Blue Zone myth
Firstly I’d like to say I’m so grateful for your podcast, as a gym-going sixty-year old it has really opened my eyes and enabled me to structure my workouts accordingly. So much so that I have made longevity my goal in so many aspects of my life (including listening to your Outlive audiobook). This has also meant I have widened my reach into other podcasts and media on the subject and recently found that there’s an opinion that the Blue Zones may be a myth. It came from a “Science Weekly” Podcast by The Guardian (a UK newspaper), 24th September 2024 – “Are the world’s oldest people really that old?”. It claims to debunk the myth of the Blue Zones as a result of fraud and bad record keeping (unintentional or otherwise). So, I wondered if you, or your team, had heard this, and had any plans to visit this subject with maybe add a bit more meat on the bones. For myself I rather hope the Blue Zones “pockets” around the world are a myth, as it will open the door for each of us to be our own Blue Zone of health and longevity without uprooting ourselves to move half way across the globe. Thanks for all you are doing. Cheers
vaccine safety
I listened to the Joe Rogan podcast where he interviewed Robert Kennedy Jr. Since he is not a physician, he clearly is confused about medical conditions, but he seemed to have a lot of valid data concerning risks of vaccine safety. I agree with him about how the pharmaceutical companies fund a lot of the research with regards to drug safety (NIH and CDC). I wish Peter could find a guest that could discuss some of these issues JFK has brought to the forefront. Researching these topics can be very difficult. Thank you
Is Peter’s assessment of AI insufficiently nuanced?
I’m not sure his team is up on the latest in AI and I could be totally wrong. I have been using Perplexity.ai for my own health and longevity research (my PhD is in comp sci, but practically cognitive psychology related to working memory limitations). I have a short dialog here that can be verified for accuracy. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/you-are-an-experienced-reviewe-xdTorOMNSR.jFLKczRgDoQ
Red light therapy
I was wondering if you knew about any research on the benefit of red light therapy such as those from: (1) Sauna Space (https://sauna.space/?srsltid=AfmBOopgPt9IEKJHnOxxwCXuVt-uTdyEcrElx3zYTEt4soak7NueQTlu) (2) Kineon (https://kineon.io/?srsltid=AfmBOorZcB_0DSp5uKe11OgyyuxPwAQE3RL1qw1eXfWC_TyhgBXwgBLq)
Zone 2 Questions
Hi, I’m a more recent follower of your podcasts and have just plowed through your book in a few weeks. I was wondering if you can answer a few fundamental questions concerning zone 2 training. I realize from going through the AMA thread that this topic raises many questions. Hopefully, mine aren’t too repetitive. First, some baseline data. Baseline Metrics and Zone 2 Early Observations: • I’m 49 years old, will be 50 in February 2025 (☹) • I consider myself an active cyclist and would evaluate my form to be at a high fitness level relative to my age group. I ride about 5000 km per year, split between indoor trainer (35%), road (35%), MTB cross-country (15%) and gravel (15%). • My latest measured maximum heart rate is 185 BPM. Assumed lactate threshold (0.7 to 0.8 of max heart rate) is thus in the range of 130 to 148 BPM. • Based on my RPE, I narrowed this window down to 135 to 142 BPM. • I notice that over a one-hour period, my power threshold will go down by about 10 to 15W to maintaining the same target HR. I see a few reasons for this. After about 30 minutes, I start to stand more often on my trainer to alleviate the saddle pressure. I also generally move around more (wiping down with a towel, drinking, etc.) which tends to accelerate my HR, and requires concentration and focus to get it back down to the target. Finally, fatigue likely plays into this as well. Basically, in the aggregate, over a one-hour period, I consistently notice a drop in power of about 10 to 15W in order to maintain a steady HR. Questions: • Is it normal to observe a drop in power output over time while in Zone 2, which requires to adjust it to maintain the target HR zone (and remain below threshold)? • What should be prioritized when working zone 2, HR or power zone? • How to interpret muscle fatigue while in Zone 2? I should add that I was somewhat expecting to plow through these zone 2 sessions without any noticeable level of fatigue. Should I see this as an indication that I’m riding above my actual threshold? • Would it be beneficial to consider over-under efforts, just above and below threshold to increase work in the early lactate shuttling phase, or is it preferable to be consistently below the threshold?