7 Habits That Age You Faster & Cost Nothing to Fix

¡Hola!

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs, and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an SUV. It's your Equinox. Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.

Picture this. There are places in the world where people routinely live to 100, even without gyms, expensive supplements, or complicated biohacking at all. And the shocking part, most Americans age 30 years faster simply because of the daily habits that they don't even realize are harmful to them. You know, in certain areas of the world, like in the mountains of Sardinia, Italy, you'll find men in their 90s walking the hills, tending sheep, and laughing with their neighbors. In Okinawa, Japan, women approaching 100 still garden, cook together, and care for their great-grandchildren. And in Nicoya, Costa Rica, 100-year-olds walk miles every day and still wake up with a sense of purpose. These aren't people with perfect genetics. They're proof that the habits we repeat daily either slow aging or accelerate it. Let me ask you a question. Are your daily habits aging you faster or promoting longevity? And healing. And today I'm gonna be reverse engineering these 7 lifestyle habits that destroy our health and longevity and the 7 lifestyle habits that promote it. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

All right, ladies, when you've done the work, you want your hydration to do the same. Introducing new Gatorade Lower Sugar, now with no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or colors, and 75% less sugar and all the electrolytes of regular Gatorade. Now available nationwide.

You can't reason with the sun. Trust us, we've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omni-Shade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun Sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia, engineered for whatever.

Most people think aging happens because of genetics or bad luck, but the National Institutes of Aging estimates that genetics only accounts for about 20 to 25% of lifespan. The remaining 80% is influenced by lifestyle and environmental factors like diet, exercise, habits, environmental exposure to toxins, and purpose or lack of it. In other words, aging isn't something that automatically happens at 70. It's something we do to ourselves that can start becoming noticeable at 25 years old, 35, 45, or any age. Recent research shows the longest living adults have little in common with one another in their education, their income, or their professions. The similarities they do share reflect their lifestyles.

Most all are nonsmokers, they're not obese, and they cope with stress well.

Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zone, says that to live longer, you have to eat well, stress less, move more, and love more. And if you think about your body like a car, here's what you need: good fuel like protein and plants— the engine lasts longer. You need movement— you need to keep the pistons lubricated. And you need sleep— this leads to better overnight repairs. And there are many metaphors we could use for health and longevity, whether it be a—

your body is a car or a garden.

It needs to be tended to, it needs sunlight, it needs water, it needs good soil. Sunlight, this charges your batteries. Think of that like solar panels. And then your relationships, this acts like the cooling system that helps you endure everything else. These are some of the key factors that are going to help you heal and promote longevity. Now, on the other hand, some habits accelerate your cellular mileage. For example, chronic stress plus Scrolling on your phone all day, plus stagnation. This is like your engine overheating. Not sleeping or eating well. Your battery is drained and you don't have enough fuel to keep going. Now, here's the scary part.

The United States has the worst performance among high-income nations in people dying from chronic disease.

Life expectancy has dropped to about 76 years old for males and 82 for women. This is far below countries like Japan, far below. Among adults, over 65, more than 90% have at least one chronic condition, and over 90% are taking a prescription drug. The average American spends the last 12 years of their life in poor health. So why is this happening? Because of bad habits. Most adults now use their phones for 3 to 6 hours a day and walk only 3,000 steps a day. 1 in 3 adults is chronically sleep deprived, and more than 50% say they're very stressed on a daily basis. And these things add up and cause our cells and our organs to age too quickly. So I wanna walk you through these 7 habits that are aging you faster, and then go through on the flip side what you need to do instead. Here's number 1, not challenging yourself Mentally, mental stagnation.

Neuroscientist Dr.

Michael Merzenich, he says this: The brain is plastic until you die, meaning you can keep learning and growing well into older age. Neuroplasticity means that the brain is like a muscle. You either use it or lose it. And when your mind is sedentary— and this has been found to shrink the hippocampus and increase memory loss— this is a major issue. If you're one of those people and every day you do the same thing, you get home from work or you're retired and you sit down in a chair and you just watch TV or scroll on social, and that's what you're doing, and you're not learning and growing and striving forward, you're aging your brain more rapidly. It's like never exercising or moving at all, just sitting all day. You need your brain to be moving and learning new things. Adults who learn new skills reduce their dementia risk greatly. In fact, about half of dementia cases could be prevented by addressing 14 lifestyle factors, including lack of education, purpose, and connection. If you're getting older, one of the most important things you can do is continue to learn and grow. So just reading books and listening to audiobooks, listening to podcasts and watching educational YouTube videos, but doing things to expand your mind, continuing to have a purpose and contribute in some way, and then having deep connection with people. You know what takes away deep connection?

Spending time on tech devices, okay, computers, phones, televisions versus real interaction with people. All of those things decrease your risk of getting Alzheimer's and aging your brain.

You know, Blue Zone centurions learn continuously, such as by reading, worshiping, doing art, and speaking to one another. Number 2, scrolling instead of connecting is a major thing causing us to age more quickly. We're the loneliest generation in history, and it's aging us. Loneliness increases mortality as much as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.

I want you to think about that.

Just the fact that you're not connecting with other humans because you're on your phone or on social media scrolling all the time, it is killing your brain.

I do want to mention there's a big difference between watching an educational YouTube video listening to an audiobook, using a device for education versus scrolling.

I mean, scrolling is one of the single worst things you could ever do for your health. The average person checks their phone 150 to 200 times a day. This is often rooted in the need to connect and be seen, but you don't actually feel a sense of fulfillment because it's empty. You're not really getting what you need. Scrolling is the opposite of community, and community is longevity fuel. Heavy social media users have a 2 to 3 times higher risk of anxiety and depression. And having good friendships are just as protective as exercise. Strong social ties lower mortality by 45%, which is more than quitting smoking. I mean, think about this. There are all these ads.

I remember, especially in the '90s when I was growing up, the '80s, early 2000s, where people didn't know that smoking was bad because it was actually promoted by doctors. Did you know that?

You know that smoking was promoted by doctors throughout the '50s, the '60s, and the '70s for weight loss. Then in the '80s, they sort of, or late '70s, they realized, well, this is bad.

So the '80s, they started saying smoking is bad throughout the '90s.

But what's even worse than smoking cigarettes is not having good friendships. Here's what neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman says. He says, our brains crave genuine, real-time social interaction, and replacing face-to-face connection with screens can starve us of the deeper bonding and wellbeing that we are wired for. God wired us to connect with one another, not a screen. You know, throughout human history, humans flourished in small, tightly bonded tribes where survival was dependent upon cooperation, shared labor, storytelling, face-to-face connection, gardening together, hunting together, just doing everything to support and fight for one another. We were dependent on each other. And today, you know, we actually still are very dependent upon each other, but it takes less human interaction where you can just DoorDash something or do self-checkout and never actually have a conversation with anyone ever. For 99% of human history, isolation was dangerous and community literally kept us alive. Our nervous systems were designed for eye contact, touch, shared meals, and collective purpose, not solitary scrolling or digital connection.

It's not the same.

It's superficial.

You know, one of the things, reasons why I see so many people today, they feel empty.

They feel like they have a lack of meaning, lack of significance.

Now, part of it is this next one I'm gonna get into, but part of it is we were designed for connecting with other people..

And if you're not deeply connecting with somebody, and listen, the word deep, going deep spiritually, having those really, you know, iron sharpens iron conversations, challenging one another, asking deep questions, cheering and encouraging one another on. We should be having these really deep connections to each other. Most people, when you have, you know, 1,000 friends on social media and you're kind of talking to everybody just through texting on a phone versus you have 2 or 3 or 5 people you're going really, really deep with, And you're sharing a common purpose and you're fighting for one another. It's so different. This is what creates a deep sense of meaning and wellbeing in our lives, or part of it is this human connection. Now, the second thing really ties into this, and this is lack of purpose. In Okinawa, people wake up with a kigii, which is a reason to get up in the morning. This also translates to purpose, and having a purpose makes you more active socially and mentally. People who wake up with purpose live 7 years longer on average. In the Blue Zones, people talk face-to-face daily. Many go to church or a religious place or work of worship, have relationships with their neighbors, exercise and walk around outside in their towns. They volunteer, they mentor younger people and spend a lot of time with their family and friends. Purpose is key. So you might be wondering to yourself, how do I find my purpose?

You know, because according to a recent study, 25% of people know what their purpose is. 75% of people are not clear on what it is.

Well, kike really starts with what are you gifted at? Like, what is that gift you have that God created you for? That's one thing. So what are you good at?

That's the first thing and maybe the most important.

The next is, uh, what does the world need? What is that opportunity in front of you where you can serve people, help people, Use your gifts.

So, so what's the current opportunity you have?

Another one is, what do you love? What are you passionate about?

What do you feel really strongly for?

And a fourth, which isn't always needed, but sometimes is in there if it's related to vocation or profession, is what can you be paid to do? But typically your purpose is tied to what are your God-given gifts and what is that need that you can help serve that you're passionate about?

That's really what purpose is.

And I want to say too, I think we have a global purpose of humanity and then we all have our individual purposes. I know that I'm called as a Christian to love God, love people, and make earth a heavenly place.

When we go back to the book of Genesis in the Bible, we see these relationships. God created man. We're meant to have a relationship there. God created Adam and then Eve. There's a relationship with humans, and God created this Garden of Eden for us to tend and make the entire earth a paradise and a Garden of Eden, which in the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, couple, couple chapters, it talks about we will live in heaven a garden city here on earth.

And so we're called to love God, love people, make earth a heavenly place. And then we're also called to help others do the same, disciple other people, mentor other people. I will tell you this, if you're thinking about what is something really good you can do to help other people, one of the single greatest things you can do is mentor somebody.

You know, you know how often I have this happen pretty frequently is I will have people come up to me and say, hey, Dr. Axe, will you mentor me or help me in this way? I've got a lot of young doctors and that sort of thing who, who want some guidance on how to be a better practitioner and, and communicator and just, just help more people.

And I love doing that. Honestly, I think about the things that are most— that fill me up the most.

Mentoring and discipling other people gives me such joy.

And I think it's one of the greatest things we're missing in the world today is great mentors.

There is an ancient rabbi, a sage, his name is Maimonides, and he has something called the charity ladder.

And he said, what is the greatest thing you could ever do for somebody? By the way, if you wanna know who Maimonides is, he's this person. Have you ever heard the quote, um, uh, give a man to fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime?

That's Maimonides. And he said the greatest charity you could ever do for somebody is not just giving them money.

Um, he said there, there's actually 7 levels of charity.

The highest level of charity is teaching a person to fish. That's mentorship and discipleship.

It's the greatest charity. Contribution.

It's better than even giving money to it, to it, to an organization.

That's great.

But mentoring others, helping them grow spiritually, helping them in their marriage, helping them grow in their character and their leadership and their profession, mentoring and serving others without asking anything in return is the greatest form of purpose, or one of the greatest out there today.

I think in addition, part of that too is what's being a great parent. Growing and becoming a better parent, that's a form of discipleship, that's mentorship.

And even a marriage, there's a level there of iron sharpens iron, of helping one another grow.

That leads to purpose. And purpose is really tied to this idea of growth.

It's growing yourself, it's growing your marriage, it's helping grow your kids, it's mentoring, discipling others.

When you grow yourself and help others grow, it leads to a great sense of fulfillment and actually adds years to your life. There's another study I read that found that when people retire from work, if they don't find a new sense of purpose or way to contribute, it takes years off their life and causes them to die early. It crushes longevity because according to Chinese medicine, the greatest thing that builds qi—

and in, in, in functional medicine, we would call this mitochondrial health, um, adrenal health, ATP energy for your body to create energy—

there's a level there that's connected to our spiritual aspect of health. And so if you don't have purpose. It's like there's no fuel for your mitochondria. There's no fuel for your adrenal glands. Purpose actually leads to hormonal health, joy, longevity.

You know, there's a lot of people that wake up in the morning and they don't feel like getting out of bed.

And part of that is there's not a sense of purpose in their life. And so for you, when you have a sense of purpose, it is fuel for your soul, for your spirit, and even for your organs and your cells. So one of the greatest things I want to encourage you to do is go and your unique purpose and add value in that way.

So find your purpose and focus on growth, growing yourself and growing others.

Have you ever felt like you're doing everything right, eating clean, working out, taking all the right supplements, but your body just won't cooperate? Maybe you're tired, you're foggy, you're gaining weight, you can't sleep, and your doctor says your labs are normal. Here's the truth: normal blood work does not mean your body is operating normally. It just means the levels in your blood work look okay, not that your cells are actually using them the way they should. It's like using the wrong map and wondering why you're lost, or putting gas in the tank but the engine still won't turn over. Because if your cells are inflamed, stressed, or in survival mode, nothing you do will work the way it should. Your body's been whispering for years. Now maybe it's screaming, and you deserve someone who's actually listening. Go to mybloodwork.com and see what your blood work missed, what's really going on beneath the surface. Because you're not crazy, you're not lazy, you're just stuck in a system that was never built to find the problem. It was built to diagnose disease, not restore your health.

At mybloodwork.com, we'll show you how to finally get your body and your life back.

You know, if you want to grow and excel in life, one of the most important things you can do is focus on fostering great relationships with great virtuous people.

Okay.

By the way, this is something, if somebody asks me, Dr.

Axe, what is your biggest life lesson? I mean, your single biggest lesson in your entire life. My single biggest life lesson is this: you become who you surround yourself with. Who are those 5 people you spend the most time with? So your family and then 5 other people, and that's who you become. You know, Dave Ramsey did a study and found that your wealth depends on the 10 people you spend the most time with. Your average wealth will become like their average wealth. The same is with health.

If you want to get healthy, You want to have a great marriage? Hang around people with great marriages. You want to grow in your character and your leadership? Hang out with people that are leaders. I am in a growth group right now.

I've done this in the church a lot in the past, signed up, been part of growth groups. That's been incredible for my growth. And then also part of other groups, like I'm in a group right now with 5 other guys and we meet together once to twice a month and basically we read a book together every month. And then we share our thoughts and we encourage one another. And then typically sometimes we get together another time, whether it's for watching a football game or doing a dinner or just breakfast, something like that. And we're always spurring each other on. And to me, it's been the greatest thing that's helped me grow over the past, you know, 10 years has been the dedication to seeking out people that are great in an area in their life, spending more time around them and being open to learning and growing and getting better.

And so I want you to think about this.

Write down who are those 5 people you spend the most time with now and rank them on a scale of 1 to 10 on how much they're helping you grow. And then here's the other thing I want you to do. I want you to rank yourself. Where are you on a scale of 1 to 10 of being a friend and helping them grow?

Are you encouraging them? Are you going out of your way to maybe get them a book or to give them advice or do whatever you can to help them reach their goals in life? Do you even know what their goals are? Do you know what their dreams are? Do you know what their weaknesses are so you can help them?

So rank yourself, rank those 5 people, and then set the goal here for this next year of where do you want to become at a level of a friend and a leader for those people? And then who are those 5 people you need to spend the most time with? You need to take those people in life that are below the 5, they're 2s, they're 3s, they're leeches.

They're sucking the life outta you. They're not, they're keeping you from fulfilling your dreams. And you need to go and spend more time with people that are gonna help you grow and excel and become better. Now listen, there's an an element that is different from this.

So this is your friend group that you're growing with, and, uh, it's a group of purpose. It's different than saying, I'm going to go and have a form of a ministry where I'm going to take people that are, you know, that are having a hard time in life, or even something that's negative, and going and ministering to them and helping them in their needs, okay? Encouraging them, giving them a book, doing certain things to support them.

That's great too.

You should do that. But there's also this group of this friend group that's iron sharpens iron that you should be pursuing. And one of the best places to do this is, is join a church and join a growth group in a church. It's a powerful way of meeting those types of people and fostering community.

All right, now let's talk about a diet for longevity.

Here's the biggest mistake most people are making. They're not getting enough protein, not enough fiber, and not enough nutrients.

Okay? But protein and fiber, if you focus on protein and fiber-rich foods, it's going to promote the greatest amount of longevity. Here are some statistics based on the Blue Zones. The longest living people in the world eat 80% more plants. They eat lots of protein. They eat 30 or more grams of fiber daily. They have virtually no ultra-processed food and very little added sugar. But meanwhile, in the United States, 60% of calories come from ultra-processed foods. 60%. 46% of older adults are protein deficient. Low fiber increases chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. It also drives obesity, which now affects 74% of American adults.

So here's the problem. American adults are eating mostly ultra-processed foods, not enough protein, not enough fiber, and not enough whole foods.

I want to walk you through why fiber and protein are so important. Protein in plants turn on longevity pathways such as AMPK and autophagy, which stabilizes blood sugar and protects your mitochondria. Fiber is one of the simplest miracle drugs in the diet. Now, we went through this sort of phase, I remember, kind of in the '90s, uh, we, we, we saw a lot of promotion of fiber, and then the last 10 years everybody's talked about protein, protein, protein, protein. And the reality is you want to get quite a bit of both protein and fiber, because that— this is— these macronutrients really impact your metabolism and keep insulin balanced. Now, I also want to talk about why fiber matters.

I think protein's got a lot of, a lot of promotion, and it should.

Protein is great for building muscle.

Protein's great, again, for insulin.

It's great for metabolism.

You're not going to store it as body fat. There's a lot of benefits there. But here's why fiber matters.

Higher fiber intake is linked with lower cardiovascular disease, lower mortality, better cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and more weight loss. Now, when you're getting fiber, you want to focus on getting both soluble fiber and insoluble. Soluble fiber, uh, forms a gel. It feeds gut bacteria, so it acts as a prebiotic to support the growth of probiotics. It also lowers cholesterol and blunts your blood sugar. You're going to get this type of fiber from, uh, beans.

Oatmeal, psyllium husk, pectin, chia seeds. So pectin, you're going to get that from eating apples and citrus fruits like grapefruit.

Okay. Really, really great type of fiber that acts as a— that supports detoxification. Also, this sort of fiber is great for clearing out LDL cholesterol, improving your blood sugar, creating more what's called short-chain fatty acids like butyric acid in your gut. Which is really important for, for healing leaky gut and GI health.

So that's important.

Then you also want to get some insoluble fiber. You're gonna get that from vegetables and whole grains for the most part. This adds more bulk to your stool. So when you think about soluble fiber, it helps balance out your blood chemistry, improving your blood work.

Insoluble fiber is like cleaning out your plumbing. It's like cleansing your colon.

So you want to get both of these types of fiber, right? On a regular basis. And here's the key: eat more fruits and vegetables, okay?

Get more things like walnuts and chia and flaxseeds, okay? So it's nuts and seeds, it's beans, it's, it's whole grains, and it's a lot of fruits and vegetables where you're going to get more fiber. So wild organic meat, fruits and vegetables, for the most part, is where you're going to get all of this protein and fiber.

You don't want to grade yourself right now, like, what are you eating on a daily basis?

Let's start with breakfast, okay? Are you getting plenty of protein and fiber for breakfast? When I woke up this morning, I probably had nearly 50 grams of protein and I had probably another maybe 15 grams of fiber or so. And so what I had this morning was I had a smoothie, which was— I did this type of protein powder that was made primarily of like a bone broth. So 20 grams of that, add another 30 to 40 grams of a plant-based protein that came from pumpkin seeds predominantly. Had that much protein. And then I added in some superfood powders of like beetroot juice and a handful of spinach, uh, and so I— and then I just did water in there, okay? So I had that and then I ate one big apple, okay?

And that was my breakfast this morning.

Now sometimes I mix it up. I do a pumpkin smoothie a lot of mornings because the fiber in pumpkins are so fantastic.

I do blueberries.

I will do cream of rice with some coconut oil and add in a little bit of honey. And then for fiber, I will add in this type of granola that's pretty much like, like chia and flax. I'll add that in there. And then just do protein on the side. Maybe I'll do eggs.

But all that being said, what are you doing for breakfast?

What you want to be focusing on is protein and fiber. So typically it's going to be a source of protein like eggs or turkey sausage or protein powder. And then also doing a high fiber fruit, pomegranate, blueberry, fig, apple, Grapefruit, fantastic.

And then for lunch and dinner, very similar.

You can do something like a, you know, grilled salmon fillet and then sweet potato and steamed vegetables. And then for dinner, do lower carb, more healthy fat.

Do an avocado, lots of fiber in there.

You could do olives, those sort of things. So get some healthy fats and fiber there, more steamed vegetables, organic meat like grass-fed burger.

If that is your diet you are promoting incredible healing. This is how the Blue Zones eat.

They're eating real food every single meal. High protein, high fiber, high nutrients. Now, the next habit, the number 5 habit that is destroying our health and our longevity, is being sleep deprived.

Sleep debt is one of the most pro-aging habits we have. But in modern life, 60% of U.S.

adults don't get enough sleep.

And sleeping less than 6 hours increases the risk of early death by 12%. Even 1 week of 4 to 5 hours of sleep lowers your blood sugar metabolism considerably, so creates insulin resistance. It leads to issues with overeating and weight gain. It also spikes inflammation and cortisol. In ancient times, elders took naps, slept with the sun, and protected rest like a sacred practice. Again, think about why did God create the sun coming up and going down? A part of it is for us to to live in rhythm with the earth and what was going on here. We should be doing everything we can to live in tune with nature. All right? So when the sun is going down, we should be going down.

When it's coming up, we should be coming up. Now listen, if you live in Alaska, certain other areas of the world, again, you're not gonna be doing it at the exact timing. Okay? But it's still a cue for knowing when you should be going up and when you should be coming down. What's happened today is we live in a country that really teaches us that we are producers. For a lot of us, we get our value, our sense of self-worth and identity from the more we get done, okay? Or for the busier we are. Busyness is artificial significance.

Busyness doesn't actually mean you are living your best life or you're being productive. Today, our focus on busyness and productivity means we treat sleep like some inconvenience instead of a biological requirement, and our bodies pay the price. Instead of aligning with these natural rhythms that God created, we fight them, and the result is chronic inflammation, hormone disruption, and accelerated aging. So you wanna do everything you can to get good quality sleep. It's really the time when you get plugged in and your body recharges.

It's the time when your body turns back the clock on aging.

It regenerates, your body heals.

If you are not sleeping well, you are not healing well, and you're aging your body.

You know, one of the things I encourage people to do is Write down what your biggest life priorities are, what matters most.

And when many of the people I care for do this, they're going to have things like my relationship with God, my family, my spouse, my kids.

I've always wanted to do this thing.

And they have some of those goals. And then of course, there's things like, you know, I want to pay off my home and I want to, you know, hit a certain pinnacle in my career. I mean, there's other things there too, but just make sure you write down these are the things that matter most in ranking order. And make sure you're giving the time to those things. You know, the, the, the famous psychologist, uh, Carl Jung, uh, basically said this. He said, you know, if you want to know what somebody truly believes, what they really, really believe deep down, it's not what they say that will tell you. It's what they do that will tell you. If you say, listen, my family is my greatest priority and spending time with my kids, But you spend hardly any time with your kids and you spend way more time working overtime and doing a number of things. It's not necessarily true. You typically have to sacrifice something for something else in order to help it flourish.

And so I would just be really conscious of— this is such a good exercise.

And I do this every year, by the way. I sit down in December and January and I look at this next year and I say, okay, did my priorities line up last year? Did I, did I start kind of weaving off and not spending enough time with God or my family or this mission, this thing that's important. I just start saying yes to too many things. And, um, and that's hard. You know, I, I get invited to a lot of speaking engagements, a lot of conferences, a lot of things, a lot of other podcasts I could travel for. And, um, I am incredibly selective beforehand. I say, okay, these are the trips I want to take with my girls and my family. These are the times, you know, I want to spend every morning, my first 30 minutes in the morning with God. I want, you know, I have some, some lines around the things that are most important to me and making sure that these outside things don't jump in and also that I have time to recharge my batteries.

So I want to encourage you to—

this is also why making sleep is a priority.

You know, have the time you want to go to bed and you want to wake up.

You want to be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night and also preparing your body to sleep.

There's a longevity expert And he said he noticed this, one of the biggest factors in being able to tell how slow you're aging is knowing what your HRV levels are.

That's your heart rate variability. And he said, I noticed that my HRV is the lowest when I focus on lowering my heart rate before bed. And he said, and I do this via meditation. And you can also do this by reading a spiritual growth book or your Bible, but it's kind of getting your body in a state where you're just kind of like reading and reading slowly. So not like, you know, reading through a novel or going quickly. It's really just sitting there and reading the Bible or meditating or doing something where you're just kind of like just chewing on something and you're moving slowly through something and going deep. And part of this will help you get deeper sleep. There's actually these connections between our mind and our spirit and our physiology, what happens in our body. So when you go slow and chew and meditate and connect with God in that way, um, it prepares your body for sleeping, going deep into this delta type of sleep. If you are watching a TV and you're seeing these frames go back and forth, or you're scrolling on social media, what that does in speeding up your brain in activity and hormones and activating things like cortisol is the exact opposite of melatonin, of what you need, which is secreting more melatonin. And so, um, that's going to help you get better sleep. Is sort of winding down, calming down, listening to an audiobook, not on 2x speed, 1x or slower, make sure it's slow, or meditating or reading something that spiritually you've sort of chewing on. That will help you get better sleep and help you grow. Number 6 issue that is destroying— the number 6 habit that is absolutely destroying our longevity today is being sedentary.

You know, back in biblical times, and even today in some countries, people walked all day because life required movement. We didn't have cars.

I know in writing the book, uh, The Biblio Diet, one of the things that I researched and looked into was how much did Jesus walk? And there was this historian who mapped out his walking. They said Jesus walked probably an average of 10 miles a day.

And he said some days he would walk possibly a marathon.

He said it happened a few times going from certain cities to certain cities.

And so we know historically people walked constantly all day long.

Today we walk very little, and there are studies showing that both 7,000 steps a day or 10,000 steps a day increases your longevity and your health. Today the average person is doing 3,000. So basically, here's how to make up for that 4,000. Take a meal, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and two of those go on a 15 to 20 minute walk. That will get you to that 7,000 threshold, okay? Increasing your walking by about 30 to 40 minutes a day.

So just getting out there and walking a little bit more does amazing things for your overall health.

Yeah.

Also, when we look at ancient people or even hunter-gatherers, people walked 4 to 7 miles every day just to find food and survive.

We saw historically so many professions were agriculturally related.

So people were farming and walking and you were going to the store, you were walking there.

People walked so much more.

Today, the average American walks only about 2 miles and it should be at least 5. Consistently being active and doing resistance training, is also great in other forms of activity.

In fact, there's studies showing that certain types of activity like tennis and badminton and pickleball and cycling and swimming and going out there and kicking a soccer ball, um, really promotes longevity in a powerful way. So getting in these habits, maybe it's pickleball once a week and weight training tight, uh, twice a week and getting on a spin bike or Peloton once a week, but sit down and really plan out what is your movement schedule and also say, okay, I'm gonna take I'm going to take, you know, one time a day, maybe it's your lunch break at work, and I'm going to go on a 20-minute walk during that break.

What a lot of people do is they just try and press through during their lunch break and even, and even work while they're eating.

That destroys your health. It destroys your longevity. You need to take breaks in order to be healthy, in order to recharge, in order to be mentally clear and your best.

You think you're doing yourself a favor. By continuing to work during your lunch break. No, now your mind is fuzzy.

It's not as active. You're not as productive. You're not as creative. And so it actually hurts you in the long run. There's books on this. There's a great book called The Powerful Engagement, and they walk through multiple studies that show that if you rest and take breaks and work 40 hours a week rather than 60 hours a week, you are more productive, more creative, and get more done.

And when you look at these blue zones, people aren't going to the gym and hitting these big, you know, dumbbells and barbells.

Bells every day.

They're cycling, they're walking up and down hills a lot. They're just very physically active throughout the day. Movement tells your body, stay young. Sedentary living and sitting tells your body, shut down, you're aging. Typically, the more you move, the better.

Now listen, there's about 2% of you out there that are going to go and, oh, you overtrain, and that's aging you, especially when you're doing things like, you know, really intense exercises that are hard on the joints over time and you go till failure. Like CrossFit, some of these things, that actually is aging your joints. Doing a lot of long-distance triathlons or marathons, there are exercises that age you too much. So you can, but listen, that's only about 2% of people that are doing that level of overtraining. Most of us need to move more.

Hey, if you want practical, science-backed guidance for living a healthier, longer, more vibrant life, you need to check out the Biohack It podcast. It is hosted by my good friend Iman Hassan, and it brings a thoughtful, compassionate perspective to wellness that so many women have been looking for. Every week, Iman breaks down the latest research in longevity, hormones, and metabolic health in a way that's clear and easy to understand, leads to important conversations around women's health, fertility, and the steps women can take to protect their energy, balance their hormones, and support long-term well-being. She talks with top doctors, scientists, and health experts about natural healing, nutrition, lifestyle choices, that make a real difference and sits down with entrepreneurs and thought leaders to explore how they stay strong, grounded, and resilient in their personal lives and their work. If you want a show that speaks directly to health challenges women are navigating today while offering hope, clarity, and real solutions, tune in to Biohack It every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts. It is one of the most educational and uplifting shows in the wellness space, and I think you're going to love it.

The number 7 bad habit that is destroying our health is lack of sunshine and spending too much time inside.

You know, humans were designed to live outside farming, walking long distances, tending and caring for animals, gathering food, praying, cooking, working in natural light. For almost all of human history, people spent spent 70 to 90% of their waking hours outdoors.

I want you to think about that—

70 to 90%. Now today, the average adult spends 90% of their life indoors. That shift alone is one of the most underestimated aging accelerators in modern society. Studies show people who spend more time outdoors benefit from improved immune function, stronger bones, better sleep quality, healthier mood regulation, and even a sharper brain. Listen, in order to make a big difference in your health, you don't need to just like set up shop and be outside all day.

Now, for some of you, that would be great, but really, in one study, 1.5 hours a day of time outside total, just 1.5 hours, 90 minutes a day outside, and having some sun exposure with that was associated with lower rates of depression and overall better brain function, better organ function, better healing, better longevity.

You know, getting sunlight is really a non-negotiable for long-term health.

It anchors your circadian rhythms, which balances cortisol and melatonin. Listen, cortisol is your master hormone. When cortisol is regulated, it helps balance insulin, it helps balance estrogen, it helps balance testosterone, and it helps balance all of your thyroid hormones. All of those come into balance better when cortisol is balanced. Also, this red light you get from the sun powers up your mitochondria through infrared wavelengths.

It also boosts serotonin during the day and helps convert melatonin at night. So, so this is really important. So you'll just notice, right?

I was talking to a friend of mine, one of my best friends, and his wife is from, uh, is, is, uh, Filipino and she loves the sun. And so every winter, you know, she, and this is a lot of people, especially if you grew up in California or Florida or or, you know, the Caribbean and other areas, and then you move north and you're just not used to it, a lot of people get this low-grade seasonal affective disorder depression throughout these winter months.

I can tell you, growing up in Ohio, we used to joke around.

It's like, okay, once you reach the fall through winter, it's just gray, gray clouds sitting over the area. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee now, and so for me now, you know, somebody was complaining about some of the raininess and grayness here now. And I'm like, listen, um, Nashville, we still get pops of sunshine throughout the whole winter. It'll jump up in the 50s or 60s a few days. We'll get outside.

You get a break. Listen, if you're living in Minnesota or Connecticut or Michigan or Ohio or some of these areas, you know, I, I'm sorry, you don't get sun for sometimes months and months at a time. So all that being said, you want to do everything you can to get outside when you can, when the sun's out. And if you can't get some sunshine, try and get a red light panel, do everything you can to get more good But again, the, the moral of the story is this: sunshine is critical for your health. It stimulates vitamin D production, which helps boost your immune system.

It promotes longevity.

It is so important. And because of indoor living, vitamin D deficiency now affects between 40 and 75% of Americans.

Listen, it's at least 75%. Okay. A lot of times when they use these markers, they're saying just above 30 in terms of the number of vitamin D. And when we're looking at a blood, blood work, work, your numbers should be at least 50+. Um, and, and so 75% of Americans, 3 out of every 4, are vitamin D deficient, which is pushing them towards being more inflamed, insulin resistance, weakened immune response, and, and pretty much every issue under the sun when you think about what vitamin D deficiency causes, you know.

So you want to do everything you can to get those levels up, and just spending more time outside will make such a big difference.

In fact, adults with very low vitamin D D have a 25% higher risk of all-cause death. And so really getting more vitamin D, what that does for promoting longevity is so incredibly powerful.

And if you have kids, this is great for kids too.

You know, one of the things that Chelsea and I invested in the, uh, this, these, this past, uh, year is we bought a really big playset for our kids, a swing set, uh, which has like a, you know, a slide and, and swings. We also got a, a trampoline for outside cuz we said we wanna do everything we can to get our girls outside as much as we possibly could. And we also got a swimming pool. Now, listen, not everybody is in that financial position to be able to get some of these things for your kids. But I will say this, do what you can.

Look on Facebook Marketplace, look on eBay. You know, you could probably find a used trampoline on there, a used playset. Do everything you can for you. And if you have kids to spend out as much time outside as possible, go on family walks. Because your health depends on it.

Your kids' health depends upon it.

All studies show across the board, when kids get outside, it's better for ADHD, it's better for recovery from sports, it's better for just their character, for their growth and focus.

And so do everything you can to get you and your family outside more as a daily habit.

Now I wanna go through a bonus habit here that's hurting a lot of people and they don't realize it, and it's wearing AirPods.

Now I wanna mention this. I had a short time where I were, were, were, was wearing AirPods. Because I didn't believe that if I was just doing it an hour or so a day would be that big of a deal. I then read a study and I saw the amount of radiation that the Bluetooth, when it's that close to your head, does. And so now when I'm on a phone, I'm always wearing an actual something that plugs in. It's this, uh, you know, uh, rubber cable Bose headset that goes directly into my ears from my phone. So there's no Bluetooth radiation that I'm being exposed to. And so this is something there.

So just listen, there are little habits like that.

Here's another one, getting a water filter, a Berkey, a ROAR reverse osmosis, and just filtering your water.

But getting off AirPods, getting clean water, going on more walks.

What I want to encourage you to do right now is write down what are those habits you need to quit and what are those habits you need to start implementing here so you can have your healthiest and best year ever?

Listen, longevity isn't luck. It's your daily habits casting votes for the future you want. As Aristotle said, you are what you repeatedly do. You become your habits. You know, 100-year-olds in Sardinia and Okinawa, they're not superhuman. There's not this massive genetic benefit of being from Japan.

They have better habits than most Americans do, and they're simply living in rhythm. With how the body was designed, being connected to the earth, living in tune with, with, with God's design.

They're moving, they're connecting, they're eating real food, enjoying the sun, and waking up with purpose.

Here's your challenge.

Pick one of the 7 aging habits and replace it with the healthier version today.

So here are your action steps, a few you might consider.

Take a 15-minute sun walk every day. Call someone instead of scrolling. Add 20 grams of protein to breakfast. Learn a new skill for 10 minutes a day, or simply learn by listening to a new podcast, a YouTube video, reading a book, doing something to grow. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier. Think about what is one or more of these habits you're going to implement so you can have your best year ever. I want to say thanks so much for tuning here into the Dr. Josh Axe Show.

Where each and every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level.

By the way, the number one thing you can do to support the show is subscribe.

You know, we cover very controversial topics here, like, like a few weeks ago when we had Dr. Peter McCullough on, we've got Dr. Robert Malone on, we've talked about cancer a lot.

These episodes get shadowbanned.

If you're not subscribed. If you're subscribed, you'll get access to all of these. By the way, we've got massive giveaways this year. If you're subscribed, some of you are going to be automatically entered into some of the giveaways.

So again, subscribe. By the way, subscribing also allows the show to grow.

We saw incredible growth last year thanks to you and your subscribers out there. You know, it allows me to bring in more, you know, well-known, uh, doctors and health experts and leaders and pastors and people that are going to help take your health to the next level.

So thank you, all of you, for subscribing, leaving reviews on Apple and Spotify.

Thank you for that.

And thank you, all of you, for sharing. There are millions of people that don't know about these habits.

We can help transform so many lives when they know about habits that heal and promote longevity. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you on the next episode.