Who is Dr Peter Attia? All about author and physician as he talks about life expectancy

Author and physician Dr Peter Attia recently spoke to Norah O'Donnell on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

While the full episode is yet to be released, a clip of Attia discussing life expectancy was posted on the show's official Instagram handle. In the video, he said:

“At 75, both men and women fall off a cliff. At the population level, it’s unmistakable what happens at the age of 75. That’s what we are up against. That’s what I am thinking about in the practice is, how do I create an escape velocity that gets somebody another 15 years there.”

Norah asked if his goal was to minimize or erase the marginal decade, to which Attia said that the marginal decade would stay where it was. He said everyone would get the “final decade of life.” However, in his opinion:

“My goal is to make the marginal decade as enjoyable as possible. The way I explain it to my patients is that last 10 to 15 of your years, if you don’t do anything about it, you will fall to a level of about 50% of your total capacity cognitively, physically.”

Born on March 19, 1973, Dr Peter Attia studied at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his training from Johns Hopkins Hospital for five years in the field of general surgery. Attia also hosts a podcast in his name, on which he discusses issues like medicine and health. He holds licenses to practice medicine in New York, Texas, and California.

Dr Peter Attia published a book named Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity. This book also became a bestseller. He has a wife and three kids and presently resides in Austin.

Dr Peter Attia discusses his idea of longevity and the benefits of exercising

Attia spoke to the hosts of Today on October 24, where he was asked to explain his idea of longevity. Dr Peter Attia said most people want to live a longer life, but that should entail some quality. According to him, a part of longevity is about living better. When asked to explain his catchphrase, ‘The Four Horsemen,’ he said:

“Yeah, it’s a little bit grim to think about but if you do want to live longer, you have to sort of understand what stands in your way and about 80% of what stands in your way is chronic disease. So, we might as well identify them and I call them The Four Horsemen. So, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurologic disease like dementia, and metabolic disease like type two diabetes.”

Speaking about the importance of exercising, Dr Peter Attia said it is the most important activity that one can do to ward off chronic diseases. He said if one is starting with nothing, and can take out two and a half hours in a week, that can help in reducing one’s “all-cause mortality.” In other words, according to Attia, exercising for at least this much time can reduce one’s chance of dying due to anything by 15%.

Dr Peter Attia said one does not need to spend 12 hours a week for training to get the benefits. He mentioned that people are affected by their inability to do anything in their late lives.

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