I have this weird thing that I do with birthdays. A few months before the big  day, I start processing. What does this birthday mean to me (if anything)? How am I feeling about taking another step forward in time? How am I feeling about aging?

I began the same process as I approached my 40th year. Like most women, I’m never super excited about the subtle fine lines and wrinkles that creep in as the years turn. But I’ve come to accept that. What I was not willing to accept were the little compromises I had made that would no longer cut it.

When Wellness Took A Backseat

Even though I have been entrenched in health and wellness for 15 years (we used to coach clients 1:1 and now run a successful doctor coaching business), there were foundational habits that I was missing. It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit but I had good excuses reasons. 

We had 4 babies in 6 years. For the majority of my 30s I was either pregnant or nursing a child. And if you know anything about babies, they don’t sleep. So that means I wasn’t sleeping great either for the better part of a decade. 

During that time, I continued to focus on the fundamentals: eating fresh, healthy food, investing in my relationships, staying on top of my supplement routine, stretching for flexibility, and making space daily to decompress. 

But what I wasn’t doing? Consistently exercising. It was easy to justify when I was 2 to 3 months postpartum and still recovering from childbirth. It was easy to justify even several months later when I was dangling by a thread, deep in the weeds of exhaustion from nursing an infant every night. 

But eventually…my lack of exercise became something I couldn’t avoid. 

The Mirror I Couldn’t Look Away From 

My husband is a bit of a wellness and longevity nut (it’s a requirement if you’re going to coach natural health doctors). While I’m still trying to figure out how to make longevity practical for my daily life (cold plunging and hooking myself up to a thousand devices is not it), he – on the other hand, is a walking encyclopedia on this topic. 

Kind of like wellness and longevity incarnate. Naturally, he’s also a beast about exercise – I’ve never seen a person more disciplined or willing to endure pain for their health. I definitely respect it. 

But it was also a regular reminder that I was not progressing in my fitness. In fact, not progressing is an understatement. I was very much neglecting it. And to be clear, it was nothing he said or did. Watching his commitment day in and day out prompted me to finally confront the truth: I was out of integrity with who I am and desire to be. 

For so long I had a (somewhat) valid excuse. I was exhausted from mothering little children and it made it easy to pass on committing to regular movement. I would also go for bike rides with the family, swim in the pool and join my husband for a workout every now and then – but never anything consistent. And I would use these random acts of exercise to reassure myself that I was doing okay. I could still do fine on a 2 to 3 mile bike ride and keep up with my kids and all of their energy. But, secretly inside I knew I could do better. 

Finally, around my 40th birthday, I got real with myself: my youngest child was 3. She had been sleeping through the night for well over a year. I was grateful to have finally caught up on rest and return to some semblance of a healthy circadian rhythm. But mentally I needed to make a shift- I was no longer the mother of a 2 month old where just getting a shower for the day is a win. Things had changed…I had more space and it was high time for me to start prioritizing my fitness. 

The Longevity Stats that Changed My Mind

Exercise and physical fitness are some of the strongest indicators of longevity and aging in good health. Here’s a few details that kicked my butt into gear: 

• Exercise Increases Life Expectancy: Exercise can literally add years to your life. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that people who exercised regularly (150 minutes a week) lived an average of 3.4 years longer than those who didn’t (1, 1b). 

• Strength Training Increases Muscle and Strength: Both muscle mass and strength decline as we age increasing the chance of falls and early mortality. Adults who consistently engage in strength training have a reduced risk of death compared to those who don’t (2). 

• Regular Exercise Reduces Risk of Disease: Disease and chronic illness are what destroy a person’s quality of life before they actually die. Anything we can do to prevent disease is a win for longevity and healthspan (how many years a person remains disease free). Exercise reduces the risk of the top killers: heart disease, diabetes and several types of cancer (3).

• Supports Mental Health and Longevity: Physical fitness improves cognitive function and reduces the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s (4) that can greatly diminish a person’s quality of life. 

I could go on. When I recognized that I was doing myself a great disservice by disengaging from consistent physical activity, it lit a fire under me. 

Thriving at 100 and Beyond

I envisioned what I want my life to look like when I’m 90, even 100 years old. I’d like to be similar to my great-grandmother who lived to 103 without chronic illness, medications or living in a nursing home. I’d want the flexibility to get down on the floor, play with my great-grands, or dig around in my garden. I’d want the strength to bathe myself, cook a meal or go for a long walk. 

I realized I would likely have none of that if I didn’t prioritize my fitness. I do many other things daily to support my health and longevity. But, physical fitness is one of the greatest indicators of how we will age. It’s not so much the length of years that I’m after, it’s also the quality of those years. I’m not sure I’ll be excited to live to 100 if I can’tI’m do the things I love in the last 20 years of my life. And since my health is my responsibility, I decided to make a change. 

I’ll share another post about how I became more consistent with my fitness routine (it was definitely not linear). 

I’d love to hear from you. What’s one area of your life that you know you need to focus on to support your health? What’s the thing that you keep starting and then falling off? What’s the thing that you dread beginning at all? Have you overcome a hurdle with your health? Share below!