The Optimal Aging Podcast
Millions of people over age 50 represent the biggest consumer market in history for fitness, nutrition, travel, recreation and more. But most businesses don't know how to market to them. We'll interview entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to discuss this exciting opportunity.
The Optimal Aging Podcast
Hormones, Sex, and Staying Attractive: How Fitness Fits into Preventive Care after 50. Season 3, Episode 1
What role does fitness play in preventive healthcare after 50? I believe it's a big one, as does my guest this week on the Optimal Aging podcast, the show all about getting more mature adults to live healthier lives.
New York urologist Dr. David Shusterman says more mature adults are understanding the relationship between exercise and healthy living -- and they want to make the most of their lives, regardless of age.
We talk about changing hormones, prostate health, sex, Botox -- and, yes, the importance of staying physically fit.
It's a helpful conversation and provocative in the best way. I hope you enjoy it. And please subscribe to Optimal Aging, leave a review, recommend us to a friend.
Resources
Modern Urologist, the doctor's practice
Prime Fit Content, my site to help gyms reach more people over 50
Hi everybody, welcome to the first episode of the new year and of a new season of Optimal Aging, the show that's all about getting more people over 50 to start exercising, take better care of themselves and live their best lives for as long as possible. I'm your host, jay Croft, of Prime Fit Content, which helps you reach more people over 50 to get them involved in your fitness business. Now this episode is also, coincidentally, the first one published from my new house. My partner and I moved over the holidays. We didn't plan it that way and I don't think we'd recommend it, but it just worked out and we couldn't be happier it. But it just worked out and we couldn't be happier.
Speaker 1:In preparing for launching this third season of Optimal Aging, I wanted to start the new year by stepping back just a bit from focusing on exercise. I've always been intrigued by the relationship between fitness and health care, so I thought it would be illuminating to speak with the medical doctor about the role exercise plays in preventive care and wellness for older adults. You know, after COVID, there was some effort to connect fitness to health care broadly, because we learned that people who are overweight and deconditioned were more likely to get sick and suffer more. And now, five years after the pandemic began, can you believe it's been five years? Wow, five years after the pandemic began. I wanted to revisit the idea and plan to come back to it during this season of optimal aging. It's a rich topic that has a lot of ramifications, I believe, for fitness consumers and the industry as well. Now I think that most people over 50 still don't make the connection between working out and their own health care. I'm 61 myself and unfortunately, most folks my age and older definitely don't make that connection. We just weren't raised with that awareness. But awareness is growing and those of us in health care, well-being, fitness and communications we all need to keep connecting the dots for people so that they understand that regular exercise will help them avoid lots of preventable conditions early death, depression, loneliness, lots more.
Speaker 1:So the question is what is the role physical exercise plays in preventive care? And that's the topic we're covering today with my guest, dr David Shusterman, a urologist in New York City. Dr Shusterman shares his experiences and observations dealing with patients in this age group. We talk about fitness, health care and other aspects of optimal aging, including things like Botox and staying sexually active. It's a helpful conversation and provocative in the best sense. I hope you enjoy it and please subscribe to Optimal Aging, leave a review, recommend us to a friend. I'm glad to be back with new episodes. Here we go.
Speaker 1:One of the topics that I wanted to talk with you about is the focus on preventive health care, prioritizing early screenings, lifestyles modifications like exercising and eating right, and paying attention to what's going on in the world. So let's talk about that. You and I are talking a few days before Christmas and I intend to publish this early in the new year, which is a great time to cast everything in the idea of trends for the new year, or at least a new way to look at some of these things that might be helpful for people over 50 who are interested in their health and wellbeing and fitness and the fitness businesses, healthcare businesses being experts who can help them do that. What are you seeing? What should we be paying attention to in this new year?
Speaker 2:I think, personally, everyone should focus on their health as a top new year's resolution, and the reason I say that is because all we have in this world is our health. Really, if you think about it, we don't really have much unless we're healthy. So picture yourself sick and debilitated in bed. You could be a billionaire, and what are you doing with that billion dollars, or multi-billion dollars? I mean, you can't really use it at all and you can't enjoy your life, and so we should.
Speaker 2:In a lot of ways, what I try to do is guide people more towards a quality of life versus a quantity of life. I think the quantity of life is a great thing, but if the quality of life is not there and you're, let's say, lying in a hospital bed for the last year of your life, one of the aspects of that is easily preventable conditions. You just go to the doctor, get your blood pressure checked, get blood work done, check your hormone levels. These are simple, easy things you can do that are not scary. Maybe they draw blood, measure your vital signs and we'll figure everything out pretty quickly In men's health and women's health, if you start going to the bathroom more often or you start you get over a certain age, like age 50, I recommend people get evaluated.
Speaker 2:We can check your prostate size with ultrasounds, completely non-invasively. We can check your kidneys for kidney stones, If you ever had kidney stones before you get checked out. There's a lot of easy things that we can do on the first visit. When modern medicine which I like to be a modern urologist and you should always go to modern doctors, because you go to a doctor that's not really doing a lot of these things and says just by talking, he says, oh, you're fine, that sounds great. You may be fine on the surface, but what's? We don't do that with cars. We lift up the hood, we check down their engine.
Speaker 1:Modern treatment is critical and is important, but the idea of screenings and early detection as part of preventative care seems to make so much sense. I went to my doctor yesterday for a standard thing. I see him every few months. He draws blood, he measures my cholesterol, he measures my testosterone. I'm 61 years old. I lost some weight recently. In the last six months or so I lost about 25 pounds, which I gained slowly over the years, like a lot of people do at this stage of life, and I just decided I was going to lose it. So I finally did and they took me off blood pressure medication First time since I was 40 that I'm not on blood pressure medication and they've checked my prostate and all these things that you're talking about. And it took about a minute, it was nothing, it was not difficult, it was not stressful. How can we who are in the fitness and healthcare and wellness businesses convince more people over 50 to look at this in a holistic sense?
Speaker 2:Interestingly, I think, if we make their partners aware because a lot of times men listen to women and women listen to their husbands and that's why people who are married live longer is because they convince themselves look, we have to stay healthy for each other. And so that's one thing. The other thing is, like I said, if we actually do things for patients meaning you come into the office and you feel like you're well treated and everything's been checked people want to come back because they feel like it's a worthy visit. And a lot of times people want to leave my office feeling better than when they came. And that's what I try to do, and I try not to make anything painful, trying to make everything manageable and give them clear answers as to what we're looking for, why we're doing certain things and what's the importance of all that. And we could check their testosterone, we could check their thyroid, we could check their blood pressure, we could check their blood sugar. All these things are so easy to check right now, within a half hour visit in the office of a kind of a modern doctor. And so once you get all that done, first of all you feel better about yourself because you're like all right, maybe I'll live another year, which I think is important to look for the future. You want to continue to live and live well, meaning you still feel good about it. How do you feel?
Speaker 2:And the problem is that by the time people, when they develop that medical condition, that's when their whole life deteriorates. When people start gaining weight, we need to see them. Blood pressure is going to become a problem. Diabetes is going to become a problem. Exercise becomes a problem. Prostate growth becomes a problem. Overactive bladder becomes a problem. So when I see a patient and they're overweight, first thing I do is look, I'm going to get you to a weight. I have a weight loss doctor in my practice who not a surgeon, just a doctor who can prescribe things that will make you more fit In memberships. For example, we could prescribe that. We could prescribe medications that take away your appetite, because a lot of people binge eat and, spite multiple attempts at diet and exercise, if after a couple of attempts fail, I say look, you need medicine.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to that idea about prescribing exercise and how doctors like you can and should be encouraging people to exercise more, and not just by saying, mr Patient, you should go to the gym more often, but actually making it easier and making it more relevant to them. What can you do, what can fitness professionals do, to get those messages out there more effectively?
Speaker 2:I recommend especially when you first joined a gym and you haven't been for a while or you just never had the time to go is to meet a trainer that you like. Get him to teach you a routine. You don't have to train every single time you go to the gym, but if you don't have the guidance as to what you're doing, you become discouraged. A lot of things discourage people. When they get to the gym and they don't know what to do and they're not doing the right exercises, they won't see great results, they won't feel as good as they could be and they're still taking the time to go to the gym, but they're not getting all the benefit of going. So it's like when you go to a new city, you need a tour guide somewhere. Whether you do it online, whether you do some, someone has to guide you through the process.
Speaker 2:Now, if you don't want to pay for a trainer, that's okay too. We have YouTube videos that are out there and plenty of trainers will show you what to do on a YouTube video and then also have a buddy that goes to the gym with you. I think that's critical, because if you're not going with somebody or if you try to go alone a lot of times, you lose interest. So if you're married couple, you should go together. I think that's important. It's good for you, it's good for your partner and it's good for the relationship, because you're doing an activity together that improves your health.
Speaker 1:Is there still a great resistance from most patients about exercising? Do they still want the idea of look here, doctor, just give me a pill and take care of this. I don't want to go exercise, I don't want muscles. Leave me alone and give me the damn pill. Where are we on the evolution of that.
Speaker 2:I feel like most of my patients, especially if you earnestly believe in these things will at least say yes, absolutely. I'm going to make a concerted effort to do it, especially if they're overweight or starting to have a BMI that's elevated. I would start telling them look, you're going to start needing medicine unless you start going to the gym right now and at a certain point I say we could start you on the medicine. But if you want to get off this medicine eventually, you have to work out, go to the gym, lose a lot of body mass that you have right now the weight. Once you lose the weight and you're feeling better, we can then to really maintain yourself. My patients, if they care about themselves and other people care about them and they notice that people are noticing that they're getting fitter or looking better, that encourages them to continue on that trajectory, or looking better, that encourages them to continue on that trajectory.
Speaker 1:I'm glad you brought up the idea of looking better. I think sometimes that is almost said derisively, like a put down like oh, you just work out because you want to look good. No, that's not true. I work out for a number of reasons, but there's nothing wrong with looking better. I would rather look better than look worse, and it's all relative. I'm not going to look like a 30-year-old underwear model, right, but I can look healthy, rested, like I'm taking care of myself, like I'm managing my stress, like I'm enjoying my life. That doesn't have to do with six-pack abs and tight skin right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it all depends. First of all, it starts with feeling good about yourself and then manifesting it by actually doing things that improve how your appearance, like, for example, cutting their hair a certain way that makes you active, trimming yourself, grooming yourself, and we have a very innate subconscious mind that we judge people whether it's good or bad, on their appearance.
Speaker 2:They haven't cleaned up and they don't care about their appearance. We already put them in a different category versus someone who's well put together, has very dapper appearance. Now you start saying you know what this person is serious about life, is serious about himself, is serious about whatever business he's doing, and so it impacts all factors of your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people listening to this show are probably well aware of how regular exercise and eating right are key components to preventive care and wellness, and we've covered some of that and we might not have to get into all of the factors of that.
Speaker 1:But I am really interested in how physical fitness whether it's the gym or doing whatever you like to do just moving your body with intentionality, even after a certain age, even throughout life how all that factors into this holistic approach to health with our mental health, with our emotional wellbeing, with our social life.
Speaker 1:How all that factors into this holistic approach to health with our mental health, with our emotional well-being, with our social life these things that are so important as we age that I'm constantly telling gym owners about that they need to talk to their prospects and clients about. When we're 25, we think we go to the gym so we can have big muscles or look sexy or whatever, but by the time you're 60 or 70, maybe your spouse is gone and you're lonely and maybe you need a social outlet or you need people to notice when you don't show up somewhere for a time period of time, or these numerous things that I don't think are well known in the public. How can we sell this idea that physical fitness is good for your mental fitness and for your emotional fitness as well?
Speaker 2:It's a double. It's a two-way street, right? Because if you're not out there looking for relationships, maybe you don't go to the gym as much because you don't care about. Look, I want to attract a partner in my life. Say, you lost your wife, for example. After the mourning period, you really should get into a gym, go to a good doctor. That'll get you, boost you up and make you feel like you're relevant again so you could track a new partner.
Speaker 2:If you're not feeling good about yourself and you're not attractive out there, that's going to make you. It's a vicious cycle. It'll make you less want to be attractive and that'll bring your attractiveness down even more. And what we want to do is we want to give them on a more of a kind of the reverse of a vicious cycle. How do we reverse a vicious cycle? Is we start getting people to feel better about themselves and really everyone could be relevant. Everyone has to go to go to someone who can help them get to that point. So I think the good place to start is in a doctor's office.
Speaker 2:If you're not feeling like you want a relationship or you're not into sex or you're not into kind of that whole thing, it may be a hormonal issue, and so we should. And if your testosterone is very low, you're going to have a very low sex drive and very low attractiveness to other people because you're not going to be setting that vibe out there that you're looking. And so if you're not sending these vibes out to the world, you have to stay relevant in the game, and what I mean by the game it's the game of life. We're living in a kind of a game of life, and if we're not living in our maximal capacity that listen, we have one go. So I tell people you got to use it or lose it and pretty much all aspects of your life. So if you're not having sex, you better start having sex more, because you're going to lose that ability at some point, and for everyone it's different. You really should be having sex at least once a week, and if you're not when I mean by sexes, whether masturbation or actual sex you really have to continue to use your erections, Otherwise you're not going to get them anymore, and so really, what holds is for me is just to tell people look, I ask almost everyone.
Speaker 2:Erectile dysfunction is a big issue that a lot of men experience. A lot of it is from blood pressure, overweight, being overweight, heart conditions All these things are really bad for that, for erections. And of course, say, for example, if we give you Viagra or Cialis, people worry that the medicine is actually bad for the heart. But the interesting thing is, the medicine is good for the heart, it's the exercise that's bad for the heart. So say you haven't had sex for three, four or five years, you're probably not working out, You're probably not maintaining yourself because you're not looking for that kind of companionship and sexual relationship. A sexual relationship is a very important thing to continue to maintain yourself, and so if you're not looking for that sexual relationship, you really should see a doctor and find out. Hey, is there anything under the hood that is interfering with this desire?
Speaker 1:We've talked about erections and prostates, but I want to make sure that people understand we're also talking about women as well women's health and aging, menopause, bone health, any number of issues and the changing hormones that they experience. So tell us just briefly about that. What are some key factors or indicators, or concerns for women.
Speaker 2:The key for women is, again, to continue to exercise, to continue to have a good appearance. Meaning right now, what I mean by a good appearance is to optimize how much you weigh. Most women tend to gain weight, especially if they're feeling depressed or lonely or in other things, and that contributes because the more you gain weight, the more likely you are of continuing to be in that same condition, and the opposite is true. So, say, you start losing weight and start feeling fit and you start attracting more partners out there, you're going to want to continue to maintain yourself and maintain yourself even more, and so really, that's really the key. One of the things is you always have to have a good appearance. What does that mean? Really? The goal is to maintain your attractiveness and maintain your relevance in the world, and how you do that is just maintaining how you look, maintaining how you feel, maintaining your weight.
Speaker 2:Gym is a very critical aspect in both men and women. Because, again, what does that do? First of all, there's a social interaction there. Number two is that it makes you use muscles that need to be used, and if you don't use these muscles enough, again, if you don't use these muscles, you will lose them, and it will be much harder to gain them back once they're, let's say, smaller than they should be. We're social animals. We really need to have our friends, and so the best thing a woman can do is find a girlfriend who's also into fitness, who's also into taking care of herself, who's also into maintaining herself, and then you start having a motivation. It's almost like a kind of a healthy competition.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to quickly recap a few of these key points here at the beginning of a new year. People over 50, 60, 70 and, and whatever Preventive care, get your blood work done. What else? What else do we need to do? It gives me three things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, check your vitals, which is blood pressure, heart rate. These are super simple, easy things. So these apps that we have we have like watches now that actually monitor your blood pressure. I recommend those to patients because if you start experiencing weird kind of heart conditions, it'll detect that early, and I think we have technology that can improve our health and so we should be utilizing it. Check your blood sugar Urine testing, I think, is also very important. Looks for infections, looks for blood in the urine. I recommend that at age 50, that you do a colonoscopy Very critical.
Speaker 2:One of the kind of main killers of most people in their prime is colon cancer. So for women, they should do pap smears. Pap smears are critical and super important. How do we hack our own body code so we stay relevant longer? You want to live longer with brain power, with physical abilities, energy, good mood, good appearance. All these things are super important for not just living longer but living a healthier, longer life and a more relevant life. And again, like I said, the only thing we have in this world is really our health. Without that, we have no money, we have no relationships, we really have nothing else. So to take a day off to see four or five doctors that are important in your life, whether it be a gynecologist, primary care, urology, cardiology. These are like four fields and, I would argue, plastic surgery, but I think these are critical aspects to maintaining yourself for the long haul.
Speaker 1:We have covered a lot of ground. I really appreciate it. I want you to tell people where they can go to learn more about all of this.
Speaker 2:My website is moderneurologistcom. On my website, I like to talk about just getting the most modern evaluation possible. Make sure that complaints are addressed. If something's not being addressed properly, you go to someone who actually can do it for you. And so again, in business, in medicine, in life, if you don't maintain yourself, you maintain your practice and keep modernizing, we're going to fall back and we're not going to do as well as people who are doing that, and so I encourage that in every aspect of your life.
Speaker 2:So, whether it be your business, we have AI out there.
Speaker 2:I use AI a lot to help me get, get marketing out there for patients so they understand what we offer, and so I feel like there's a lot of different cool technologies out there that you have to keep utilizing.
Speaker 2:We use AI in kind of note writing in our practice. Sure, the notes are written well and they're very clear and they're concise and to the point, and there's a lot of cool technologies out there that actually modernize practice, modernize medicine, modernize just the way you live life right now, and so I encourage people to stay modern, to watch YouTube videos, watch podcasts on topics you're interested in. You'll learn a lot of cool new things. It'll keep your brain active, keep you always focused on new trends and new technology. So very important thing to keep the activity in life. That's why I tell people never retire. You can retire from certain work but you could pick up other work that is kind of computer work for example, that you can do and they maintain your brain keeps maintaining how you think, the more a lot of people after they retire go down very rapidly. I see that a lot.
Speaker 2:People tell me okay, I'm going to this is my last year of being a teacher. And then they just really, just two years later, I see them in my office and they look like a shell of themselves just from two years ago and I think a lot of that is just look, they have no purpose. They have no, they don't have to get up in the morning, prepare, and it's a lot of exercise sometimes to get to work. Walk around. There's a lot of exercise and actually, if you look at a health app, it'll tell you a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a very important thing with these activity trackers on your wrist, I check that every day. I make sure that I'm walking around enough, and a lot of times, people who are retired sit on their couch. There's no engaging other people. You need social engagement with other people, not just watching videos. So a lot of that is what I think people should focus on. The new year is to say, okay, look, how do I go out there, meet new people. Friends are critical, whether it be close friends that are intimate or just good friends that are very close with you, that you could rely on. They could rely on you, and that's what we provide each other and it helps our brains, it helps our social interaction. It forces out, say for dinners and do things that we wouldn't normally not do and just stay home and do nothing.
Speaker 1:Okay, doctor, I think that's going to wrap us up for today. I want to thank you for your time and giving us all a lot to think about as we head into a new year. So happy holidays to you.
Speaker 2:Happy, and healthy new year Exactly, and hope we stay healthy and continue to maintain and advance our health for the next year.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you for your time, senator. It's been a real treat. Same here. Thank you for listening to Optimal Aging. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll subscribe, tell a friend and write a review. All of that helps me grow my audience. You can learn more about me and my content business at primefitcontentcom. You can send me an email at jay at primefitcontentcom. That's jay j-a-y at primefitcontentcom. I'm also on Facebook, linkedin and Instagram so you can find me anywhere you like and be in touch. And again, thanks for listening. Join me next time.
