Live Long and Well with Dr. Bobby
Let's explore how you can Live Long and Well with six evidence based pillars: exercise, good sleep, proper nutrition, mind-body activities, exposure to heat/cold, and social relationships. I am a physician scientist, Ironman Triathlete, and have a passion for helping others achieve their best self.
Live Long and Well with Dr. Bobby
#21: What Is Your Health Type And Why Does It Matter?
In this episode, I dive into a new way to think about wellness—your unique Health Type. Unlike traditional advice that tells us what to do to stay healthy, I explore how we approach our health, which is just as crucial for long-term well-being. By understanding your personal Health Type, you can make lifestyle choices that align with who you are, making it easier to stick to routines and prioritize what truly benefits you.
Take the Health Type Quiz here:
Join the Mastermind Workshop Waitlist here: the Live Long and Well Jumpstart
Key Points:
- The Concept of Health Types: Just as each person has unique health goals, we also have unique ways of approaching health. Understanding your Health Type helps tailor your wellness plan to suit your personality, motivations, and lifestyle.
- Why Health Type Matters: Whether you’re driven by evidence, need simplicity, or seek balance between life and wellness, knowing your type allows you to set realistic and sustainable health goals. It's not one-size-fits-all; it’s about finding what works for you.
- Introducing the Five Health Types:
- Holistic Health Hacker - Comprehensive, curious, and often data-driven, these individuals optimize every area of health.
- Single-Minded Achiever - Focused on specific areas (e.g., fitness or nutrition) but may overlook other health aspects.
- Purposeful Path Planner - Knowledge-seekers who can feel overwhelmed by too many health options and may struggle with decision paralysis.
- Contentment Creator - Health needs to fit around their lifestyle, valuing balance and ease.
- Hopeful Health Seeker - Persistent, often dealing with chronic issues or setbacks, and needing encouragement and support.
- Health Types Are Fluid: Your Health Type isn’t static; it can change with life events, new health challenges, or aging. Recognizing this flexibility can help you adapt when your approach to health needs to shift.
- Take the Quiz: To identify your Health Type, try the quiz at DrBobbyLiveLongAndWell.com. This quick quiz provides personalized insights and recommendations based on your unique approach to health.
Key Takeaways:
- Discovering your Health Type can make wellness more attainable and enjoyable, helping you make informed choices that fit your life.
- Embrace flexibility in your wellness journey—health needs can evolve, and understanding this can help you support yourself and others.
- Start by taking the quiz to gain clarity on your Health Type and apply its insights to live long and well.
For more personalized guidance, resources, and episode recommendations based on your Health Type, make sure to visit the website and let me know your thoughts. Let’s take this journey together toward a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Join the Mastermind Workshop Waitlist here: the Live Long and Well Jumpstart
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby Du Boi and welcome. To Live Long and Well, a podcast where we will talk about what you can do to live as long as possible and with as much energy and vigor that you wish. Together, we will explore what practical and evidence-supported steps you can take. Come join me on this very important journey and I hope that you feel empowered along the way. I'm a physician, ironman, triathlete and have published several hundred scientific studies. I'm honored to be your guide. Welcome to episode 21,. What's your Health Type and why does it matter? Today's episode is going to be different Now, as you know, I typically talk about what to do to live long and well, but today I want to cover a different but really important topic how we do it.
Dr. Bobby:How we go about approaching our health and the key is the how differs for each of us. Look, you know me. I love research and the evidence, and the evidence sometimes tells us exactly what will move the needle and improve our longevity and our health. You know, if you have a high blood pressure problem, get it under control. Exercise is important for everyone. There are broad benefits of sauna. All of these are great tools on our longevity tool belt and they typically apply to everyone.
Dr. Bobby:But as I've been creating this podcast and sharing it with family and friends and talking with you, I've noticed something really interesting, or at least very interesting to me the way each of us approaches health is different, because we are fundamentally different people. Here's an example I'm one of four kids in my family. I have an older sister, an older brother and a younger sister, and we're all generally healthy people. Now, some of this comes from the fact that my father died when we were in our 20s and we watched that all unfold and I think deep down, we all decided we wanted to avoid that if we could and to be as healthy as possible. But the way that each of us approaches live long and well has played out really really differently for each of us. Now, even though the evidence might tell us all to do basically the same thing, that's not how each of us approached it.
Dr. Bobby:So take me for an example. I became a doctor, started running marathons in my 40s and then started triathlons after that and built up to the Ironman distance. Now I really focus on my wellness, as will come to no surprise to you. So I started meditating decades ago before it became cool and I hopped right on the ice bath, cold plunge train and have built the second career since retiring around promoting wellness for others. My siblings are different and they look different and they act different. So two of them are avid runners my brother even started doing shorter triathlons and we try to do an event together every year. But meditation, cold plunges, not a chance for him. And my other sister, well, a big yoga fan but wouldn't touch an ice bath if her life depended on it.
Dr. Bobby:So we all have the same genetics, the same parents and upbringing and the same evidence, even the same trigger of our father, but the way that this plays out from a wellness standpoint is radically different amongst us. So where does this leave us when it comes to living long and well? As someone who cares about health and cares about my family, how do I figure out what to recommend to my siblings, knowing what Larry will try Lindy would laugh at? So let's move on to part two. So that's a bit of the motivation. So part two. Let's meet the idea of health type.
Dr. Bobby:The other day I was having this exact same conversation with my daughter that folks differ in how they approach health. Now she's a business and marketing strategist and she said to me Daddy, it sounds like you need a quiz. Yes, okay, here's an aside. Daddy is perhaps the most wonderful word in the English language, especially if spoken by an adult daughter or son. Three-year-olds call you daddy. That's delicious when your adult daughter or son calls you that. Ah, what a wonderful sound. Okay, rachel, of course, knows my brothers and sisters really well, and so one morning we sat around and mapped out exactly how our friends and family seem to approach wellness, and what we realized is there are five distinct ways that people tend to approach living long and well. So, preview of coming attractions or at least it's now available we put together a quiz and it'll take you two minutes and it'll tell you your health type and you'll learn a lot about yourself in the process. There's going to be a link in the show notes, or just go to my website, which is drbobbylivelongandwellcom. Take the quiz and I really look forward to feedback.
Dr. Bobby:Okay, so why is all this important? Well, at the end of the day, I could write up a many-page prescription for all the things each of my siblings might do to live long and well, or for each one of you, but if you calculate the number of hours it would actually take to do all of these things. In addition, of course, is you have a normal life where you work and you sleep and you eat and you try to have a little bit of fun. It turns out we just don't have enough hours in the day for most of us or, frankly, the energy to do it all. So if we don't actually have time to do all things to live long and well unless we sort of give up everything else in our life, where the heck do we start and how do you prioritize what you personally should be doing? Because, as it turns out, you're going to have to choose and that's where your health type comes in and I think can be very, very helpful.
Dr. Bobby:So if I'm going to recommend a longevity protocol to my older sister, it's going to have to revolve around things she enjoys, like yoga, meditation and connecting with family and friends. It doesn't matter how much high-intensity exercise or cold plunging I tell her to do. She's just not going to do it because that's simply not how she engages with wellness. My brother, on the other hand, he might be convinced Now. He's really determined once he has a specific goal in mind, but the rest of the time he's not necessarily searching for all the other things he could do, and that's a problem because as he ages, as we all age, there are inevitably more levers we probably need to do to stay healthy, and if you focus on just one aspect of health, you're missing out on many ways to live long and well.
Dr. Bobby:Yeah, and you've probably even noticed yourselves as you listen to this podcast. I bet you've clicked on some episodes but not on others, and you've probably chosen to listen to things that spark your interest, and that's okay. I don't expect you to engage with every topic the same, but when it comes to live long and well, understanding how to put together your own personalized regimen is really critical, because it's not apples to apples. What you do is likely to look different than your spouse or your friends or your kids, and that's okay. The important thing is that you know how to figure it out for yourself. All right, with that motivation and background, let's go to part three. So what are the different health types? So, at a high level, there are five different ways we approach our health, and I'm gonna talk through them briefly here Now. If you go to the show notes and go to the link to the health quiz. It'll take you two minutes and you can learn a lot more about your specific health type and you'll get a report that shows you all sorts of things about yourself that I hope will be really enlightening. You know, share this with your spouse and your friends. Let them do the quiz too, and who knows, you know, you may all be transformed in ways that you might not think possible. Okay, here's a quick overview of the five health types Holistic health hacker that's the first one, and that's what I am.
Dr. Bobby:So this is my health type, or health archetype, as these things are called. Health hackers tend to be people who focus on basically all aspects of health. I think about exercise and nutrition and sleep and cold plunges. So we are the holistic health hackers, are the ones that you know, think about and get to the gym, and we're biohackers, to use the new phrase, and they may be people that you reach out to to get nutrition advice or ideas about improving your sleep. Now, we love wearables, I love measuring my sleep and I'm eager to understand what's the newest and latest information that I might consider in my health regimen.
Dr. Bobby:Now, the problem with holistic health hackers is that we're already spending a lot of time doing all the things to stay well and eventually we run out of gas. It starts to feel like boy. This is a really big burden, spending my life focused in this way, and as we age, things begin to go wrong. We might get an injury or a chronic condition, and when that happens, we get demoralized because, no matter how hard we try, these things are going to happen. Aging is going to happen. And then it becomes really hard for us. So that's the holistic health hacker.
Dr. Bobby:The second type is my brother, the single-minded achiever. Now, these folks are driven, but they focus on only one or two aspects of their health really seriously. So maybe this is someone who really focuses on nutrition and weight loss, on nutrition and weight loss or they're really focused on being a runner or a cyclist, or they have a very regular yoga practice. So these folks, the single-minded achievers, are wonderful with routines, setting goals, going after what they want, and most of the time that's great. They have passion for the areas they're interested in Could be nutrition, could be mindfulness, could be fitness, but they're not necessarily looking for new or alternative ways to stay healthy, unlike the holistic health hacker like me, where I'm always looking for something new. The problem is for the single-minded achiever. As we age, there are sneaky aspects of health that can show up, like when we least expect it, like an injury or chronic illness, and when you're not balanced in all aspects of your health holistically, it's easy to be surprised and have a real hard time dealing with those types of things that come up. So that's a single-minded achiever Okay.
Dr. Bobby:Next, and this turns out to be the most common one, I've had about 100 people already that have answered the quiz and 40% of them fit into this category, which is called the purposeful path planner. Now, these folks are amazing. They really want to improve their health and they love learning about how to do it. They read blogs and podcasts and books and talk to people. They're curious and they're driven, but sometimes they're filled up with so much information they can't sort through it by themselves. Well, this article says I should do this. This article and podcast says I shouldn't do this. This article says there's something else I should be doing.
Dr. Bobby:These folks can get really analysis, paralysis and they have anxiety because they're not sure which way to go. There's a lot of these folks out there and I know them really well because there are many of them in my family and friends circle. Now their greatest strength, which is probably true for lots of us, actually becomes our Achilles heel, and that's a problem, because, as health issues arise, we need to move forward with a sense of urgency, and when these people are challenged in this way, they can get stuck. They need help wading through all the options and help setting the right direction for themselves. So these purposeful path planners are trying to make it all work. They're looking at lots of information, but they're having a hard time making a decision and moving forward.
Dr. Bobby:Okay, the next one, which is the second most common, is the contentment creator, and again, in the 100 or so we've done so far, there's about 25% of us that fit into contentment creators. Now, I got a bunch of these in my family, so I admire them and I think I understand some of the issues that they address, and I think I understand some of the issues that they address, so they are masters of understanding what matters to them. Now, that could be spending time with their family or traveling, walking with friends, and they do value their health, but in general and this is an important issue health needs to fit into their lifestyle, not the other way around. The holistic health hacker sort of issues of health are front and center For the contentment creator. Life is front and center and health kind of needs to fit in somewhere. So what this means for the contentment creator is that sometimes they miss some of the easy health opportunities that could make a real difference in their longevity. These contentment creators typically don't want to do anything drastic, but with some small evidence-based changes now that can make a real difference down the line if they're willing to sacrifice just a little bit. But again, if you're a contentment creator or you have somebody in your life who is, you have to approach discussions about health in ways that make sense for them.
Dr. Bobby:Okay, the fifth archetype is the hopeful health seeker. These are folks I really admire my daughter's one of them, and these are folks who try really hard for a long time to make improvements in their health. It could be focusing on weight loss, it could be dealing with a chronic issue like an autoimmune illness or heart disease. Maybe they're never quite figuring out a sleep routine that works. You know they start at the gym but they don't continue at the gym. But these folks keep at it, they don't give up, but they're not making the progress they'd like. They've dealt with a lot of frustration, you know, in some ways they're the most committed to health and they don't give up, and that's really quite extraordinary, but it is, and can be, quite exhausting for them, and what these folks need is, you know, a win.
Dr. Bobby:Okay, so, at a high level, these are the five archetypes. Does everyone fit into one? No, but you'd be surprised, a lot of them do so. The holistic health hacker like me, where health is front and center. The single-minded achiever, who has one area they focus on, but not all. The purposeful path planner, who might get lost in the data and not know which way to turn. The contentment creator, where life is front and center and health needs to fit in. And the hopeful health seekers who keep at it, have had a lot of failure in that regard but are willing to try to find a path.
Dr. Bobby:Okay, now part four. That was all very academic, perhaps, but how do you use your health type? So look, I love wearables, I love knowing about myself, I love analyzing my sleep, I love doingA scans to understand my body composition. But knowing about yourself is just one piece of the puzzle. The point of knowing is that you can now figure out what might work for you or your spouse or your loved ones or your friends, because, again, what might work for you isn't necessarily what's going to work for anybody else. Now there's a second aspect of your health type. So the first is sort of knowing who you are or this person is and helping to motivate them in ways that will ring true. So many of us have been around people who we know health should be important and they're not moving forward as much as you might hope or they might hope. And now we realize that our different health types may drive that and so we can be better with ourselves and better with those we love. But there's a second way to think about health type, and that is it turns out our health type isn't static, it actually changes.
Dr. Bobby:So imagine you're me and you're a holistic health hacker and you could be a triathlete like me. You've got your workout regimen down. You got your metrics dialed in Boom. Your doctor tells you you have prostate cancer Metrics dialed in boom, your doctor tells you you have prostate cancer. Suddenly, your typical routine is impossible. So you're spending your time researching chemo protocols or surgery and recovery and you need emotional support for what you're going through. And to add to the problem, without your workout routine your mood starts to suffer and for the first time, you may be dealing with depression.
Dr. Bobby:Seemingly overnight, everything changes how you view your health, how you gather information about your health and even what you're able to do to stay healthy. Very quickly you may have started out as a holistic health hacker, but very quickly you might become a hopeful health seeker or even a purposeful path planner if you get stuck in the research. So how do you move forward in a situation like this? Because we've all got them. I myself have had two prostate surgeries fortunately not for cancer and every time I had the surgery it threw me off a bit. When my sister had breast cancer a number of years ago, it affected all of us in the family and obviously her, and how we think about preventable care also changed. So the key to understanding the new challenges you're facing with these new health triggers is understanding your health type and how that can change and how you might react in a certain way normally, but when something pops up, you may react really differently.
Dr. Bobby:So let's take my daughter for an example. She's struggled with some chronic health issues and that means she bounces back and forth between being a holistic health hacker like me and really working on all her health and a hopeful health seeker. So, depending upon what's going on in her life, she's either one of the healthiest, most well-rounded people you'll meet, which case she's dragging me to do breath work or ice bath workshops or she's in a place of deep emotional vulnerability. And when she's struggling, she doesn't need me to fire up the sauna. She needs reassurance and hope. So knowing how she moves back and forth helps me and those around her work with her in as productive a ways as possible.
Dr. Bobby:So it's a different way of supporting ourselves, understanding our health type and supporting the people around us, because health is dynamic and we have to change with it, and that's why I hope I've convinced you, and maybe your loved ones, to take the health type quiz, because all the data, all the evidence, all the standard ways of doing things may not support you in the ways that are going to be most productive for you. It takes, as I said, just two minutes. So, finally, even when your health isn't changing, most of us have more than one health type. So, although you may primarily be somebody who is a purposeful path planner and enjoying finding new information, but having some difficulties making decisions. You have a secondary type, which might be a contentment creator, somebody who really feels that life is important and health needs to fit into it. So that secondary type is also lurking in the background and may pop up as health challenges arise.
Dr. Bobby:All right, so what's next? Well, if you haven't done the quiz, please take the quiz. It'll open up a whole new level of understanding when it comes to the best path for you to live long and well. It's free, obviously, and my hope is that it helps you, and I truly truly want feedback. So let me know what you learn and how it's working for you and how we might make this better, and you can find the link in the show notes or, again, just go to my website, which is drbobbilivelongandwellcom.
Dr. Bobby:Now, once you take it, it'll give you the results. For you, there'll be some emails that'll come to you about your health type. It'll describe the health type, what your key skills are, what challenges you might face and how you might kind of approach living long and well in a productive way. I'll also send you some resources that might help you to understand your specific health type, some selected podcast episodes, and I'm also going to use this concept of health type in the podcast as we move forward and the types as I talked about are really relevant, whether you're reading a health headline or wondering whether it's accurate or whether changes in your exercise program are needed so as you move from your 30s and 40s and beyond and how that works, or how to consider alcohol and its impact on your brain and general health and whether you're willing to modify your alcohol intake. Each of these topics affect us in different ways and I hope I can be sensitive to the different health topics.
Dr. Bobby:Using this health type construct and coming soon, I'll be sharing some opportunities. You might work more closely with me directly if you want. So please let me know what you think of this podcast episode, the health type approach, the quiz and whether the results seem accurate to you. We are all on a journey together and, as always, I hope your journey helps you to live long and well. Thanks so much for listening to Live Long and Well with Dr Bobby. If you liked this episode, please provide a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen If you want to continue this journey or want to receive my newsletter on practical and scientific ways to improve your health and longevity. Please visit me at drbobblivelongandwellcom. That's doctor, as in D-R. Bobby. Live long and well dot com.