Episode #227: Your Health Needs a GPS: Why Your Longevity Score Matters

In this episode of the Berman Method Podcast, Dr. Jake and Jenni Berman wrap up their “10 keys to longevity” series by introducing a simple but powerful way to measure your health: the longevity score. They explain how relying on feelings alone can be misleading, and why having an objective score helps you truly understand where you stand and what needs improvement.

They break down how small, gradual declines in health often go unnoticed over time—whether it’s mobility, metabolism, or stress—and why most people don’t realize they’re getting worse until it’s too late. Using relatable analogies, they highlight the importance of awareness and proactive action instead of blaming aging or genetics.

If you want a clear path to better health and longevity, this episode shows you how to find your starting point and take control. It reinforces that lasting results don’t come from quick fixes, but from consistently addressing root causes and improving your score over time.

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Transcript

Why We Treat Root Causes

Speaker 0:00

Rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' on the Berman Method podcast, where we're focused on treating problems and not symptoms. Where David going against Goliath, Goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharmaceutical companies, your health insurance companies, they do not have your best interests in mind. They'll choose profits over patient outcomes every single time. It's almost like that's a recording. I've got this thing dialed in so much that it's almost like it's a recording.

Speaker 1 0:30

Every single time.

Speaker 0:32

Yeah. You know, we need to be uh you need to repeat yourself more than you need to hear something new, because it takes how many times before you heard something?

Speaker 1 0:40

Seven.

Speaker 0:41

Seven times minimum before you actually hear it. So when we're sitting here yelling at Stella to go brush her teeth.

Speaker 1 0:49

And after the third time I lose my mind, maybe I should just say it four more times real quick.

Speaker 0:55

Then if you're Jake Berman here with my beautiful co-host.

Speaker 1 1:00

Jenni Berman, physician assistant.

Speaker 1:03

And we are back. We are jet we just wrapped up an amazing ten episodes. You really should go back and listen to every single one of them over and over and over again. Just put it like your playlist. Just get it over and over again because these are the keys. They're the keys of the kingdom. And it's uh what's the right way to say it? An ounce of prevention? An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, right? Yes. This is it right here. But this is as close to the easy button as you could possibly get.

Speaker 1 1:39

Yes. I mean, is it it's not easy.

Speaker 1:43

That's why I said as close to the easy button as you can get.

Speaker 1 1:52

But there's no easy pill or button or shot, even though people want to think there is.

Speaker 1:59

There's no what are you mumbling over there?

Speaker 1 2:02

That now, like these injections people think, oh, that's just the easy button. But you still have to work. If you're taking the injections, you still have to lift weights, you still have to fuel your body the right way, you still have to move and be able to touch your toes and get off the ground without using your hands. You still gotta follow the 10 keys.

Speaker 2:21

Yeah, you still have to do things.

Speaker 1 2:23

So it's not just an easy button.

Speaker 2:25

No, it's as close to the easy button as you could get. It's the playbook, is what it is. Yes, I like that. It is literally the playbook. This is how you arrive at 80 feeling 40, and if you're already in your 80s, kick your 90s ass. Like this is it. We see it every single day, and we've been seeing it for years. So you ever all my listeners, our all of our listeners have the good fortune of learning from what we get to see every single day.

Speaker 1 2:53

Right.

Speaker 2:54

Yeah.

The 10 Keys Playbook

Speaker 1 2:54

Yes, if you follow the tips.

Speaker 2:57

Follow the tips.

Speaker 1 2:58

So the last ten episodes, well, maybe more than ten total, because I think we had some holidays in there, but overall, the last ten episodes, we went through each of the keys, five physical components and five chemical components to building to the ultimate boomer.

Turning Feelings Into A Score

Speaker 3:15

Yeah, that can those ten measurements contribute to your longevity score. So to put this all the put this whole thing together and get it as objective as possible, we had to come up with some type of objective measurement versus subjectivity. Like, how do you feel? Well, that's a subjective thing. And how I feel is gonna be different from how Jenni feels when I have a a man cold, a sniffly nose, my life is ending, and it's like, okay, just pull the curtains down. I'll be lucky to live through the night. Uh let me get on the couch, let me get in a recliner. Where's my blankie at? Um, Jenni, can you please bring me a bowl of cereal? All for a sniffly nose. Versus versus Jenni has pneumonia and she's still prepping lunches, cooking dinner, juggling three kids. So feelings are very subjective, but we had to come up a way to make them objective so that we could actually measure it. And we come up, we have come up with a way to give you your longevity score. It's zero out of a hundred, so it's very simple, replicates everything that we've known our whole entire life. Just like back in school, you get 100%. Okay, you got an A. 90 to 80, or 90 to 100 is an A, 80 to 90 is a B. But in this particular case, we're gonna go from 80 to 100, you're on track. From 60 to 80, you're close, you're a longevity builder, we got some work to do. Anything less than 60, oh boy.

Speaker 1 4:56

Right, which is just like school. If we get less than a 60, that's failing.

Speaker 2 5:02

It is failing.

Speaker 1 5:03

That's not good. Not to call you specifically a failure. If you've been here with us and you scored less than a 60, which many of our clients or new clients have scored less than a 60. However, that shows us exactly where the improvement can happen, what areas we're struggling in, what we need to do to focus on when it comes to these five physical and five chemical components to be able to build that score and shift us into this longevity builder, which also has been possible with the clients that we've been seeing and being able to improve these numbers. So just because you're below 60 doesn't mean you're doomed forever. Just means we have a little more work to do. And if you do not do something, your longevity is not there. Nicely put.

Speaker 5:51

Yeah, the best part about it is you don't know what you don't know. And if you go based off of what you think you know versus what you know you know, then you're not gonna go in the right direction. I think I know I'm going in the right direction versus I know that I'm going in the right direction. There's two very different things. To say it even more simply, there's a reason why certain people arrive at 80 feeling great and moving better than everybody else that's in their cohort.

Speaker 1 6:23

Right. And it's not an easy pill.

Speaker 6:26

It's not an easy pill.

Speaker 1 6:27

In fact, most of them aren't even taking pills.

Speaker 6:29

They aren't taking pills, and so many people that are not moving well, they say, well, it's genetics. They got good genes. No, they're working their ass off. Right. Like they're doing things that you're not doing. And maybe you are doing it, but you're not doing it the right way.

Speaker 1 6:46

Right. I can guarantee you that those people who are in their 80s, feeling good, being active, not taking any medications, if they have five siblings, which most of them, you know, back then people had a lot of siblings, they're probably not in the same boat as them. So it's not genetic.

Speaker 7:03

No, it's absolutely not genetic. And here's the best part about genes it's scientifically proven that you can turn them on and turn them off.

Speaker 1 7:11

Correct.

Speaker 7:12

So it's like, okay, well, that was your excuse. Well, it no longer holds water because you can turn them off now.

Speaker 1 7:17

Yes. By doing the right things. By seeing Berman Health Club.

Speaker 7:21

There you go. There you go. Shameless plug right there. So bringing it all together, what we've done is we found out we've come up with a very simple way to give you an objective score. You can get this thing done if you want to breeze through it. You can do the whole score in 10 minutes or less, and it takes you through all 10 of the things that we've been talking about for the past 10 episodes in more detail so that we can come up with an objective score for each one of the ten things. Each ten items has a total score of ten points. Ten points times ten items gives you a hundred for all you math majors out there.

Speaker 1 7:59

Good job.

Speaker 8:01

And the the most rewarding part about these longevity assessments that we've been doing lately is the look on people's faces when they get their score back.

Speaker 1 8:14

They're like, What?

Speaker 8:15

Like, how many times did people say, Oh my gosh, I didn't think I was that bad?

Speaker 1 8:21

Right.

Speaker 8:22

That's why we're doing this right now is because you never think that you're that bad when you're in it.

Speaker 1 8:28

You're too subjective to be objective.

Speaker 8:30

Yes, I'm too subjective to be objective. Jenni's too subjective to be objective. What how many times have we used this example where we'll be working out? Jenni will be doing squats, thinking that she's doing them great, and I'm going, okay, yeah, you're doing them great now. But it's really only 98% great.

Speaker 2 8:49

Right.

Speaker 8:49

A week from now it's 96% great. A month later, we're at 92% great, and then three months later we want to know why her back hurts.

Speaker 1 8:58

That's exactly right.

Speaker 8:59

Same thing is true for the chemical things.

Speaker 1 9:03

Yes. Yeah. You have one night that you don't sleep too well, then we have three nights that you're not sleeping too well, then it's five nights, and we can't figure out why our sleep is just getting worse and worse and worse. And then we want to believe that it's just aging or it's hormonal and there's nothing we can do about it, which isn't true.

The Google Maps Blue Dot

Speaker 9:20

It's not true at all. Once we have an actual objective measurement, then we can actually do something about it. Think about Google Maps. The reason why Google Maps is so effective at getting you from point A to point B is there's only one reason. Because it knows where you are currently.

Speaker 1 9:43

Oh, yes.

Speaker 9:44

Think about that for a minute. The biggest change from paper maps, I used to have one when I first got my first truck. I had one of those collapsible paper maps that you opened that thing up and it took up the entire car of the truck. Like there's no way you're looking at this thing and driving at the same time. You better pull over, put the vehicle in park, and unwrap this map because it took up the whole thing. But the problem with that map was you didn't know where you were. Right. You you could see where you wanted to get to, but you didn't know where you were. So I was like, oh crap, I'm lost. I'll never forget it. My first year in Gainesville. I'm coming home for Thanksgiving break. And I-75 was a parking lot. An absolute parking lot. So, of course, I do the smart thing and I get off I-75 and I bust out my handy map, and I just start going down 301. And I didn't know this, but 301 is not a straight line. I mean, it there are places where it breaks off and then comes back together again and it zigs and it zags. And there was one point where I'm going, I don't know if I'm zigging or zagging. And I open up the map again. I'm going, I don't know where I'm at right now.

Speaker 1 11:05

No idea.

Speaker 11:06

I know I can see where I want to get to, but I didn't know where I was at. Versus now you just open up the app on your phone and that little blue dot pops up and says, You are here. Where do you want to go?

Speaker 1 11:15

Unless you have Jenni's phone.

Speaker 11:17

Yeah, you got a trick phone.

Speaker 1 11:19

I got a special Google Maps.

Speaker 11:23

But that's the key to Google Maps, is it's so successful at getting you from where you currently are to where you want to go because it knows where you currently are at. Right. That's what this longevity assessment score is all about is you know that you want to arrive at 80 feeling 40. Okay, great. How do you know where you currently are at?

Speaker 1 11:44

Right. How can you be objective about it to figure out your score? And then what can we do with that objectivity to fix it?

Speaker 11:52

Exactly. So so often people think that it's just sheer chance, sheer luck, that you're gonna just keep thriving until one day that you're gonna die. I mean, how many people think that that's how their life is gonna end? I'm just gonna be kicking butt and just going 100 miles an hour and then one day that I'm just gonna die. I'm just gonna have a go to sleep one day and not wake up. But before I went to sleep, I was still going 100 miles an hour. If you don't do something to make that happen, it's not going to happen.

Slow Decline You Do Not Notice

Speaker 1 12:23

Right. Yes. If we're not aware of the changes that our body is going through on a daily and yearly basis, then that's where we actually start declining. We don't even realize we're declining. It's just like these people who think they can balance on one leg for 60 seconds or on each leg for 60 seconds, these people who think they can get out of a chair without using their hands, and they don't even realize every single time they stand up out of a chair, they're pushing off of the uh armrest or they're pushing off of their thighs. They just don't realize it. They're not thinking about, they're not real, they're not aware of the changes that their body is going through that one day they can and then one day they can't.

Speaker 13:05

Exactly. This is the classic example of you take a live frog and you throw it into a pot of boiling water and it jumps right out. It's like, screw that, this is way too hot, I'm out. But if you take that same live frog and you put it in a pot of water that's room temperature, and you very gradually increase the temperature over time, that frog will stay in that pot of water until it boils to death and it dies.

Speaker 2 13:32

Right.

Speaker 13:32

Because it's happening so slowly, so gradually over time, it doesn't realize that it's happening. This is what's happening to every one of us. Right. We don't even realize that it's happening because we're talking over years. So many times somebody comes in with a hip issue, there's a significant weakness in one hip compared to the other hip, and they go, Well, how did this happen? And I've gotten to the point now where I answer the question, I say, I don't know. It's probably because of something that happened 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years ago. And more often than not, somebody will remember something that happened in their 20s or 30s or even 40s, where they're like, Oh yeah, I sprained my ankle real bad, and I was in a boot for six weeks. Think about that for a minute. Western medicine puts you in a boot for six weeks. That's just standard protocol, right? You sprain your ankle real bad, it's black and blue, it's the size of a softball. You go to your GP, they put you in a walking boot and they say, leave it on for six weeks, and then take it off and just walk it off. Right. That's standard protocol. Right. What's what nobody realized that's happening is when you're walking around in that boot for six weeks, you ain't using the same muscles the way that you've been using them.

Speaker 1 14:50

Well, sure. And you're off balance, and then your hips are out, and then one butt cheek is real weak.

Speaker 14:57

The problem is you don't realize it though, because you're still, I'm doing air quotes right now, young, agile, flexible, and you take the walking boot off and you just start walking again, and after a couple of weeks or a couple of months, you're like, Oh, yeah, I guess I'm fine. But you never retrained your muscles how to work the right way again.

Speaker 1 15:16

Right. Yes.

Speaker 15:17

You were able to get by for 10 or 20 or even 30 years until finally it just became too asymmetrical and it started hurting.

Stress Blood Sugar And Inflammation

Speaker 1 15:25

Mm-hmm. Yep. And the metabolism's the same way, the way you're eating in your 20s and 30s, and you can just, you know, cut out the alcohol for a couple nights, you can cut out the pretzels or the chips for a couple nights, and you lose the two to three pounds that you want to lose, and you're back to normal. And overall, that's you know, that kind of metab that dietary intake in your 20s and 30s is impacting your metabolism years later. And separately, what people also don't experience is that different stressors and traumas in their 20s and 30s or even younger are affecting their blood sugar and their cortisol control many years later. So, again, just like you on the the physical side on the chemical side, we can often also correlate a time 10, 20, 30, 40 years ahead or beh before, whatever, before they came to see us, that some huge impact has now impacted their metabolism.

Speaker 16:26

That's a huge one right there. And we use this example a lot. When I put a CGM on a continuous glucose monitor, and you put a CGM on diet absolutely affects my blood sugar. When I eat a cookie or a piece of pizza or spaghetti, whatever it is, my blood sugar spikes. Versus you, your blood sugar doesn't really spike when you eat food. Your blood sugar spikes when you have a stress response.

Speaker 1 16:56

Yes, when I get anxious about something or stressed about something, it is high and is gonna stay high until I figure out a way to reset that stress response and to get myself to calm down. So yeah, not just food impacts blood sugar, stressors, inflammation, food sensitivities, just like we've talked about on this too when I wear a CGM. If I got a cross-contamination of a food sensitivity, that also spiked my blood sugar. And that's an inflammatory response on the immune system. So just over years, this inflammation and stress could also be impacting our longevity score, not just from a sense of sleep, uh, but also overall metabolism and inflammation in the joints.

Who Scores High And Why

Speaker 17:42

Exactly. So if we try to wrap this thing up and start to land the plane here, you don't know what you don't know, and the best way to get to where you're going is to know where you currently are. The longevity score is the best way to do it. And anybody can do it. It doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter if you're 20 or 90. You everybody can do it. You can do it in less than 10 minutes. We can do it virtually, you can do it here in the office. We just very strategically take you through all 10 of the questions. It's not just yes or no answers, it's a little more to it. Ideally, we'd have more than 10 minutes, but we can get it done in 10 minutes. And right now, out of everybody that we tested, we've only got one person who has scored above an 80.

Speaker 1 18:35

Yes.

Speaker 18:36

Only one. Before we've ever worked with them. Only one person has come into our world scoring an 83. Now I want to tell everybody who this person is, not who they really are, like their name. We'll keep that to ourselves. But this is this person the person, this person is somebody who sought us out because of our longevity marketing message. Arrive at 80, feeling 40, and if you're already in your 80s, kick your 90s ass. This guy sought us out because of that because he's already been doing it. This guy already went to the Mayo Clinic and spent a ton of money there trying to figure out what is the game plan, what's the playbook to increase in your quality of life and your longevity. This is a guy that's being proactive and doing it, and he does it every single day. This guy's extremely active and he's constantly trying to find the latest and greatest to get an edge above.

Speaker 2 19:35

Right.

Speaker 19:36

So there's no wonder that he comes in here. He had zero complaints at all. And it's like, okay, yes.

Speaker 1 19:43

Yeah, his biggest focus was to live a longer but more active and healthier lifestyle. So he doesn't just want to be physically active, he wants to be mentally active. And so he's looking for every, like you said, play that he can work on to be able to achieve that. What was the goal? 110. 10. Okay. I was gonna say 107 was his goal, but 110. Yeah, that's huge.

Speaker 20:07

Yeah, so he's he was at our big event, our big longevity event that we had back in March, and he told one of our other clients that invited him there. He goes, Yeah, um, on his way out, he came up to me and he said, Well, now the goal is to live to 110.

Speaker 1 20:25

And you know, with scoring an 83, that didn't stop him from coming to join us and making even more changes to increase his score.

The Longevity Builder Program

Speaker 20:36

Think about that for a minute. He started before we even signed up for a program, he scores an 83. And even though he scores an 83, which is on the lower end of where we want it to be, obviously as close to 100 as we want it, as we could possibly get, he still signs up for a complete top-notch program. I mean, all the bells and whistles, there was no expense spared. Throw the kitchen sink at this man so that he can arrive at 110 thriving. Like, that's what we're talking about. Right, you've got to be proactive with this thing. You can't just sit around and hope that it happens. No, we we're giving you the keys of the kingdom now. Right, we're giving you the little blue dot. Like, you can get rid of that map now. Like, let's not archive it like the the almanac and back to the future. That was just on again this weekend. I can never turn that movie off. Whenever that thing comes up, I'm like, ah, damn it. I'm glued to it. And it was part two. So they go to the future, and Marty gets the almanac because he's gonna go back to the 80s and you know, win some money on some bets that he already knew were were gonna happen. Like, no, you get rid of the map. We're done with the map. We've got your little blue dot here. The longevity assessment score is your little blue dot, tells you exactly where you're at.

Speaker 1 21:55

Right. And then there's options on what to do with this longevity assessment. And obviously, what we would recommend and what many of our clients are doing now, which are is helping to improve their score, is joining the team for a longevity builder program to actually see the the changes and work with the team on a daily and weekly basis to be able to increase the score.

Speaker 22:21

Yeah, there's another little shameless plug. We created a new program specifically for people to get their numbers up, and it's the longevity builder program. And it's a custom program. We've never offered it before the way that it currently is packaged. And it's it's really, really cool. People are loving this thing.

Speaker 1 22:41

Right. Being able to see all sides, not just physical, not just chemical, not just regenerative, but really working with all three sides of the practice, which is the whole reason that we combined as Berman Health Club, so that we can utilize all three areas of physical, chemical, and regenerative health.

Speaker 22:59

Okay.

Speaker 1 23:00

Awesome. Ciao for now.