#232 – Riding The Age Wave with Maddy Dychtwald

Maddy Dychtwald [00:00:41]:
Okay, so I have been on this beat of aging, longevity and retirement for close to 40 years, believe it or not. So if you do the math, you’ll figure out I’m 74 years old. I have been digging deep into the subject as co founder of Agewave. We do research and consulting on aging, retirement, longevity, and what do they mean for us individually and as a society? And for various companies, like, how is it going to impact their business? So that’s been our mission, and for a long, long time, that’s been our mission. And along the way, through the research we’ve done, we’ve had the amazing opportunity to interview the top experts in science and physicians in academ. We really have had the opportunity to interact with them and find out what they’re really, what their insider secrets are. And in fact, that’s what inspired me to write Ageless Aging. I felt like, oh, I have all this insider secrets, if you will, that the world wants to know.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:01:54]:
Like, what do I do personally to live better, longer? And by the way, Wes, that is a question I get all the time.

Wes Moss [00:02:02]:
All right, well, let’s start there. What do I do better? I want to know, by the way. So this is a podcast, but if you, if you were to meet Maddie in person, the fact that Maddie is 74, whatever Maddie is doing, we all want to be doing. And unless you’re just blessed with the most amazing genes of all time, but you’ve basically not aged. Is that fair? It doesn’t even seem fair. Or are you just listening to the research? Are you just listening to what you guys do at Age Wave?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:02:30]:
Okay, well, let’s begin by making one fact really clear. Science used to tell us, and so you’re right about that, that 70% of our health and well being was up to our genetics. So genetics were our destiny. So we had absolutely no control. It was like, whatever. However, the most recent science tells us a completely different story. Out of Calico Labs which is owned by Alphabet. Calico Labs did some research and they found out that up to 90% of our health and our well being has to do with both our lifestyle and our environment.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:03:12]:
So the script has completely flipped. We are in charge of our own health and wellbeing. And you know in some ways that it’s a double edged sword that’s like scary to a lot of people. It’s like, oh, damn, I’m responsible.

Wes Moss [00:03:28]:
Shoot. Yeah, it’s almost like a nice cop out. You’re right. Because. So, Maddie, I guess I’ve gotten mixed messaging around that exact fundamental question where I’ve had people here on this show say that 60% of longevity is your genes.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:03:45]:
Not anymore.

Wes Moss [00:03:45]:
Okay, so that’s old school. That’s wrong.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:03:48]:
Yeah, that is wrong. But let me put a caveat to that. If you’re over the age of 85, then genetics start to play much larger role. So, yeah, after age 85, but up until then, sorry, we have agency over our health and wellbeing. And by the way, finances play a huge role in that.

Wes Moss [00:04:10]:
Okay, so tell me about, so Calico as an example, are they an example of somebody you partner with at Agewave?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:04:16]:
That’s right. Well, we have not even partnered with them. This is like, go to their website, take a look online, you’re going to see that. That’s what they say. So this is common, available knowledge to each and every one of us.

Wes Moss [00:04:30]:
All right, so I’m going to tear up. I don’t have the sounder for this, but I’m tearing up and I’m throwing the old idea that we don’t have a lot of say so in our aging. You’re saying we do.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:04:43]:
Oh, yeah.

Wes Moss [00:04:43]:
By the way, back 40 years when you were starting this, how well received, accepted was the aging side, the wellness, the health span side of retirement planning, or is it still so nascent? I don’t remember 40 years ago. I started almost 30 years ago. I don’t remember hearing much about that at all.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:05:02]:
No, people were not talking about it. In fact, many people referred to Age Wave as the Paul Reveres of aging. Because what we were trying to do was literally plant seeds that. And it was a pretty basic Wes. I mean, back then 50 was considered over the hill. And I don’t think we even think that way anymore, which is great news. That means that Agewave has done their job. We went out to corporate America because we figured, let’s start with those people who are impacting the marketing messages that we’re getting.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:05:36]:
And we told Them. There’s a new story out here. 50 isn’t what it used to. Those people have money, they’re active, they’re energetic, and they’re not necessarily brand loyal. So wake up, smell the roses, and get out there and start to reach out to people in their 50s, 60s, and beyond. And that was our basic message, and frankly, I think it was pretty well received.

Wes Moss [00:06:02]:
Okay, so maybe let’s start with healthcare.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:06:04]:
Okay.

Wes Moss [00:06:05]:
Healthcare and healthcare. I think that the mindset around healthcare has started to shift at least a little bit to wellness, holistic prevention. But that’s still pretty early in the. It is, I think it’s in the early innings with that.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:06:20]:
You’re right.

Wes Moss [00:06:21]:
Where do you think we are as a country when it comes to healthcare and why is it failing?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:06:26]:
Okay, so when we talk about healthcare, we’re talking about the healthcare system, and as you alluded to very nicely in the nicest way possible, that primarily it’s a sick care system. We take care of people when they get sick, and we do a relatively decent job of that, although not the best job that could be done. But that’s where we put our emphasis and our resources. But if we were to shift some of that to the preventative side and we talk prevention, we say the words, but we don’t necessarily reinforce the actions. And some of the actions are not very complicated. And that’s a lot of what I wrote about in ageless aging. I mean, I interviewed all these people who were the cutting edge experts, and what I realized was, oh, my God, there is literally a holistic recipe for living better, longer. That is really.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:07:30]:
It can change your life. And some of the ingredients don’t have to cost a penny. And that’s pretty cool, I think.

Wes Moss [00:07:36]:
Okay, so give us then a little bit of a taste of what we would find in ageless. Is it. I know that you talk about. There’s, there’s, there’s something, there’s. Part of this is nutrition. I know that you’re. You think sugar is probably like the, like a poison, which is. I kind of feel that way too.

Wes Moss [00:07:56]:
I feel like sugar.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:07:57]:
Well, it’s not really very good for you.

Wes Moss [00:08:00]:
Tell us a little bit about what were some of the big ahas in ageless aging from a health perspective.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:08:06]:
Okay. So there’s some things that are surprising and some things that are not surprising. But big picture, it’s not just about one thing. It’s about this holistic recipe. And I’ll tell you some of the ingredients in a minute. But what’s super cool is that these different ingredients, they don’t stand in silos independently. So change your diet and then suddenly you may be sleeping better. And sleep is a key ingredient.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:08:34]:
You may have more energy to have exercise in your life. Another key ingredient. You may have more time and energy to get out there and socialize because social connections are a huge part of it. And your whole mindset, the way you think about your own aging and aging in general may begin to shift and become, hey, this isn’t so bad at all. In fact, it’s pretty great. And they all impact each other. There’s a kind of ripple effect. And as I mentioned earlier, finances are part of that recipe because if you don’t have your financial house in order, your cortisol levels go up, which is that means your anxiety levels are higher, your financial peace of mind goes down.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:09:21]:
That impacts, it can actually affect your ability to stave off diseases like cancer and heart disease. And it just really impacts your mindset. You begin to think more negatively about your own aging. And frankly, mindset is a huge part of really aging more agelessly.

Wes Moss [00:09:45]:
You know, I think that that is what is unique about ageless aging. And the way your perspective on this, and I’ve interviewed, I don’t know, a hundred plus people here, but I think that the way you think of it is a, it’s almost a stacking effect where it’s not, of course, it’s never one thing. Right. But I’ve thought of aging well is a bunch of positive things you introduce and some of the negatives you take away.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:10:13]:
Right. Which is a good way to look at it.

Wes Moss [00:10:15]:
However, what you’re saying makes even more sense because it really a healthy mindset and let’s say lower stress makes it so that it’s easier to exercise, easier to socialize, easier to do these things. So it’s really like almost like this cumulative impact of doing these things together.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:10:35]:
That’s exactly right. You 100% get it. And then there’s some surprises even in the ones like, yeah, I know nutrition really matters, but you know, so we know, get rid of the ultra processed foods and even the seed oils, because they’re definitely not good for you. I mean, that’s a pretty easy thing to do, let’s be honest about it. But also, you know, eating, eating, the more, you know, eating, eating the rainbow is what I say in my book Ageless Aging. And the reason I say that it’s no, it’s not Froot Loops that are colorful, but they’re banned, by the way.

Wes Moss [00:11:13]:
There’s A ban on Toucan Sam in Cali. Right. There’s no more Fruit Loops.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:11:18]:
Well deserved band.

Wes Moss [00:11:21]:
There’s a. I did a. I did a whole show segment on the banning of Froot Loops.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:11:26]:
You know what? I’m in favor of it. You know, sorry, Kellogg’s.

Wes Moss [00:11:31]:
So I have four kids and there is nothing like seeing your kids sit down. Particularly if you’re traveling. You go to one of these hotels and you do the buffet and it’s literally what you’ve got is Captain Crunch and you have Fruit Loops and you might as well just eat a Snickers bar for breakfast. Right?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:11:51]:
Exactly.

Wes Moss [00:11:52]:
Might as well just became just. I’m like, just guys just go get a Milky Way for. Why even eat Froot Loops? Just do the real thing. Get like a Reese’s, get a Snickers bar for breakfast. Same thing, isn’t it?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:12:05]:
I would say that they’re very similar. I mean, they have a similar impact on your body. But one of the things that I learned. Now we all have heard of intermittent fasting. Everybody’s talking about it. It’s so super cool. But I went right to the source, to Dr. Valter Longo, who is the pioneer behind the whole concept of intermittent fasting.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:12:29]:
Super smart. And just. Anyway, he said to me, oh, no, no, no. And he’s Italian, so I can’t even imitate his accent, but it was very cute. And he said, oh, no, no, no. The biohackers have it all wrong. Don’t go 16, 18 hours. It’s actually bad.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:12:47]:
Hard on your system, hard on your kidneys. No, especially for women. What you want to do is you want to go 12 to 13 hours without eating. So after dinner, don’t eat until, say you finished dinner at 8 at night. Don’t eat breakfast till 8 in the next morning. Now that’s not so hard to do.

Wes Moss [00:13:04]:
It’s not hard at all. I feel like I do that. I accidentally do intermittent fasting every day.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:13:09]:
I think a lot of us do. But he did say a couple other things that I thought were really interesting. He said, but be sure to finish eating dinner at least three hours before you go to sleep. And that too, it’s like simple, okay, yeah, I don’t wanna be digesting my food while my body is trying to sleep. That makes super sense. And then he also said something that my grandmother used to tell me, and that is breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I was surprised to hear that because all these biohackers are saying, no, I don’t eat until 3:00 in the afternoon.

Wes Moss [00:13:44]:
I’m in the south, right. So I don’t know if we’re six months behind California or we, you know, like six years, maybe we are like a decade. So I don’t know any biohackers. When I read the Wall Street Journal and I read about biohacker, they’re from California.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:14:02]:
Yeah, mostly they are.

Wes Moss [00:14:03]:
Catch my audience.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:14:04]:
They’re mostly men too.

Wes Moss [00:14:05]:
Okay, so it’s wealthy men that are biohacking. And once in a while you read about like a, you know, a billionaire that’s trying to cryo freeze and, you know, live to 200. Tell us a little bit about the biohacking craze because my audience, I don’t think fully knows how to describe it.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:14:25]:
Okay, so there is. And you kind of describe them effectively. So I, I don’t want to offend anyone, but it’s generally men who are very affluent who are very motivated to live longer. They want to extend their lifespan. And then many of the more evolved thinking is that not only do I want to live longer, but I also want to increase my health span so the number of healthy years that I live. Because on average, in the United States, this is an average. We spend the last 12 years of our life in a cascade of bad health things like arthritis or cancer or heart disease, things you don’t want to get. So they’re like, trying to make sure they don’t get those things.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:15:17]:
But more than anything, they want to live to 100, 120. They see life extension as being their reality. So they’re willing to experiment with things that are still experimental in terms of drugs and supplements and exercise physiology and nutritional supplements, the whole thing. They’re willing to spend a good deal of their life both researching and experimenting with these things, some of which are really smart and very helpful. Let me give you an example for ageless aging. I interviewed a doctor from the Mayo Clinic who is on the cutting edge of a lot of the FDA clinical trials that are going on right now with sinalytics and sinolytics are a group of either supplements or drugs that are already approved, frankly, that are being used off label to try to extend lifespan and. Or healthspan. And there’s some that are really terrific and there’s others that are just not well tested for lifespan extension.

Wes Moss [00:16:36]:
All right, so give us an example a little bit. I mean, my audience is like, okay.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:16:40]:
What are you talking about?

Wes Moss [00:16:41]:
These California people are may, or maybe they’re crazy, but they’re maybe onto something. So Tell me.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:16:46]:
Okay, well, there is a drug that is called Metformin that, that a lot of the biohackers are using. It’s. I wouldn’t say common knowledge, but people know about it. I’ve read about it.

Wes Moss [00:16:57]:
Yeah.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:16:57]:
Yeah. I mean, it’s. It’s pretty well known. That’s why I mention it. And Metformin has been approved for diabetes. It’s been around forever, but it has never been because it’s been around for a long time. Never tested on women, so that’s something to keep in mind. I, of course, wanted to try it, so I went to my doctor, I said, hey, wanna try this? And she’s like, no, it’s never been tested on women.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:17:24]:
But okay, if you really wanna do it, go for it and we’ll just keep testing you. Well, I got really sick from it within two weeks. My whole digestive system went into chaos. And so obviously I stopped. But so the point is that it’s experimental if you’re using it off label. I don’t have diabetes, so I was using it off label.

Wes Moss [00:17:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. So what is your perspective from whether it’s biohacking, which is more cutting edge versus understanding, let’s say, more traditional things that we do know that are better for us, but then really putting them together and making sure that they cumulatively increase our health span. Where do you come down on that?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:18:10]:
Okay, I come somewhere in the middle. But keep in mind that my book was published. Ageless Aging was published by the Mayo Clinic Press. So they made me go through not just an editorial review, but a medical editorial review with three different high level physicians there. So they wouldn’t let me include anything that was so controversial that it would get them in trouble or me in trouble. So that’s where I went with this book. But it does include some things that maybe are a little not so traditional, like, like infrared saunas, which are becoming pretty mainstream, but they have great impact on our health and well being. It really fights inflammation.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:18:58]:
It helps you stay feeling good, it lowers our stress levels. I mean, these are good things. We know that. Cryotherapy.

Wes Moss [00:19:07]:
Yeah, that was my next question. Is cryo.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:19:09]:
Yeah, it’s good for you. I mean, it may feel like a crazy thing to do, but it’s been shown to fight inflammation. And inflammation inflammaging, as they would call it, is one of the hallmarks of aging. And by the way, I think it’s one of the most important ones that we can focus on because if we can lower our inflammation levels, we’re going to live better. Longer. Not just longer, but better.

Wes Moss [00:19:39]:
If you’ve ever done a Jane Fonda workout or if you remember as a kid, Rocky running the steps, and if Michael keaton is still Mr. Mom to you, then guess what? It’s officially time to do some retirement planning. It’s Wes Moss from Money Matters. Weren’t those the good old days? Well, with a little bit of retirement planning, there are plenty of good days ahead. Schedule an appointment with our team today@yourwealth.com that’s y o u r yourwealth.com so if I think about inflammation, let’s go back to sugar. And what other things from a dietary perspective do you really believe in that are anti inflammatory? Which is kind of the really, you could say if there’s one major enemy with aging, is it not inflammation?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:20:32]:
Well, there are others, but inflammation is a big one. And I have a personal story about that. I, I actually was having terrible hip pain a couple years back, like a bunch of years back, like five years back. And I tried everything. I tried PRP treatments again, another cutting edge thing. Worked for a while, but only for a few months. Then went more traditional cortisone. But I’m a big exerciser and I was experiencing horrible pain in my hips.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:21:04]:
Finally, my son turned to me and he said, mom, get yourself to the doctor. Get an MRI. You look like you’re 100 years old and the way you’re moving. So I did. The doctor told me you are bone on bone in both hips. You were born with hip dysplasia. It’s amazing that it didn’t show up until now. So you need to get a double hip replacement.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:21:27]:
And I’m, you know, literally I was, I was like an emotional wreck because of it, but finally got myself together enough to say, okay, so what would you do if you were me? That’s my favorite line as it’s through a doctor. Yeah.

Wes Moss [00:21:42]:
What did he say? What did the doctor say?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:21:43]:
Well, he said I’d get a double hip replacement and I’d do it as fast as I can. And here’s who you ought to go to because he’s got like a factory. This is all he does is hip replacement. So I did, I went to the guy who, yeah, that’s all he does. But he was very busy. He couldn’t see me for three months in terms of getting the surgery. So I said to him, well, what should I do in the meantime? And he goes, well, maybe you should think about getting a cane. And I’m like, no, no, that’s not going to go over big.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:22:11]:
When I go to the gym, I can’t do that. So. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting a cane if you need it, but I didn’t feel like I was there. And so I reached out to my network people like Mark Hyman and Andy Weil, and I said, hey, what should I do? What should I do? And a lot of other people and I determined that one of the key pieces. And they gave me a few pieces of advice. Do some affirmations, start meditating, change your exerc your gene slightly, actually increase it, but make it a little less, a little gentler and go on an anti inflammatory diet. And I’m like, I eat really healthy. What do you mean? And this is what they told me.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:22:56]:
Just cut out gluten, cut out dairy and cut out sugar as much as you can because you can’t cut out all sugar. It’s impossible. It’s in everything. So I did and an amazing thing happened. Within six weeks, all the pain in my hips went away. All of it. And like, so I didn’t need the surgery. I still got it because I was bone on bone.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:23:23]:
But.

Wes Moss [00:23:23]:
But it’s still. But your pain went away.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:23:26]:
My pain went completely away. I mean, that’s a radical transformation. And when I tell people that, they like roll their eyes. Oh, like I don’t believe that, but it’s true. I mean, that is what happened. And not only that, the orthopedic surgeon said to me, okay, you’re going to be in the hospital probably five days. You’re going to be home like using a cane or a walker, probably a month, you know, just get that in your head. And I’m like, no, I don’t think I’m going to get that in my head.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:23:56]:
So they won’t let you get out of the hospital until you can walk stairs. And somebody told me something amazing. They said, if you can walk up one stair, you can walk up a. So I was out of the hospital in a day and that felt really good because I got to go home where I have tons of stairs.

Wes Moss [00:24:16]:
So you have both hips replaced?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:24:18]:
Both hips.

Wes Moss [00:24:19]:
And you were in your, this is your late 60s.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:24:23]:
I was 68.

Wes Moss [00:24:24]:
Both hips. However, you had already started. So this is what. So I’m thinking, yeah, I did something.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:24:31]:
Called pre covery and I don’t think I invented that term, but I talk about it and I went into a very heavy, a couple months in advance pre recovery program, which, you know, the anti inflammatory diet was A big part of it.

Wes Moss [00:24:45]:
So, Maddie, you weren’t already. I’m thinking about your diet anyway and your focus on health. Didn’t you think you were already doing something that is somewhat anti inflammatory or were you missing some pieces?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:24:58]:
I haven’t eaten meat in 40 years. And by the way, I. To anyone who’s thinking, oh, should I cut meat out of my diet? Not necessarily. Just be sure that you’re eating pasture raised meat. Organic meat is really the best way to go. And it’s worth the extra money so you don’t have to cut that out. All I was eating was burgers and hot dogs, so I figured better stop. So I did.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:25:24]:
I eat a lot of fish, I eat a lot of plants, a lot of veggies. I eat the rainbow. But I wasn’t necessarily cutting out gluten or dairy and I was minimizing sugar for sure.

Wes Moss [00:25:40]:
But getting rid of gluten and dairy was kind of the final big step.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:25:44]:
To get it was the dairy. It’s not like I’m lactate intolerant, but it had some kind of an impact on me. And from what I understand about the gluten, it wasn’t the gluten per se, but it’s the way it’s processed in the United States that really makes a difference.

Wes Moss [00:26:02]:
Tell us about the rainbow. Describe to the audience. Tell us about the rainbow.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:26:06]:
Okay. It’s really simple. And by the way, let’s keep things as simple as possible. We don’t have to make everything so complicated that you’re like, oh, boy, how am I gonna ever do that? Okay, it’s eating fruits, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and fresh whole grains. Easy, not hard to do at all. And a variety, you know, in ageless aging, I talk about, you know, specifics, what each fruit or vegetable or whole grain can actually do to your body. But, you know, try to mix it up, you know, eat a rainbow salad.

Wes Moss [00:26:41]:
Maddie, though, when it comes to grains, this has always confusing me a little bit. Isn’t grain, though, wheat and gluten?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:26:49]:
Yeah, there is a lot of it, but there’s some that are not. Quinoa is definitely not. Not wheat. That’s definitely not wheat. I mean, there are some that are wheat and some that are not.

Wes Moss [00:27:03]:
Okay, so you can still eat grains.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:27:06]:
Yeah, you should. I mean, and there’s so many gluten free pastas available now. And there’s, you know, vets getting squashed linguine. It’s really good.

Wes Moss [00:27:18]:
How about the aging? And I know you talk about this in the book, the Aging difference between men and women. Women.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:27:24]:
Oh, wow. Pretty big difference.

Wes Moss [00:27:27]:
So keep in mind, who’s aging harder for.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:27:31]:
Well, okay, first, when it comes to longevity, women. We women have won the longevity lottery easily. We live five to six years longer on average than men, and that’s super lucky and cool and more years to do all the things that we care about. But there is a huge downside, even when you correct for the fact that we live longer, and that is that women spend more years in a cascade of poor health. They spend up to 14 years on average, in a cascade of poor health at the end of their lives. And they’re often living alone because they outlive their husbands, and they’re often living on a fixed income and oftentimes have taken whatever money that they’ve saved with their husband to help their husband in his final years of life. So that complicates the matter as well, as you might imagine. Yeah, women have it a little bit tougher in terms of their health span and their brain span.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:28:34]:
So get a load of this. When it comes to brain span, women are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease as men. Twice as likely.

Wes Moss [00:28:46]:
Well, I don’t know if I knew that. That. Why is it so different? Is it because. Because you have more years? Is it because.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:28:53]:
It’s just. Even when you correct for that? That’s not the only reason.

Wes Moss [00:28:57]:
Double, double man.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:28:59]:
Scientists are not really sure. I believe if I were to take a guess, and really please position this as a guess, that our hormones going through menopause and not being treated for menopause correctly may have something to do with it.

Wes Moss [00:29:16]:
Holy cow. I don’t. I guess I. If you really. If I think about it, yeah. I don’t know. I still have the perception that men are more likely, but, yeah, I would guess statistically it’s.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:29:28]:
No, they’re not. Yeah, they may be a little crazier than women, but.

Wes Moss [00:29:34]:
Okay, so this is what. When you talk about health span versus mind span or brain span, is this really the conversation around brain span or. Or what’s before? Let’s say you don’t end up with less cognitive decline. Tell us about your perspective on brain span.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:29:51]:
Okay, so in general, science used to tell us that when it came to brain span, we were really destined by the way our parents and our grandparents lived. I mean, genetics were our destiny. But the most recent science, when it comes specifically to brain span, tells us a different story. And it’s similar to what they say about House, Ben. And that is that we have Far more control than we used to think. But this is a relatively new story. I mean, it’s only in the last three to five years that scientists, neurologists and neurosurgeons and brain experts turned around and said, yeah, we do have some control. Prevention or certainly delaying is within our control.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:30:40]:
And to me, that’s great news. But there’s also some things that we can do. And I would suggest if your listeners are in their 30s or 40s, or even 50s, the earlier you start, the better. And it’s doing the things that are good for your heart that are also good for your brain. So that means, yeah, eat the rainbow, get rid of those ultra processed foods, exercise. And by the way, just wait. Walking 30 minutes a day. And I’m sure a lot of people say, oh, that’s a good start.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:31:11]:
It’s a really good start. But that’s not the answer, especially once you hit your 30s, because we begin to lose muscle mass as early as in our 30s, and that’s called sarcopenia. So you don’t want to lose muscle mass because that actually can impact your brain health as well as your physical health. So, no, get out those bands, get out those weights, do strengthening exercises at least three to five times a week.

Wes Moss [00:31:40]:
So walking is a great start. And that is. And again, I’ve had some experts here on the show remind me of that. So that’s been helpful. And I do try to take the advice of pretty much everybody that we have on the show.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:31:51]:
Well, you look like you’re in good shape.

Wes Moss [00:31:53]:
Yeah, good enough. You know, I did. I did have a physical therapist on a couple of, I don’t know, let’s. I recently had a physical therapist on, and he kind of motivated me to take care of what I thought I needed shoulder surgery. And ultimately going to a physical therapist here, a really, really good physical therapy group basically just said, rip all this stuff up. Just take the MRIs, put them away. No, no, no, no. You don’t need surprise surgery.

Wes Moss [00:32:25]:
And with. Within about two weeks, they were like, see, I told you, you don’t need surgery at all. Now you needed some. You needed some pretty serious physical therapy. And in my mind, I was like, they can’t really do that much. Right? I mean, but they can. So that was a big motivator for me to get some help and avoid surgery. Hopefully I avoided for, I don’t know, forever.

Wes Moss [00:32:47]:
Hopefully. I mean, shoulder surgery is a big deal. I mean, you’re out.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:32:50]:
Yeah. Was it rotator C cuff or.

Wes Moss [00:32:51]:
Yeah, rotator cuff. Yeah.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:32:53]:
Which Is a little, that’s a painful surgery.

Wes Moss [00:32:55]:
Yeah. And I’ve got a little bit of damage, but essentially PTS told me, no, no, no, no, it’s not enough. You can fix this to 95% with physical therapy and do not do surgery. And I, and I was extremely. And thanks to one of our experts here on the show is why I did that. Okay, so we eat the rainbow, exercise 30 minutes a day, do muscle work, do exercise. But this is not just for your muscles, but this is for brain span.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:33:22]:
For brain span, for health span. I mean, it’s really good for your heart too. It can stave off things like cancer. I mean, it’s not the be all end all, but it’s pretty close to a silver bullet.

Wes Moss [00:33:36]:
And I think this is maybe where finances start to come in. Because to some extent, and this is just my perspective and I, and I think a lot of people listening would agree to this. Here’s how I feel. It’s a big job to stay healthy. It, it takes money, it takes time. Now you could say, well, if you don’t. If what? Again, it sounds like it’s pretty worth it. But I think it’s good to recognize that it’s a big deal to walk 30 minutes a day, to work out three times a week, to eat healthy, to schedule all of these things throughout your week.

Wes Moss [00:34:15]:
And I think that often when we talk about health, you hear one piece of advice and you’re like, oh, of course I should do that. And then you hear something, of course I should do that. And then you start putting it together. You’re like, wait a minute, this is like a part time job just to stay healthy. And that’s partially why you read about these ultra rich people that are like, oh, I’m going to spend 30 hours a week extending my life. Well, good for you. But what about the rest of.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:34:38]:
Yeah, no, we have to integrate it into our lives.

Wes Moss [00:34:41]:
How do we do that?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:34:42]:
Okay, there’s a couple hacks, if you will, that can help us do that. First of all, that’s a Cali word.

Wes Moss [00:34:50]:
So the Cali folks say hacks.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:34:51]:
Okay? Tips, Tips.

Wes Moss [00:34:53]:
We say practical solutions here in the South.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:34:55]:
Okay? Practical solutions. Sorry.

Wes Moss [00:34:59]:
I love hacks. I love hacks.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:35:02]:
Okay. So the first thing I would tell everyone to do is base, you know, base their, their action steps on science. So science tells us that if you can change your attitude about your own aging, have a more positive attitude about your own aging, it can add up to seven and a half years to your life. That doesn’t cost A penny. It’s just a matter of switching the messaging that you give to your brain.

Wes Moss [00:35:30]:
Or give me an example though, give me an example of that. What’s the average 50 year old starting to say?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:35:37]:
And by the way, the impact that has on younger people is huge because from the research I did for my book, I found that younger people were more frightened about getting older. And part of the reason that they’re so scared is they don’t have a whole lot of great role models for what it means to get older. People aren’t getting out there. Like I said, okay, I’m 74 years old. Not many people are doing that, especially women. There’s been this onus again putting out age, especially if you’re over the age of 50, 60 or 70, that it’s not cool that you’re no longer relevant. And who wants to no longer be relevant? We don’t want to do that. So we’ve got to change the narrative.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:36:22]:
We have to make it positive. We need to make this aging process. We need to own the fact that, hey, we are super lucky to live to be 70, 80, 90 or beyond and to be in relatively good shape and that we have created our future. That is really an important step. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time. So that’s one thing. The second thing I would say is there’s something called stacking and I would suggest people get into stacking. So what does that mean? Well, okay, when you’re going to take a walk in the morning, take a walk with a friend.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:37:01]:
Because social connections have been proven, proven scientifically to add years to our life and to let add years to our health span as well. So now you’re doing two things at once and then maybe take along two pound weights so that while you’re walking, you’re also holding some hand weights and doing some hand exercises with your friend.

Wes Moss [00:37:26]:
So it’s really efficiency. Yeah, yeah.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:37:29]:
And you know what, it could be kind of fun.

Wes Moss [00:37:32]:
God forbid. Exercise is fun.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:37:35]:
And if you’re having fun, I mean that actually joy is like a big part of the recipe. You know, one of the experts I spoke to was a neuroscientist based in France. And you know, I’m sure you understand that alcohol is not great for your brain health. It actually can kill brain cells, especially excessive amounts of alcohol. And I said to her, okay, you live in France, people drink wine all and night. What do you do? And she said, you know, I have a glass of wine every night with my dinner because it brings me Joy. And joy is as important as any of the other ingredients in this whole concept of living better, longer.

Wes Moss [00:38:20]:
Okay, so you’re not a proponent of not drinking at all? You’re okay with a little bit of. A little bit of alcohol?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:38:27]:
Well, I personally used to have a glass of wine every night, and I don’t anymore. I have really cut down because what I noticed was that it was affecting my sleep. So if I didn’t think and I sleep is not my superpower at all. I mean, it’s the one thing that I’ve really tried to improve and have improved by learning what I’ve learned by writing Ageless aging. But so I think having a glass of. An occasional glass of wine, I limit it to one a week. And I don’t even make, like, a big deal about it, because when I make a big deal about it, everyone around me starts getting all anxious, and that kind of takes the fun out of the night.

Wes Moss [00:39:08]:
So, yeah, so we won. We change our attitude about Angie, which we can do for free. And we can do it quickly, too. When we are building our schedule to focus in on our health, we want to. Stacking is really efficiency. So you do a couple things all at once.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:39:26]:
And also keep in mind that there’s something called neat. It’s a neuro, energetic, dynamic, thermodynamic exercise. I don’t remember the exact words, but it’s basically telling us that if we’re doing chores around the house that actually burns calories in a way that is very good for our health span. So if you’re going to vacuum, own it and say, hey, this is really great. Not only am I cleaning my house and making it healthier, but I’m also making myself healthier because I’m moving my body and then put on some music and really enjoy it. It sounds fun.

Wes Moss [00:40:04]:
It makes me want to vacuum. I love vacuuming and mowing the lawn. Those are two.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:40:09]:
Oh, really?

Wes Moss [00:40:10]:
Yeah. Just because you get, like, a result.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:40:12]:
Yeah. Oh, I like that idea.

Wes Moss [00:40:13]:
I love the. In fact, there’s different tasks I’ll do at work, and I call it mowing the lawn because it feels like, oh, I get an immediate satisfactory result. All right, so now we go to working. I mean, you’re 74. I’m sure you don’t have to work financially. You guys have had this great company for many years. You’re working because it is healthy for your brain. Let’s talk about work.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:40:43]:
Okay. Well, that’s part of it. But I will tell you that one of the studies we did recently at Age Wave, we asked pre retirees, so those who are working, and we asked pre retirees, what do you think you’re going to miss most about work? And then we asked retirees, well, okay, what do you actually miss most about work? So the. The answer we got from pre retirees was predictable. They said the income, and that makes a lot of sense because living on a fixed income is a lot harder than when you’re actually earning. So I hear that. I think it’s smart. Then when we asked retirees, well, what do you actually miss? They did miss the money.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:41:26]:
But even more than the money, they missed the social connections. So having friends or colleagues that you work with all the time, even if you’re working remotely, you’re doing zoom calls or phone calls, or you’re interacting with people, that’s a really important part of this whole holistic recipe for aging more agelessly. But let me take it a step further. And that has to do with the sense of purpose. We used to just think, oh, purpose is really nice. We really think it’s a good thing to have. But science has told us a slightly different story. They tell us it’s a necessary part of living better, longer.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:42:10]:
And you’re probably thinking, if you’re a listener, oh, my God, so I’m going to have to go out and start a nonprofit or get a new job or, like, do something big. But no, you don’t have to do that. People get purpose from a variety of different. Different ways and things. So maybe babysitting for your grandchildren or walking the dog in the morning. In fact, some people have asked me not to say this, but I think it’s hilarious.

Wes Moss [00:42:39]:
I like it. If it’s anywhere controversial, we want it.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:42:43]:
Well, okay, so we did ask, well, what would be the one thing you’d be willing to do to have more purpose in your life? And almost everyone said, adopt a pet.

Wes Moss [00:42:53]:
Wait, why is that? Oh, yeah. Only for some of you in California would think that’s. That’s controversial. That’s. That’s a. That sounds amazing. Yeah. Okay.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:43:02]:
Yeah, it is. It’s like, it’s not. You know, Mark Friedman, who’s, like an expert on social connections and purpose, he told me there’s purpose with a big P and there’s purpose with a little P, and they’re both important. So let’s not forget the little P’s. The reason we get out of bed in the morning. You have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. And I’m all about that.

Wes Moss [00:43:25]:
Maddie what happens with. I guess I’m, I think of, I think about this. I still have kids that are young enough that are still not out of the house. And I. We have a ways, a little ways to go before that happens. But, you know, I look at some of my friends that say their last kids in high school and going to college and they’re. And I’m starting to see even in my age range, empty nesting. And then you see it big time in your, in, in your mid-50s.

Wes Moss [00:43:52]:
And then the kids are totally out of the house. And I think that’s really. I haven’t gone through it, but that to me really looks hard. And imagine you’re a. What would your advice be to parents? Maybe a mom or dad who really did stay home and they were not working. They didn’t really, let’s say, have a career and the kids are no longer there. What have you seen parents do to gain back some sense of purpose? I think it’s hard.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:44:22]:
Yeah. You know, I think it’s really important, especially if there’s women who did devote a tremendous amount of their life to raising their children and probably doing an amazing job. My guess is they might have been involved in a lot of volunteer activities at school and in sports and what have you in their community. And I would say that maybe they should think about ramping those things up a little bit more. Maybe if your children are still not in school anymore, you know, find a nonprofit that’s in your community that services kids. Maybe it’s reading in after school programs, or maybe it’s helping out in homes of people who are, who have parents who are suffering. There’s all kinds of, of available options out there. Now it used to be if you signed up for volunteering jobs, they kind of put you in the corner and told you to lick stamps.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:45:27]:
But I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I think you have a lot more control over the kind of activities you can do to help a nonprofit to thrive. And I think these women have built up a set of skills and knowledge and confidence that they can translate into volunteer work, but they can also translate it into work if they choose to go back to the workforce. And that can be a choice.

Wes Moss [00:45:57]:
Yeah, work is. Especially when you’re financially don’t have to. There’s no reason work can’t be a lot of fun. As we start to wrap up here, what is the obstacle that makes it so that so many folks don’t put in the time or they’re not paying attention to health span they’re not paying attention to brain span. And I know there’s probably a lot of different. You know, there’s a lot of obstacles and reasons, but what are either some of the obstacles that you can. That you can help people remove or watch out for so that we can focus in on longevity, health. Spanish.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:46:32]:
Okay, so there’s three things I would say about that. First, change is hard. Any kind of change is really hard. It’s about creating new habits, and you need to give yourself some time and recognize that you may fall off the wagon every once in a while, and that’s okay. So that’s number one. Number two, one of the physicians that I talked to, who was a preventative cardiologist at Mayo clinic, told me, Dr. Steven Kopecki, he told that he thinks people should find one entry point that is kind of easy for them to do and have some success there. And I would add that we should all put those things on our calendar.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:47:18]:
For instance, in the last few weeks, I have not had the bandwidth to exercise as much as I like. So starting this week, I started putting exercise on my calendar, and I treat it as importantly as having a podcast with you, Wes.

Wes Moss [00:47:35]:
Well, I think they’re both. They’re equally important, but you’re going to get so finding. Yeah, they’re equally important.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:47:43]:
So finding an entry point that you’re comfortable with, having some success there, and then saying, hey, I’m really good at this exercise thing. Maybe I should eat a little healthier and see how that impacts me. And maybe if I were able to sleep better. And by the way, one of the secrets to sleep is that I learned that has really been helpful to me, is that it’s not about sleep. It’s about circadian rhythms. So wake up in the morning and open up your shades or get outside and have the sunlight really be one of your first experiences of the day. Another easy thing to do.

Wes Moss [00:48:20]:
Yeah. Yeah, it is easy to do. Okay, so when you say entry point, Maddie, you mean take one health step forward.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:48:27]:
Take one health step. Maybe it’s sleep. Maybe it’s nutrition. Maybe it’s spending more time with friends and family. Maybe it’s amping up your experience of purpose. Maybe it’s like paying more attention to your finances, learning the lingo. It could be a lot of different entry points, have some success there, and then keep adding points, you know, different ingredients in your holistic recipe as you go along.

Wes Moss [00:48:56]:
However, by the way, I have a hack I’m going to come back to for you.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:49:00]:
Oh, you’re going to come back to that hack, I’m going to give you a hack.

Wes Moss [00:49:03]:
But wait, hold on. Number three, understand changes are two, find one entry point and three is do.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:49:11]:
It all at once. Okay, so Dr. Dean Ornish, who is a friend of mine, he told me, yeah, it’s fine, find just an entry point. But. And that’s if you want to do this preventatively. But if you’re struggling with some health issues, you have arthritis, you have cancer, you have heart disease, you better like pile it all on at once and make it a lifetime commitment. And you’re going to see such big changes in such a short amount of time that you’re going to say, yeah, this is my new life commitment.

Wes Moss [00:49:46]:
All right, here’s my. It’s not really a biohack, but I think it is a hack because again, I’ve thought I understand the importance of being able to do all of these things together. And I think I asked you earlier, it’s hard to figure it out. My favorite tool, the number one thing that if I were to pick, if I go back to using artificial intelligence and using pick them doesn’t matter. Gemini chatgpt, Whatever. The number one thing that I like over the past it’s been almost two years now with AI is to have the help of AI redo my entire schedule of life. Because really, because it does it such an amazing thing. So your seven day schedule is, I think, pretty complicated.

Wes Moss [00:50:39]:
You’ve got seven days and you’ve got five, six, seven, eight things in any given day. And when you start to add in one thing, it’s hard to reschedule everything. But what I found as a, again, I guess you guys would call it a hack, is that you can have AI build you a schedule and then anytime you want to change it or modify it or make it better and better and better, you just have it add one thing and it redoes all of it for you. It’s really a complex thing to figure out, but instead of spending, really, it’s too hard for me to do without this. But I’ve, I’ve found it really helpful to kind of reschedule my life with a, with more of a focus on family and health. And it’s probably my favorite thing that AI has helped me with over the last year is really saying like scheduling in walk time, scheduling in yoga class, scheduling in social time, scheduling in time for sports, scheduling in work time, segregating client and family time versus media of time. It’s a complicated schedule. We, we all live and I, I mean I’m no different.

Wes Moss [00:51:44]:
I’ve got four kids, two jobs, you name it. And it has really helped me figure out how to optimize a weekly pattern that otherwise was. It was like too complicated for me to figure out, but I love that. But having a workable calendar that can just as soon as you want to change one element, it’ll reshuffle everything according to your direction. Directions. That’s been pretty cool and very helpful.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:52:11]:
I love that. I’m. I’m gonna.

Wes Moss [00:52:13]:
I told you I had a hack. I told you I had a hack.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:52:16]:
I knew you would. Even though you hate the word.

Wes Moss [00:52:20]:
I don’t hate it. I don’t hate it.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:52:23]:
You haven’t embraced it yet.

Wes Moss [00:52:24]:
No, I did today. Today’s the first day I’ve embraced the word hack.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:52:29]:
I love it. And plus you gave me a good one. I’m going, you know, I’m right now working on a new chapter for the updated version of my book that will be coming out. I don’t know, like probably a year and a half. And so I’m going to include that.

Wes Moss [00:52:43]:
Well, and try it. Just put your schedule in.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:52:45]:
I will. Oh, I definitely will try before I advocate for it.

Wes Moss [00:52:48]:
It’s pretty cool. It literally gives you a full blown. I guess they must use some sort of Excel and it’s pretty amazing how it works. All right, so I’m going to let you wrap up here. Obviously we want people to go out and buy the book Age Aging A Women’s Guide. But I think that of course, men can use a lot of this.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:53:07]:
Yeah, they can. But you know, keep in mind, women live longer than men and their health span and brain span isn’t as good as men. And there’s a few things we can do differently than men and. But otherwise, yeah, it’s for men and women in terms of a lot of the advice. In fact, I’ve had a lot of men write me and say, can you write this book for man?

Wes Moss [00:53:29]:
So the next chapter of Age Wave for you, you get the next. Really, who knows, the next year to longer to talk about and educate folks around the latest research and the latest book, Ageless Aging. Do individuals utilize Age Wave or is it a little bit more institutional? Is it more companies that come to you guys?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:53:54]:
Yeah, there’s companies that come to us. We do what’s called thought leadership studies for them. So for instance, we just did one with the John A. Hartford foundation on the healthcare system. And together we try to. We work with the Harris Poll and we do surveys and interviews and just Kind of everything, like what I suggested. And we ultimately come up with a summary of thought leadership points and share them with the media. And those have gone over really well.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:54:28]:
Ken and I both do a lot of keynote speeches for corporate audiences. I’ve been doing more and more on with a wellness focus, but I’ve done a lot on retirement, the new retirement, because retirement is morphing, as we both know.

Wes Moss [00:54:44]:
What do you mean by new retirement? I know that Ken has talked certainly about that over his career, by the way, for those listening. Ken. Ken, who we’ve had on the show maybe a year ago, is Maddie’s husband. And that. So you guys have worked together with age way for what, 40 years?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:55:00]:
I mean, it’s been a long time for 40 years. Yeah, we have.

Wes Moss [00:55:03]:
Who does more work, Maddie or Ken?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:55:07]:
I don’t want to answer that.

Wes Moss [00:55:08]:
Who’s more important to the business, Maddie or Ken?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:55:12]:
Well, Ken is the CEO, so maybe he is.

Wes Moss [00:55:16]:
You don’t have to answer that. All right, so the majority of the work that you guys do is with companies, authors. It’s not so much one to one. It’s not?

Maddy Dychtwald [00:55:28]:
No, not one to one. We work with corporations doing these research studies. We also do a lot of keynote speeches, especially in financial services. Yeah, that’s the kind of work we do. We do consult.

Wes Moss [00:55:45]:
Well, I’m gonna leave it there. Maddie, thank you for being here so much.

Maddy Dychtwald [00:55:49]:
It’s my pleasure. It’s been fun.

Mallory Boggs [00:55:51]:
Hey, y’all, this is Mallory with the Retire Sooner team. Please be sure to rate and subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend. If you have any questions, you can find us@wesmoss.com that’s w e s m o s s dot com. You can also follow us on Instagram and YouTube. You’ll find us under the handle Retire Sooner podcast. And now for our show’s disclosure. This information is provided to you as a resource for informational purposes only and is not to be viewed as investment advice or recommendations. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Mallory Boggs [00:56:22]:
There is no guaranteed offer that investment, return, yield or performance will be achieved. Stock prices fluctuate, sometimes rapidly and dramatically due to factors affecting individual companies, particular industries or sectors, or general market conditions. For stocks paying dividends, dividends are not guaranteed and can increase, decrease, or be eliminated without notice. Fixed income securities involve interest rate, credit, inflation and reinvestment risks and possible loss of principal. As interest rates rise, the value of fixed income securities falls. Past performance is not indicative of future results. When considering any investment vehicle, this information is being presented without consideration of the investment objectives, risk tolerance, or financial circumstances of any specific investor and might not be suitable for all investors. Investment decisions should not be based solely on information contained here.

Mallory Boggs [00:57:07]:
This information is not intended to and should not form a primary basis for any investment decision that you may make. Always consult your own legal, tax or investment advisor before making any investment tax, state or financial planning considerations or decisions. The information contained here is strictly an opinion and it is not known whether the strategies will be successful. The views and opinions expressed are for educational purposes only as of the date of production and may change without notice at any time based on numerous factors such as market and other conditions.