Maddy Dychtwald, the co-founder of Orinda-based Age Wave – a global leading think tank and consultancy on aging, longevity and retirement issues – has penned a new book, “Ageless Aging” with cutting-edge advice for women about healthy aging.
Maddy Dychtwald is on a mission to help women live longer, healthier lives.
Her new book, “Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan” combines cutting edge science, advice from world renowned health and wellness experts, lively personal anecdotes and easy-to-follow tips for a roadmap to improving health at any age.
Dychtwald is the co-founder of Age Wave – a leading think tank and consultancy on aging, longevity and retirement issues – and she is recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the top global female futurists. Published by the Mayo Clinic Press, “Ageless Aging” is meticulously researched with 17 pages of footnotes, but it’s no stuffy tome. Instead, the author keeps it real – and relatable.
In the introduction, she chronicles her double hip surgery and notes, “The experience reinforced what I already knew – you don’t get to your seventies without experiencing some real Sh#%.”
Today, Dychtwald says she feels stronger and more resilient than she did a decade ago. Slim and vibrant, she has celebrated 74 birthdays, but tests show her biological age clocks in at 51. Whatever her secrets are, we’re listening.
How long have you lived in Orinda and what do you like most about living here?
We moved to Orinda 34 years ago. I love the fact that we have these absolutely gorgeous views and that it’s suburban, like a hidden gem that not that many people know about. We moved here originally because of the awesome schools and we wanted to have the public school experience for our kids. They went on to great colleges and have great careers and great lives, so I feel very grateful for that.
Why did you want to write this book?
I’ve been on this beat of aging, longevity and retirement for close to 40 years – since I was in my 30’s. As part of our research at Age Wave, we got a chance to talk to other leaders in the fields of aging and longevity: academicians and scientists who all were very forthcoming, sharing with us not only their academic concepts, but what they did themselves.
I’ve recognized two things: One, while there are a lot of books out there on aging and longevity, there’s nothing I could find specifically designed for women. Most of the books are written by men.
Women live, on average, six years longer than men. Yet all the books are written by guys. So I wanted to correct that.
Two: There are a lot of books out there about exercise, sleep, eating healthy diets, purpose and positivity. But from the research, I quickly saw that it’s not just about one thing. It’s about a host of things. I wanted to come up with a holistic recipe that includes sleep, exercise, what to eat and the healthcare system and how to interact with it. The book also covers women’s hormones, attitudes and expectations – even finances.
There is so much confusion around health and wellness, because everyone on Tiktok or Instagram, or wherever you happen to get your wellness information, have some very specific perspectives that may not work for you. They may not be based in science. And I wanted to come up with things that we’re cutting edge, but also that we’re science-based.
What are the three different types of aging?
The first is emotional/psychological aging, which is the kind of aging we all want. As we gain experience, we gain wisdom and resilience.
The second is the obvious, chronological aging. And that’s how many birthdays we’ve had.
Then there’s biological aging, which measures health on a cellular level.
We’re not going to be able to hold back the hands of time. That’s not possible. But we can either prevent or delay some of the decay and health issues that can come along with physical aging, while growing psychologically and emotionally.
We want to have as many birthdays as possible. But we don’t want cognitive decline and the aches, pains and potentially chronic conditions we can prevent.
What’s the difference between lifespan, healthspan and brainspan?
Lifespan is the number of years that you live.
Healthspan is a number of years that you live with health and vitality.
Brainspan is the number of years your brain stays healthy.
If we had our way, we would want both our healthspan and brainspan to be exactly the same length as our lifespan. Ideally we’d be perfectly healthy until the day we die.
How much of living a long, healthy life is genetic?
We used to think that our genes were our destiny. That concept really would freak me out because I don’t have very good genetic history. My dad died at age 61 with a lot of health conditions. My mom ultimately got Alzheimer’s disease.
But now science tells us that up to 90% of our health and wellness is within our control. That’s amazing news – that we really are in charge of our own health and well-being.
I think that’s particularly important for women. Because we’re killing it when it comes to longevity. We live six years longer than men, but our healthspans are an average of 12 to 14 years less than our lifespans.
Why do you think that is?
I’ll tell you what I think, although it’s not necessarily scientifically proven. I think women are so busy taking care of other people that we sometimes ignore the obvious in our own well-being.
What role does purpose play in healthy aging?
I always knew that purpose was an important thing. We emphasize it all the time in the studies we do at AgeWave. But I didn’t realize there was actual science behind it that showed having a sense of purpose can actually add years to your life, and of course make those years healthier.
What was interesting was that purpose doesn’t have to be something big like starting a non-profit or going back to work or starting your second or third or fourth career. It could be walking your dog, taking care of the grandchildren, anything that makes you feel needed.
What effect do our thoughts have on aging?
I want to say two things. The first is that ageism is very real. It’s actually the last kind of acceptable “ism” that’s out there. And that’s something we need to change.
One of the women I interviewed for the book is a black, lesbian older woman. She said that ageism was far worse for her than discrimination [based on her sexual orientation] or racial discrimination. I thought that that was kind of an amazing statement. Agism is very pervasive and it’s in the workforce impacting women far more than men.
The second thing is there’s a “positivity effect” that’s been studied in both Korea and the United States. They looked at women’s brains, and what they discovered is that the attitude that you bring to your own aging and the aging of people around you, can actually impact your healthspan and your lifespan. It can add up to an extra seven years of life if you have a positive attitude about your own aging. That’s pretty remarkable.
If you had one best piece of advice for women, what would it be?
Exercise. It’s a silver bullet. You can see changes and feel differently within weeks.
Then you might be inspired and motivated in other areas. You might eat a little healthier and your sleep will be positively affected. You might start to take other steps to improve your health. It’s a process.
There’s a recent study that said that women gain more benefit from exercise than men, and they don’t need to exercise quite as long or as hard to get that same benefit. And I thought, that’s pretty awesome – because we know that exercise not only is good for our physical health, but it’s also great for our brain health.
You write that you’re entering your third stage of your life. What have you learned?
That chronological age is really just a number. If you take steps to improve your healthspan and your brainspan, you can actually be energetic, vital and full of purpose in your third stage of life. Wherever you are in your journey, it’s never too late to invest in your well-being, or to reinvent yourself.
People are continuously sending me examples of their friends and family that are doing things that are amazing. It used to be that they’d send me pictures of people in their 70’s and 80’s. Now, it’s people in their 90’s and their 100’s still working, still being vital and purposeful.
Pre-order "Ageless Aging" at maddydychtwald.com to receive exclusive bonus gifts to accompany the book.
Women Living Longer, but Not Healthier
In the last century the average American life expectancy has skyrocketed from 47 to 79. The increase in lifespan is even greater for women who live an average of six years longer than men.
Although women are living longer, their healthspan – the number of years living in good health and vitality – are not keeping up with lifespans. Women, in particular, tend to spend the last years of their lives in poor health, battling not only aches and pains, but degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. “Ageless Aging: A Woman’s Guide to Increasing Healthspan, Brainspan, and Lifespan.”
