diabetes. That's the pandemic I'm worried about, because the fallout is you live ten years shorter. And it's not just stroke and kidney fallout — it’s cardiovascular disease, amputation, erectile dysfunction, dementia.” (22:00—23:17) -Dr. Odiatu

“Sleep is an easy hack [for longevity], and it gets overlooked so many times.” (23:40—23:44) -Dr. Odiatu

“There are different theories about telomeres. Telomeres are the end caps on our chromosomes. People who don't look good for their age, or people who wear out early have shorter telomeres. When you start looking at longevity, they're actually saying babies in utero can have shorter telomeres just from a stressful pregnancy with the mother — fighting with the parental units, money problems, living by a highway, living by a fire department. That sound, that siren ignites and elevates cortisol, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. All the catecholamines are spinning around, and around, and around. What happens is the baby can come out with shorter telomeres and already wired for cortisol, getting that excitement from the cortisol, and a shorter life.” (25:40—26:26) -Dr. Odiatu

“There is no need to take a multi [vitamin]. You take vitamins if you're in a deficit state. If you take a supplement that you're not in a deficit state of, it doesn't help you that much better. Let me give you an example. You have a big, roaring fire already. You throw your match on, or you throw a second match on, it doesn't change. To start a fire, all you need is one match. You don't need ten matches. So, vitamins and enzymes, these catalysts are like a match, if you want to use that analogy. Once you have enough vitamin A, multiplying it by ten is not going to help you.” (28:51—29:22) -Dr. Odiatu

“What you can tweak is the health span. It's the health span that's 80% in your control. What's the quality of vitality, energy, lucidity? Like, how lucid will you be? Will you have a good memory? Will you have energy galore? Will you have energy for your family after seeing your patients all day? So, longevity is kind of a catchphrase but, really, it's genetically driven. It's really health span, and that's energetically driven.” (34:10—34:34) -Dr. Odiatu

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:50 Longevity, lifespan, and health span, explained.

3:24 Why some countries have a longer lifespan.

5:36 Why life expectancy has decreased.

10:11 Is there a magic bullet for longevity?

13:54 The importance of consistency.

21:54 Become a sleep master.

25:34 Manage your stress.

28:34 More isn't better with supplements.

32:16 Final thoughts.

35:27 More about Dr. Odiatu and how to get in touch.

Dr. Uche Odiatu Bio:

Dr. Uche Odiatu has a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine). He is a professional member of the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine), a Certified Personal Trainer (National Strength & Conditioning Association) NSCA, and the Canadian Association of Fitness Professionals (canfitpro). He is the co-author of The Miracle of Health (c) 2009 John Wiley (hardcover) & (c) 2015 Harper Collins, and has lectured in Canada, the USA, the Caribbean, the UK, and Europe. He is an invited guest on over 400 TV and radio shows, from ABC 20/20, Canada CTV AM, Breakfast TV, to Magic Sunday Drum FM in Texas. This high-energy healthcare professional has done over 450 lectures in seven countries over the last 15 years. 
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