Is Low Energy Really Just a Pitfall of Advancing Years?

At a certain point in the Western world, it can feel like your doctor has given up on finding solutions for the creaks and strains your body experiences with growing frequency as you age.

Have you ever heard your doctor say, “Ah, yes, that’ll be happening more now that you’re over 40”? Or worse, have you ever made an appointment concerning a vague set of symptoms (fatigue, poor sleep, loss of drive, low libido) and been advised by your doctor to just…

Get used to it? This is life when you’re over the hill.

If we didn’t have the internet, and air travel, and global television, we might be able to swallow that explanation and spend half of our lives in an energy decline, kicking ourselves for wasting the energy of our youths while we had it.

But thankfully, we do have those things.

And so we know that there are plenty of places around the world where aging isn’t the same as convalescing – places where the medical traditions and the citizens believe that feeling low on energy is the body’s warning sign that it isn’t firing on all cylinders.

That in fact, you should be alarmed if there’s no pep in your step, if you sleep through ten alarms in the morning, if you can’t make it through the day without dosing yourself with coffee. 

Because those symptoms are harbingers of future doom – low energy in your body means the systems that power you and protect aren’t getting the energy they need to do their jobs, leaving you susceptible not only to an under-satisfying life but to disease and degeneration.

Let’s take a look at some of the places in the world where aging and exhaustion aren’t mutually exclusive…

Japan

According to the World Health Organization, folks in Japan typically live up to 85 years old, and up to 75 without major health concerns or disabilities.

Contributing factors, experts say, are increased physical activity, a diet with more whole foods, and, somewhat surprisingly, continuing to work past retirement. 

The physical activity they’re talking about isn’t the same as the way we think of physical activity. It’s not that more Japanese people hit the gym to become hard bodies – they walk more. The cost of owning a car in Japan can be prohibitively expensive, and public transportation is very accessible, which means Japanese citizens tend to trudge more than drive. 

Interestingly, some Japanese regions were seeing earlier mortality rates in the ‘80s. When health officials investigated, they found that people who lived in harsher climates were eating too many pickled vegetables to make it through the winter – which meant way too much salt.

But they got ahead of the problem, and now Japanese citizens can expect to age with energy and vitality.

Costa Rica

Costa Ricans avoid processed food for the most part, but the secret to their longevity goes a little bit deeper. They get most of their calories from squash, corn, beans, tropical fruits, and other plant-based foods. 

And, possibly due to the weather and the remoteness of a lot of Costa Rican life, they spend a lot of time moving around outdoors, getting sufficient vitamin D, and unplanned exercise. 

Even those in lower socio-economic groups have access to clean, whole foods and have more leisure time to spend moving. The average life expectancy in Costa Rica is 79 years old. 

Singapore

On average, Singaporeans don’t start experiencing aches and pains associating with accompanying 65 year olds until they’re 76. 

Part of their success is definitely due to their stellar healthcare system, which ranks 6th in the world. It’s a blend of the private system the U.S. uses and the public system of most developed nations. Chronic disease management begins much earlier as a result. 

Plus, their public health initiatives are pretty advanced. The country uses its Healthier Dining Program to make healthier meals more cost effective than unhealthy meals, and it even encourages exercise through a national step-counting competition, whereby citizens can win prizes for increasing the time they spend walking!

Greece

Greece (and regions of Italy, and parts of France) have an impressive lifespan, and a significantly longer portion of life without illness, due to the Mediterranean diet – lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, potatoes, and olive oil, with some fish and poultry mixed in. 

In some areas of Greece, like Ikaria, residents can expect to live well into their 90s. 

Not to mention, of course, they stay active – more walking than driving, and more prolonged daily activity than intermittent short bursts of activity. 

This list is hardly exhaustive – Monaco, Switzerland, China, Thailand, Georgia, and other countries all share diets and habits in common that boost the longevity of their citizens.

But it isn’t only about longevity. Living to 90 is only worth so much if you’re spending the last 40 years of your life unable to live it. 

We don’t want to live longer so we can sit in a chair from 70 until we die, only able to be active for a few hours a day. We want to live longer so we can live longer.

That’s what we set out to address in our brand-new, 7-week long, 1-hour-per-week, Energy Reset Masterclass.

Aging is not a low-energy death sentence. And the leading industry experts who lend their wisdom to this course bring new science to the West so that we might spend our golden years with as much energy as we had in our childhoods

It’s not a myth – countries all over the world boast active and engaged older populations. The problem is, we think we’re supposed to be tired, so we don’t do anything to repair our energy, starting at the cellular level.

If you want to learn how to recharge your energy so you can still climb mountains in your sixties, spend 7 weeks learning the science of energy and apply what you learn to your own life. 

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Dr. Pedram Shojai

NY Times Best Selling author and film maker. Taoist Abbot and Qigong master. Husband and dad. I’m here to help you find your way and be healthy and happy. I don’t want to be your guru…just someone who’ll help point the way. If you’re looking for a real person who’s done the work, I’m your guy. I can light the path and walk along it with you but can’t walk for you.