Secrets of Aging Well: Get Outside is not just a book about hiking.
It’s about longevity, healthcare, fitness, brain health, stress reduction, aging well, and yes, it’s in the context of hiking 100,000,000 uphill steps on seven continents over 50 years. It’s how I discovered that hiking is the Fountain of Youth, the best possible preventive healthcare, and why it can be so powerfully life changing.
My wish is that this book will inspire you to be proactive about taking better care of yourself. I want you to take charge of the way you age and make yourself more resistant to physical and cognitive decline. I want you to be better able to fight off sickness and recover faster if you should become sick. And I want to motivate you to share these ideas and advice broadly with your family and friends, and especially your parents. I hope my words will inspire you in many ways.
I’ve organized the book into four sections where I explain what I’ve seen and learned. My goal is to be your guide as you start your own journey to fitness. You can leave behind any trepidation or fear of the unknown as you take the first step on this unknown trail. I’ll be with you to point out hazards as well as the beauty around us. For those of you who are already “gym fit” but are ready for a change, I’ll show you what you’ve been missing and how much fun you’re going to have outside.
SECTION 1
The Fountain of Youth
1: Everything Starts with a Single Step
First Steps.
Moving Forward
2: I’ve Been Down, But I Got Up
I Rediscover Hiking
3: Hiking is the Fountain of Youth
What Makes Hiking the Fountain of Youth?
4: Change Your Thinking: You’re Not Old.
Changed Thinking Changes Behavior
Living with Longevity
5: Longevity Changes the Retirement Equation
Longevity Changes the Equation
Reboot Yourself
Why You Shouldn’t Retire Young
Reasons to Keep Going
Change Your Future.
SECTION 2
Lessons Learned Over 100,000,000 Uphill Steps
6: An Inactive, Sedentary, Unfit, Aging Population
Innovation?
Metabolic Syndrome Is Rampant
Obesity Reaches Epidemic Levels
Dementia Risk
Excessive Stress Abounds
A Pill for Everything
7: Way, Way Upstream Preventive HealthCare
Very Troubling Statistics
What Enhanced Fitness Prevents: Heart Disease, Hypertension, Cancer, Diabetes, Flu / Pneumonia, Sarcopenia, Falls
The Uphill Cure
8: Fitness is Medicine
Fitness Gives Your Immune System a Boost
Fit People Are Healthier in General, Live Longer, Have Bigger Brains
It’s Never Too Late to Start
Live Long, Die Fast
9: Unplug to Find the JOBO
Forget FOMO … Seek JOBO
Mindfulness
Be Present.
SECTION 3
The Fitness You Can’t Get in a Gym
10: There’s Something About Mountains
How I Fell in Love with the Mountains
I Really Do Love Mountains
So, I Became a Mountaineer
11: Stretch Your Comfort Zone
Comfort Zones Are a Trap
Comfort Zones: Big versus Small
Pushing Past Your Comfort Zone
12: Find Your Own Peak
Finding My Peak
Finding Your Peak
13: Hiking Puts the Brain First
Hiking and the Brain
Perspective and Vision
14: Can’t I Just Join a Gym?
Gyms and the Fitness Business
Re-Engineering the Fitness Business.
SECTION 4
Get Outside
15. Start with a Walk
Getting Started Is Simple
Get Outside
Walking Plus
Strategies to Keep at It
16. Head for the Hills
The Steps You Take
What to Take
Start with Short Hikes
Getting Uphill
17: Get Higher
New Skills You Need
A Few Extras I’ve Learned Through the Years
Taking it to the Next Level
18: The Crucible of the Mountains
Crucibles
Learn to Love the Uneven Terrain of Life
Get Used to the False Summits
Mental Strength
Self-Reliance
19: Always Seeking Another Summit
My Everest Crucible
Epilogue.