Health Advice Is Almost Never One-Size-Fits-All

Generic health advice often fails because it ignores context. And context determines safety, feasibility, and benefit.

Knowing what you do wrong is hard. All this information from the internet is helping us with the first step, realizing what we actually do wrong. But most of the general advice offered to correct it is useless. And it's useless because it treats a problem in isolation. Life is complex, and when you isolate something, you don't see the full picture.

So when someone discusses a problematic behavior, a choice, or anything else, and offers a fix online, this is not personalized advice. Even if the advice could be applied exactly as given, which many times is not the case, it doesn't take into account all the other factors affecting its implementation, or the problems it creates if you attempt to follow it.

So it's often wrong, or useless.

And it works against you twice. It can make you feel bad for not implementing it. And if you do try to implement it, it might be wrong for you: it can cause harm, or discourage you, or simply fail to stick.

First, we need to give personalized advice. Something correct for most people might be totally wrong, or even catastrophic, for a few.

For example, we see the posts: lifting weights is one of the most powerful anti-aging interventions we have. That's true. So let's all lift weights, then? Not so fast. Should you start tomorrow? Have you had your checkups? Do you know your cardiovascular status? Do you have guidance on form and progression, or are you figuring it out alone?

Think of someone with uncontrolled hypertension starting heavy lifting without any assessment. Or someone with knee osteoarthritis pushed into a program that leaves them in pain and convinced they have failed.

And here is the problem this creates: 'You don't lift weights, so you're doing a very bad thing for your overall health and your anti-aging.' So you feel bad about it, although there may be a practical way for each person to start lifting weights. We need to see each one individually, prioritize their health needs, check which changes can be implemented, and help with the implementation.

That's why I don't like generic advice on posts all over the internet. Scientifically valid or not.

Each of us is unique, with a unique life. And that's what their health sustainability plan should be too.

And that, to me, is longevity.