Good morning! We are so back.

Not gonna lie, I am gonna miss having my Monday and Tuesday nights off, but we’re working on a healthy balance so I can still bring you some hot ‘n ready™️ health-related content every Wednesday morning! 💪 

(If this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive this weekly newsletter, sign up below!)

🛟 How to save a life

ER surgeons and firemen save lives. But what does saving a life mean? We’re all going to die eventually; no one escapes death. 

What we mean by “saving a life” is giving someone more time. It’s preventing an “untimely” or early death. It’s delaying death—in other words, giving someone the opportunity for more life. But saving a life can never fully prevent death.

And what do we mean by “save,” anyway? Synonyms for save include “liberate,” “rescue,” “keep,” “conserve.” To save a life is really just to maintain a life, to afford the opportunity for more.

Guess what. You can save your own life.

You can give yourself more time. 

You can stave off diseases and deterioration. You can do everything in your power to make your 80s robust and vibrant rather than your 60s stale and immobile. There’s still time to save your life. 

Some things aren’t preventable. Accidents happen. Some health ailments may come our way no matter our actions. When I say you can save your life, I’m not talking about that “chaos lottery” stuff. I’m talking about everything else. 

Not much in life is completely preventable. But there’s also not much in life that we can’t decrease its risk. Based on the CDC’s latest statistics, the vast majority of the ten leading causes of death in the US are chronic diseases:

• Heart disease: 702,880

• Cancer: 608,371

• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 227,039

• COVID-19: 186,552

• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 165,393

• Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,382

• Alzheimer’s disease: 120,122

• Diabetes: 101,209

• Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 57,937

• Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis: 54,803

Taking good care of ourselves may not be able to fully prevent any of these from taking your life, but it certainly can lower the risks. 

Exercise, activity, and nutrition are still more powerful than any drug in the world. Depending on the metric you’re looking at, they can decrease risks of these death-causing diseases by double-digit percentages and beyond!

Even accidents, a seemingly out-of-our-control cause of death, can be mitigated by proper health and fitness:

• A well-rested, cognitively sharp individual is less likely to encounter an auto accident.

• An elderly individual with good balance and muscle mass is far less likely to encounter a fall and its resulting complications.

It doesn’t take elite levels of athleticism and body composition to lower your risks and give yourself more time, either. If you divide everyone up into five groups, from the lowest 20% to the top 20% of health and fitness, risk is mitigated all the way to the top group. But nowhere is the jump as significant as from the bottom 20% to the second 20%. That’s it! Just by going from 5th out of 5 to 4th out of 5, your risks of developing and passing from the above diseases plummets. And it only continues to improve as you progress from there.

Much of your life remains in your hands, no matter how old you are. People in their eighth decade of life can quickly put on pounds of muscle with training and nutrition. You can increase your cardiorespiratory fitness with a little proper training.

It’s not primarily age that causes all those aches and pains and extra pounds in places that we don’t want ‘em. The biggest factor is inactivity and a sedentary lifestyle.

Depressing? Only if you stay there. But if you have an ounce of optimism and willpower, it’s empowering! 

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Cliche, but true. 

Let 2025 be the year you save your life. 

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Thank someone who’s given you more time—they’ve saved your life!

Level 2: Clean up the wasted hours in your week. All we’ve got is time and those we share it with.

Level 3: Take steps to care for your mind and body that will give you a longer, healthier life. If you want more tips, check out my archive of posts here!

This newsletter is brought to you by… me!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Know someone else who might be? I’d love to get to know you and/or your business and see how we can partner together. Reply to this email!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Hot topic lately?: How and why the American healthcare system is broken.

• Better living: Tips to improve your life (I used the first one!)

Have a wonderful week. Help grow this community by sharing the link below with a friend to sign up!

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).