Six alternative sleep therapies I’ve been experimenting with
The last 6 months I’ve been experimenting with a number of alternative ways to increase the quality of one of the core foundations of my wellness program – sleep.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that sleep, above everything else that I do to stay healthy and fit at 55, is the main foundation of my overall wellness program.
Without a good nights sleep, everything else that I do falls apart irrespective of how well I eat, how much I train or meditate, or anything else I do for my overall wellness during my waking hours.
For 50+ guys like me sleep is not just a number – it’s a critical part of overall health and it can have a massive metabolic and hormonal affect on us as we age if we don’t get enough of it. The health affects of too little quality sleep? Everything from decreased testosterone and human growth hormone, increased insulin resistance to decreased memory and cognitive function, to increased systemic inflammation (which is seen by many as probably the #1 killer of men). The list goes on – it’s no joke. Read More
Here’s 11 health changes I’ve made in my 50’s (that I wasn’t doing in my 40’s).
Remember your 40s? I certainly do, and although I’m approaching the middle of my fifth decade, I’m feeling just as good as I did a decade ago. I credit this well-being with recognizing I needed to make some lifestyle adjustments as I became more chronologically established in middle age. So here are 11 things I’m doing for my health in my 50s that I wasn’t doing in my 40s…and why. Read More
What’s the deal with human growth hormone (HGH)?
What is human growth hormone?
HGH is a hormone and a protein produced in the pituitary gland. Although it has a role in maintaining healthy tissue overall, it is probably best known for assisting in increasing muscle mass and bone density and an ability to promote cell growth and regeneration by activating receptors to initiate the process. Human growth hormone also can boost libido, slow the progression of age-related degenerative diseases, and help support a sense of well-being. Read More
My latest “Men’s Health” magazine column
Here’s why you shouldn’t listen to Doctors (most of the time)
There’s a good chance you’ve been with your general practitioner for a few years. You go in a couple of times a year (hopefully no more often than that), you chat about your respective families and the state of your career, he (or she) listens, pokes, prods, palpates, and possibly prescribes. And you listen and do your best to follow instructions. Your GP is a health care professional, and there’s a degree hanging on the wall decreeing as much. So he or she must know what it takes to be healthy.
Right?
In an ideal world, the answer would be yes. But this world isn’t ideal—especially when it comes to health care.
Doctors need to prescribe behavior not pills
Most doctors aren’t in the health care business. They don’t prescribe behaviors to make us healthy. They prescribe pills and surgeries and treatments to make us un-sick. Most doctors I know only rarely mention diet or exercise or stress-relief techniques to their patients, in part because they don’t believe that their patients are willing or able to follow through with such a program. Rightly or wrongly, health care consumers have come to expect quick-fix solutions from our doctors that require little to no action on our part—except maybe to take a pill or show up for a procedure. The implied agreement between you and your doctor is that you will show up sick and he or she will give you something to make you well.
In some circles, this is changing. Doctors are literally prescribing exercise—writing “Aerobic exercise 3x/week 20 minutes/day” on their prescription pads and handing it to their patients, knowing that, to a completely sedentary person, almost no single behavior can be as beneficial to a person’s health as exercise is. Bravo to them.
Many doctors aren’t in a position to give health advice
Too many others, however, are too embarrassed or resigned to bring it up, and instead they offer a few vaguely reassuring words, and maybe prescribe a pill to treat the patient’s depression, or blood thinners to treat his cardiovascular disease. Indeed, they’ve bought in to the medical myth of the patient as a passive recipient of treatment. These doctors are sometimes seriously overweight and deeply unhealthy themselves, and they often do little to combat unhealthy habits in the people around them. In fact, studies have shown that the standard of care given by doctors is in direct relation to their own health and fitness. Obese and overweight doctors, for example, are less likely to talk to their patients about health, exercise, and nutrition.
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Profile on my “New Prime Program” on LivingHealthy.com
The Midlife Crisis. It’s when men in their 40s, 50s and 60s start buying fast cars, breaking up marriages, dating young women and acting like they’re trying to relive their 20s, when they were healthier and more energetic. Read More
9 things every man over 40 should be doing
When I turned 50 in May 2013, I was pretty fortunate. My family was thriving. Professionally, I was doing what I wanted to be doing. And physically, I was fitter than ever.
I was surfing the Maldives, skiing as much powder as I could find, climbing the Grand Tetons, and training regularly with some of the most accomplished athletes in the world.
When my AARP card arrived in the mail, I laughed and shredded it.
In no small part, the life I have now, just a couple of years past my half-century mark, is the result of decades of research into the best ways to achieve and maintain peak health — physical, mental, emotional and sexual — through all stages of life.
Twenty years ago, I embarked on this journey in order to stave off a number of serious medical problems that doctors told me were my genetic destiny, including prostate cancer and diabetes. Now, with my book Your New Prime: 30 Days to Better Sex, Eternal Strength, and a Kick-Ass Life After 40, I’m making it my mission to share what I’ve learned with men of all ages so that they can beat the odds as I did.
Here’s what every man should be doing for optimal health after 40:
Read the full article at MindBodyGreen
My PLAYBOY interview
Cooper’s journey to wellness is chronicled in his new book, “Your New Prime: 30 Days to Better Sex, Eternal Strength, and a Kick-Ass Life After 40.” Here’s Cooper’s take on aging gracefully, his own health battles, and why men of a certain age should get their shit together. Click here for the full interview.
How to eliminate the “Dad Bod”
“Dad bods” are the new fitness standard for a growing bunch of men across the United States. What’s a dad bod? Well, think Seth Rogan, Jason Segel or Leonardo DiCaprio on summer vacation and between movie roles: overweight, out of shape, and happy and content with his pasta, rosé and Victoria’s Secret models. Basically, pudgy, cuddly, doughy, don’t really care about how you look any more: That’s the dad bod. And some women are supporting the new trend, if you believe the studies – apparently because having a man who has a dad bod as a partner takes the pressure off them to stay in shape. Another rationale is that if the man is not as focused on his own body, he’ll spend more time with and take better care of his partner and family – or so the theory goes. Read More
My book is out! “Your New Prime – 30 Days to Better Sex, Eternal Strength, and a Kick-Ass Life After 40” – HarperCollins Publishers.
My latest HarperCollins published book is due for release on September 15, 2015 at all the leading stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, HarperCollins, and IndieBound. Here’s a video where I talk about it below. Pre-orders before September 15 qualify for a discount at Amazon.
Editorial Reviews for my latest book available now for pre-order at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, HarperCollins, iBooks, and IndieBound.
“If you want to live a life of passion and excellence as you age, this is your blueprint.”—Tony Robbins, #1 New York Times Bestseller, Entrepreneur, and Peak Performance Strategist
“Easy to follow and highly informative. Your New Prime is a groundbreaking program for better health for all men as they age.”—Alejandro Junger, M.D., New York Times Bestselling Author of Clean and Clean Eats Read More