• DonnaJean Wilde, 59, holds a Guinness World Record for planking for 4.5 hours.
• She built up to this record by strengthening her core over the course of a decade.
• Wilde said planking while doing other tasks was one of the ways she fit training into her day.

DonnaJean Wilde can plank for 4.5 hours. She built up to this over a decade, while juggling parenting, teaching, and studying for a master's degree.

She started planking with her children as part of a viral craze in the early 2010s — and never stopped. Now, the 59-year-old from Alberta, Canada, holds the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent by a woman in an abdominal plank position.

Not only are Wilde's capabilities impressive, planking is also great for her health. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation involving participants aged between 60 and 69 found that those who didn't regularly exercise, had improved strength and muscle endurance, better oxygen intake, and improved immune cell function after they planked on and off for 20-30 minutes, three times a week, for 12 weeks.

A strong core, which planking can contribute to, can also help us to stay mobile day to day and prevent injuries and aches like back pain.

Wilde shared with Business Insider how she worked toward planking for hours.

Plank while doing other tasks

When Wilde started planking, her wrist was broken and it was the only form of exercise she could do.

She planked for slightly longer each day, while reading or using her phone. She was impressed when she reached 10 minutes, so kept going.

"I found that I could put my computer on the floor, answer emails, plan my school lessons, and really enjoy planking knowing it was making me stronger. It made me feel so good and my time was improving all throughout the years," she said.

Deep, controlled breathing

Wilde used deep breathing to prepare for her world record attempt, which she said helped her stay calm and eased her anxiety.

She now does deep breathing as she goes about her day, not just while planking. For example, taking a deep breath and holding for ten, before releasing the breath slowly and repeating.

A 2022 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that five to 10 minutes of breathing exercises a day for six weeks appeared to decrease blood pressure in participants whose levels were abnormally high. However, deep breathing isn't a replacement for regular exercise when it comes to lowering blood pressure, Daniel Craighead, the lead author of the study, previously told Business Insider.

Visualize yourself planking

Wilde worked on visualizing herself planking calmly in perfect form, she said, which helped her stay strong when she was in position.

Visualization is a "magical tool," she said.

A small 2016 study published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology found that its 65 participants, who were all tennis players, were more likely to hit a target after they imagined themselves doing so every time.

• A top nutrition scientist keeps his kitchen stocked with nutritious foods.
• These include frozen spinach, lentil pasta, kimchi, and miso paste.
• Having healthy foods on hand makes it easier to whip up gut-friendly meals.

Tim Spector, a top nutrition scientist, tries to eat 30 different plants a week for his gut health — but they're not all fresh, as you might expect.

In his cookbook, "Food For Life," which is due to be published in the US and Canada on May 27, Spector calls jarred, tinned, and frozen foods the "unsung heroes of eating well," because they are affordable and nutritious.

So Spector not only stocks his fridge with whole foods that make healthy eating easy, but his pantry, freezer, and kitchen counters, too.

Here's what the epidemiologist at Kings College London and the cofounder of the nutrition company ZOE keeps in his kitchen.

Grains, tinned vegetables, and healthy flavorings in his pantry

Spector's cupboards always contain a variety of grains, such as buckwheat, spelt, pearl barley, and quinoa, which are great alternatives to rice and pasta, he wrote in the cookbook. But he keeps wholegrain and lentil pasta on hand because he's a "big pasta fan," he told Business Insider.

As many varieties of beans and pulses as he can find are also on his grocery list, because they are affordable sources of protein, fiber, and nutrients.

Spector's recipes often call for tinned and jarred vegetables, such as tomatoes, sweetcorn, olives, and artichokes, which tend to be cheaper than fresh vegetables and have a longer shelf life. But watch out for additives, Spector said, such as salt or preservatives.

Spector also keeps miso and nutritional yeast to hand as alternatives to bouillon cubes, which tend to be highly processed. He previously told BI that he tries to avoid ultra-processed foods to care for his gut health.

Vegetables, fruits, and fermented foods in his fridge

There are always plenty of vegetables, fruits, and leafy greens in Spector's fridge, as well as a small amount of "traditional cheese," he wrote, which is fermented. More research is needed to confirm the health benefits of fermented foods, but a 2022 review of studies linked them to a lower risk of type two diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Fermentation "experiments," such as homemade kefir and pickles, can also be found in his fridge, as well as miso and gochujang: two flavorful fermented pastes that add flavor to dishes.

Spector recommends stocking the "four Ks" in your fridge — kefir, kombucha, kimchi, and 'kraut (sauerkraut). He previously shared three tips for eating more fermented foods with BI.

Berries, soup, and soffritto in his freezer

There are yet more vegetables in Spector's freezer, including frozen cubes of spinach, peas, and mushrooms.

He also has a bag of soffritto — which is chopped vegetables (usually onions, carrots, and celery) that can be used as a base for many dishes — and frozen herbs to flavor his home-cooked meals.

Spector keeps mixed berries and fruit in the freezer too, which he uses in his go-to healthy breakfast of yogurt with toppings.

"I always try to make sure I have a nice, thick, Italian-style vegetable soup in the freezer that I can simply defrost and reheat when I'm pressed for time," he wrote. For example, the Minestrone soup recipe in his book.

Fruit and nuts on the counter

Spector keeps a fruit bowl where he can see it on his kitchen counter, as well as containers of mixed nuts. That way, if he's tempted to snack, he's more likely to go for the healthy ones that he can see.

He previously told BI about his "diversity jar" that is full of different nuts and seeds, which he keeps on hand to sprinkle on his meals and help him eat 30 plants a week.

• Kayla Barnes-Lentz is 33 but says biohacking has helped her reverse her biological age by 11 years.
• She views sleeping and red light therapy as biohacks and says they're her favorite.
• Many of Barnes-Lentz's longevity treatments are experimental.

Kayla Barnes-Lentz wants to live to 150.

And, according to her calculations of her "biological age," she's making good progress. The 33-year-old longevity clinic owner and podcaster, based in Los Angeles, told Business Insider that biohacking had helped her reverse her biological age by 11 years.

In contrast to chronological age, biological age is a measure of how healthy cells, tissues, and organs appear to be. The idea is contested, however, because we don't know how bodies "should" look at any given age.

Barnes-Lentz has a lengthy list of experimental treatments she does to optimize her health and try to live longer — including taking cold plunges, standing on vibration plates, and breathing in hydrated air — which means she's essentially biohacking most of the day.

But of all her biohacks, she has two favorites.

Sleep

"Sleep is the foundation of health," Barnes-Lentz said. "Going to bed early and getting high-quality sleep is a game changer for energy levels, focus, motivation, and overall feeling."

She and her husband, Warren Lentz, wind down for the night by watching TV and cuddling. They go to bed at 8:30 p.m. most nights.

Research suggests that getting less than seven to eight hours of sleep a night is associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression, as well as issues with focusing and reacting. In a 2022 survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 36.8% of Americans reported getting less than seven hours of sleep a night.

Some biohackers spend thousands on sleep hygiene products and tech that isn't proven. Barnes-Lentz uses an Oura ring to track her sleep quality, but otherwise, she keeps things simple: She gets eight hours a night and never uses her phone in bed.

Business Insider previously reported on how to get the best sleep possible.

Red light therapy

Barnes-Lentz's favorite tech-based biohack is red light therapy. Her at-home sauna has an inbuilt red light, so she can do both at the same time.

She said red light therapy improves the functioning of the mitochondria, or the parts of cells that produce energy, which she hopes will increase her energy levels. In a 2024 study published in the Journal of Biophotonics, researchers found that red light appeared to improve the performance of mitochondria in the body — but there's no proof this leads to overall better energy levels.

Barnes-Lentz has also posted on Instagram about how she uses red light therapy to reduce skin aging and inflammation.

It has shown some potential for improving the appearance of skin, such as reducing scars, acne, and wrinkles, but more research is needed to guarantee that it's effective, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Some people buy $150,000 red light therapy beds or do red light therapy treatments at spas or medical centers. Barnes-Lentz combines red light therapy with time in her sauna, which she does every morning.

• Noelle McKenzie is a personal trainer who says she reversed her biological age from 39 to 35.
• She helps her clients exercise to live long, healthy lives.
• McKenzie focuses on mobility, cardio, and strength training.

A personal trainer who says she reversed her biological age from 39 to 35 shared how she trains her clients to help them live long, healthy lives.

Noelle McKenzie, cofounder of Leading Edge Personal Trainers based in New York City, has incorporated into her training tests that measure how well a person is aging, or their "biological age."

Biological age is an estimate of the health of cells, tissues, and organs, but there isn't an agreed definition or way to measure it, partly because we don't know what "normal" is for different ages.

But McKenzie finds it a helpful guide for understanding what she and her clients need to work on.

According to data from her Fitdays smart scale, her bone density, body fat, water weight, and muscle mass distribution are similar to that of a 35-year-old.

To test her clients' biological age, she often combines smart scale results with data on aspects of fitness linked to living longer, such as muscle strength, cardiovascular health, and functional fitness.

She notes how long clients can stand on one leg, stay in a low squat position, and hang from a bar, as well as how many push-ups they can do in one minute and how far they can run in 12 minutes.

Research suggests worse muscle strength, for example, is linked to a higher risks of older adults dying, while grip strength is linked to better health.

"Biological age essentially tells you how fast your body is aging," she said. "A lower biological age tells me your training and lifestyle habits are well-rounded."

These are the three areas of fitness she works on with clients to lower their biological ages and improve their longevity.

1) Improve mobility and range of motion

If a client is mostly sedentary, McKenzie starts off "slow and steady," and works on helping them do day-to-day movements as easily as possible, including grabbing things from overhead, getting up from a chair, and walking.

She also looks at clients' form to ensure they aren't putting extra stress on their joints when exercising.

"I want to get people to a place where it's hard for them to practice bad form because their bodies have become so accustomed to moving the way they're supposed to," she said.

2) Do progressively harder strength training

One 2022 review of research, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that for healthy adults, 30 to 60 minutes a week of muscle-strengthening activity was associated with a 10-17% lower risk of dying from chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes.

McKenzie does whole-body strength training with her clients, focusing on functional movements, which mimic those we perform in regular life, like carrying groceries or picking things up off the ground. For example, she might include a farmer's carry or a hang from a pull-up bar to improve a client's grip strength, so they can carry heavy things day to day.

She also follows a progressive model, meaning her clients improve in some way each week, whether that's by increasing the weight they lift, adding more sets, or reducing recovery time between exercises.

Building muscle is great for longevity. Among other benefits, it can help prevent sarcopenia, or the loss of muscle mass in older age, which can make it harder to do everyday tasks.

3) Do two types of cardio

McKenzie encourages her clients to build two types of cardio into their routines: zone two cardio and interval work.

Zone two cardio is exercising at a low intensity so your heart rate stays low, or maintaining a pace where you can have a conversation without feeling out of breath.

McKenzie recommends her clients walk for 30 to 40 minutes at a brisk pace every day as a simple way to achieve this.

She also tries to improve her clients' VO2 max, which is a measure of how well the heart performs during exercise. A higher VO2 max means you have better endurance and has been linked to living longer.

McKenzie has clients do interval training, which involves alternating periods of high-intensity exercise and rests, to improve their VO2 max and overall stamina.

• Business Insider has spoken to lots of centenarians about what they think has helped them live past 100.
• Many have kept fit without going to the gym.
• Building movement into daily life is one of their top tips.

If you hate working out but want the life-lengthening benefits of exercise, you may find it reassuring that many centenarians Business Insider has spoken to have never set foot in a gym.

To some degree, the type of exercise you do seems to matter less than how often you do it. Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist who studies healthy aging, previously told BI that people should do an exercise they enjoy because then they're more likely to keep it up.

102-year-old Deborah Szekely, who runs a ranch in Baja California, Mexico, agrees. "What matters is that you're pushing yourself enough to feel it, getting your heart rate up, and breaking a sweat. If you get really huffy puffy, you're doing a good job," she told BI.

And it's never too late to get active. A 2023 study by researchers at Duke Kunshan University, China, found that participants over the age of 80 who were physically active were more likely to live longer than those who were inactive — even if they started later in life.

Here's how centenarians who spoke to BI said they stayed fit.

1) Walking

As people get older, it can get harder to do some types of exercise — but some centenarians can keep walking. 112-year-old Louise Jean Signore, New York's second oldest person, stopped swimming, biking, line dancing, and playing bowls when her health deteriorated, but she still tries to get her steps in, whether that's outside or in her hallway.

Szekely also walks at least a mile each day in local parks, while Pearl Taylor, who lives in Ohio and is 104 years old, walks around her local Walmart for two hours every weekend.

Walking is a low-intensity exercise but still has plenty of health benefits. A 2023 review of studies published in the journal GeroScience found that walking appeared to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive impairment, and dementia, while also improving mental well-being, sleep, and longevity.

2) Cycle instead of driving

Martin McEvilly, who was Ireland's oldest man when he died aged 108 last October, never owned a car. Instead his bicycle was his primary form of transport until he was 99. Even once he stopped cycling everywhere, he continued to use a stationary exercise bike until he was 105.

A 2023 review of studies published in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living found a link between cycling regularly and better mental well-being, a lower risk of dying from any cause, and a lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.

3) Make exercise social

107-year-old Katie MacRae, who lives in Queensland, Australia, regularly plays bowls with her fellow care home residents. Meanwhile, 103-year-old Janet Gibbs played golf until she was 86.

As well as physical benefits, the social aspect of exercising could also help us live longer. Professor Rose Anne Kenny, the chair of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin and head of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, argues that socializing is more important for longevity than exercise or a healthy diet.

4) Build exercise into your job or hobbies

Many centenarians did hard physical jobs, such as McEvilly who worked on his family farm. His days were spent cutting up turf for fuel, trimming plants, collecting water, and gathering moss to use for animal bedding.

The average US worker is likely to spend half of their day sitting down, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, but even if you have a mostly sedentary job you can build movement into your day.

Just doing 20 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a day can offset the impacts of sitting down all day, a 2023 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found. This includes doing chores, walking briskly, and gardening — which MacRae credits her longevity to.

BI previously reported on how some of the world's oldest people eat to live to 100.

• Valerie Taylor studies the link between our gut health and mental health.
• She said gut microbes, the brain, and central nervous system can influence one another via the "gut-brain axis."
• Her tips for caring for gut health include eating a nutritious diet that suits you best.

A professor of psychiatry shared three ways caring for our gut health could improve our mental health.

Valerie Taylor, who is based at the University of Calgary, studies the relationship between the gut microbiome — the trillions of microorganisms in the digestive system — and the brain.

The gut microbiome is a rapidly growing area of research, with more than 40 times as much funding for related research in the US in 2016 as there was in 2007.

Research suggests that gut microbes, the brain, and the central nervous system can influence each other via what is known as the "gut-brain axis," including by regulating the production of certain chemicals.

For example, when people get stressed, their bodies release more of the "stress hormone" cortisol, which can make the gastrointestinal system digest food faster, leading to diarrhea or an upset stomach, Taylor said.

Although the research is promising, Taylor doesn't think that addressing gut health can "cure" mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.

But a greater understanding of the gut-brain axis could encourage people to make lifestyle changes that could improve their gut and mental health, Taylor said. Experts are increasingly questioning the idea that depression, for instance, is solely caused by low serotonin levels, instead believing it is linked to a combination of biological, genetic, environmental, and psychosocial factors — including the gut-brain axis.

Taylor said, based on her research, the following gut-friendly lifestyle changes could help those with mental health issues to maintain a more stable mood after their symptoms improve — with therapy, drugs, or time — and could prevent particularly serious symptoms in people who are predisposed to them.

1) Eat a nutritious diet that fits with your lifestyle

Certain diets and foods can make your brain and your gut bacteria "very happy," Taylor said.

These include the Mediterranean diet and vegetarianism, and fermented foods such as kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and pickles preserved using natural processes instead of vinegar.

Look for the words "naturally fermented" on labels and bubbles in the liquid when you open the jar, which signal that there are live organisms inside, Taylor said.

"At the end of the day, as long as you're eating healthy and getting the right balance of essential nutrients, there's no one magic diet, just as long as it's a reasonable diet that people feel well when they eat it," she said.

A 2020 review of studies published in the journal BMJ suggested an anti-inflammatory diet, meaning high in fiber, polyphenols, and unsaturated fatty acids, could help to reduce depressive symptoms, but that doesn't mean that a poor diet causes depression.

BI has previously reported on how to start eating healthily.

2) Consider taking probiotics

After someone's mental health improves, emerging evidence suggests probiotics could help to maintain gut flora and prevent further symptoms, Taylor said — although it's hard to measure how well a treatment prevents something.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, while probiotics have shown promise for treating gastrointestinal issues, we still don't know which specific ones are helpful, how much to take, or who might benefit from them.

But Taylor said she knows anecdotally of people feeling better and having more stable moods with probiotic use. "At the end of the day, there's probably no harm," she said. "And if it helps, it helps."

3) Avoid ultra-processed foods

Taylor said that trying to avoid ultra-processed foods might be helpful for people who are predisposed to conditions such as depression and anxiety.

A 2022 meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrients found that across 17 studies involving 385,541 participants, those who ate more UPFs were at a higher risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.

The researchers suggested that this could be because additives found in UPFs, such as emulsifiers and artificial sweeteners, could disrupt how the body makes and releases chemicals that regulate mood, including dopamine and serotonin.

They also suggested that UPFs could change the way the gut microbiome works and cause inflammation, which has also been linked to mental health issues.

Bonus tip: Don't take antibiotics unless a doctor prescribes them

You should take antibiotics when prescribed by a doctor, Taylor said.

But it's helpful to be aware that they can strip the gut of essential bacteria. When there is "nothing else in your system that replicates what those particular bacteria do," it can cause gastrointestinal issues, Taylor said.

"We've become a society that really likes to take antibiotics for everything," Taylor said. Antibiotics can help treat bacterial infections, but sometimes people take them when an infection could go away on its own.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention encourages healthcare providers to use antibiotics sparingly to prevent antimicrobial resistance and an unbalanced gut microbiome.

• Supatra Tovar is a psychologist and dietitian who used to follow fad diets.
• She now helps clients change their mindset around food to help them lose weight in a healthy way.
• Her tips include changing what you're exposed to on social media.

A psychologist, registered dietitian, and pilates teacher who broke out of a cycle of yo-yo dieting shared with Business Insider her four tips for losing weight healthily and sustainably.

Supatra Tovar, author of "Deprogram Diet Culture: Rethink Your Relationship With Food, Heal Your Mind, and Live a Diet-Free Life," struggled with fad diets in her 30s. But now, at 52, she feels better than ever about her body.

She said changing her mindset was key to improving her diet.

1) Understand why diets don't work

"The first step to building a healthy mindset around dieting is really understanding how dieting actually works against our bodies," she said.

"We're really not designed to cut our calories in half, so the body goes into 'starvation mode.' You may lose weight in the short term, but it's deceptive," Tovar said. Extreme calorie restriction is typically unsustainable, so when we inevitably stop dieting, the body works to put the weight back on.

Tovar pointed to what is known as the set point theory, which supposes that the body tries to maintain a person's weight. It is thought to do this by slowing down the metabolism and allowing more energy to be stored as fat, research suggests. But experts don't agree on whether this set point can be reset to a high or lower level of body fat.

2) Set boundaries with unsupportive people

"There's always somebody in our lives who is telling us to diet or that we don't look good, pinching our fat, telling us to go exercise, or asking 'Do you really want to eat that?'" Tovar said.

Tovar recommended limiting the time you spend with them and surrounding yourself with people who are more positive and supportive. If that's not possible, try to create healthy boundaries around comments on food and appearance.

3) Delve inward

Tovar asks her clients to "delve inwards" to address their thoughts about food, first examining their childhoods to understand where their ideas may have come from.

"We pick up everything when we're kids, and model the behavior of adults. The messages that we get from our family — whether you had to clean your plate to 'earn' dessert, or your parents engaged in a lot of dieting — it all plays a part," Tovar said.

Next, she tells clients to "tune into" their hunger, to identify when they are eating mindlessly or emotionally, and when they're full. This helps people to practice "mindful" or "intuitive" eating, by acknowledging their cravings and eating according to their body's needs.

A big part of mindful eating, Tovar said, is not moralizing food by labeling them as "good" or "bad."

"We're just saying food is food, and allowing our bodies to eat what they want without judgment," she said. People will tend to gravitate towards healthier foods, she said.

However, experts say intuitive eating isn't suitable for everyone, particularly those who struggle with eating disorders. And Mark Schatzker, a nutrition writer, previously advised against including ultra-processed foods in an intuitive diet because the artificial flavors can trick the brain into wanting more.

4) Change what you're exposed to on social media

"You have to depopulate your social media feed from all of the content that is designed to make you feel terrible about yourself," Tovar said.

Disordered eating is often indirectly promoted on social media, through trends such as "what I eat in a day" videos and platforms pushing weight-loss ads, BI's Rachel Hosie previously reported.

Tovar recommended unfollowing any influencers, companies, and magazines that promote diet culture, and replacing them with "stuff that makes you feel good."

For her, this meant getting rid of diet-focused content and replacing it with "puppies and kittens and Kevin Bacon singing to his goats on his farm."

• Jonathan Wolf was a tech exec who ate a lot of ultra-processed foods before cofounding a nutrition company.
• Wolf improved his diet by making small changes over a few years.
• They include eating fewer UPFs and switching from milk to dark chocolate.

When Jonathan Wolf co-founded the nutrition company ZOE eight years ago, his diet was "not great." He was eating lots of ultra-processed food and tons of sugar, he told Business Insider.

But he began making incremental changes to his diet in 2017, after he met ZOE co-founder Tim Spector, an epidemiologist who studies nutrition and gut health at Kings College London.

Wolf was previously the chief product officer at an advertising tech company. Spector made him aware of how he could improve his diet, including by caring for his gut microbiome, or the microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract. Evidence suggests that a diverse gut microbiome, partly achieved by eating fibrous and fermented foods, is linked to better physical and mental health.

Here are the positive steps Wolf took.

1) Eating fewer ultra-processed foods

In the last 18 months, Wolf has become more aware of and reluctant to eat ultra-processed foods, he said. UPFs are made using industrial processes, and can contain additives such as preservatives and emulsifiers. They were linked to 32 health problems in a recent study, but the authors said further research is needed to confirm there is a link between UPFs and poor health.

Wolf tries to eat fewer UPFs, including by avoiding artificial sweeteners or foods at restaurants that are likely to be ultra-processed.

"We're eating these foods that are made with ingredients that have never been available in the kitchen, that our bodies have never been exposed to before. Whereas our grandparents were eating zero ultra-processed foods," he said. "I suspect it's going to turn out to be a huge part of the health crisis that we're having."

It can be hard to cut out UPFs entirely because they are ubiquitous, particularly in Western countries. Nichola Ludlam-Raine, a dietitian, previously told BI how they can be incorporated into a healthy diet.

2) Shifting focus from excluding to adding foods to his diet

Wolf had stopped eating foods that he was led to believe weren't healthy, such as gluten.

But research on the gut microbiome published in 2021, which ZOE was involved with, showed that a more diverse gut microbiome was associated with better markers of health, including lower blood pressure and a lower chance of having a fatty liver.

Participants who ate a variety of healthy, plant-based foods had more diverse gut microbiomes, the study found.

Wolf realized he needed to eat more whole foods to increase the diversity of his diet and, therefore, his gut microbiome.

3) Working up to eating 30 plants a week

Spector was part of a 2018 American Gut Project study into how many types of dietary fiber, found in plants, are needed for a diverse microbiome. Fruits and vegetables were factored in, as well as other plant-based items such as spices.

It concluded that 30 plants a week appeared to provide enough, which Wolf tries to aim for.

"I did not get there in one step. In fact, it took me years to increase to 30. But I did it steadily, and I think the biggest thing that helped was the realization that tinned food and frozen food can actually be really healthy," he said.

He tries to keep nutritious foods on hand, such as frozen spinach, canned beans, and nuts, so he can easily throw together a meal that contains at least a few plants.

4) Gradually switching from milk to dark chocolate

Wolf was pleased to discover that he could still eat chocolate every day as part of a healthy diet.

"If you're eating a really high-quality dark chocolate, there's a lot of science that says that's actually good for you," he said, partly because it counts as one of your 30 plants a week, contains fiber, and is fermented.

He slowly transitioned from eating milk chocolate, to 50% cocoa, to 60%, and all the way up to 90%. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants, fiber, and polyphenols.

5) Eating fewer foods that spike his blood sugar

Wolf cut down on foods that spiked his blood sugar particularly high, specifically white bread and tea with lots of sugar.

Blood sugar spikes are a safe and necessary part of digesting food. But having consistently high or low blood sugar can lead to a higher risk of chronic diseases, Sarah Berry, professor of nutritional sciences at King's College London, previously told BI.

Wolf replaced white bread with rye bread because it didn't spike his blood sugar as high, and gradually reduced the amount of sugar in his tea.

ZOE sells continuous glucose monitors, which were originally developed for people with diabetes to track their blood sugar levels. However, experts are split on whether they are useful for non-diabetics, and fear they may lead to people avoiding certain foods unnecessarily.

• Dennis Beggs did his first marathon the same year he started running.
• Now 63, he is running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
• He said taking it slow and stretching helped him get into running marathons.

Dennis Beggs hated his first run. He was 55 years old and had been walking a lot to clear his mind while caring for his mom, who had Alzheimer's disease. He wanted to start running instead to "waste less time," he told Business Insider, so ran a quarter of a mile in spring 2017 — and thought he'd never do it again.

But the next week, Beggs, a farm owner from Wisconsin, decided to try again and began running incrementally longer distances each day. He didn't know exactly how far or long he was running because he never took a watch or a phone. So when his neighbor invited him to join a 10k race on Independence Day, he was surprised to come second.

At the race, a man encouraged him to run his first marathon. Looking back, his first marathon in October 2017 was a "disaster," but it motivated him to keep dedicating time to running.

Now, at 63, he has completed many running challenges, including 10 marathons in 10 weeks. And on January 31, he started the World Marathon Challenge, which involves running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, to raise money for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.

Beggs shared how he got so fit at 63 with BI.

Beggs started with short runs

"You start out small, and then you work your way up," Beggs said.

He started out walking, and when he started running, he slowly increased the length of his runs. He was already fit from managing a farm, so he quite quickly was able to run for longer periods of time, while setting achievable milestones.

Sohee Lee, a personal trainer, previously told BI that easing into working out by doing sessions a few times a week and not pushing yourself too hard is the most sustainable approach.

He appreciated the physical and mental benefits of running

Beggs said his lifestyle changed when he got fitter.

"You're going to see your body transform. You're going to lose weight, you're going to feel fitter, you're going to have much more energy. It'll lead to better nutrition, too, because it's like, 'Wow, I feel good. I don't really need a doughnut every day,'" he said.

Plus, running is a great opportunity to clear his mind and think without distractions. Beggs might consider what he needs to do that day, pray, or mull over tough decisions.

"I always feel cleansed after I run. It relaxes me and gives me stability," he said. The runner's high is a feeling "like no other," he said, and has helped build his confidence.

One 2024 study published in the journal Sports (Basel) found that people who ran regularly saw greater improvements in their mood after a run than those who ran occasionally.

He does yoga and has massages

Beggs uses Thai massage to stretch out his muscles. Thai massage doesn't involve the kneading and rubbing associated with other forms of massage, but entails yoga-like poses and stretches with the assistance of a massage therapist, instead.

"It really helps with my stretching, and I feel like it means I have less chance to sustain injury because it's a more intense form of stretching," he said.

A small 2024 study by researchers at Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand, found that participants with muscle fatigue recovered faster after 30 minutes of traditional Thai massage compared to participants who did one minute.

He also does yoga in the winter when he's not doing as much physical farm work.

What is known as active recovery, such as walking or gentle yoga, can improve blood flow, improve fitness performance, and soothe muscles.

• Lucy Moon, an influencer from London, wanted to drink less but worried people would think she's boring.
• She upset a loved one while drinking and decided she needed to change.
• Her health, performance at work, relationships, and mental health have greatly improved, she said.

Lucy Moon doesn't remember her first drink, but knows that she has never been able to drink "normally."

"I felt like I was trying to fool everyone into thinking I was a normal drinker, when really I would watch everyone's glasses to work out when the appropriate time would be for me to have my next drink," Moon, a 29-year-old fashion and lifestyle content creator from London, told Business Insider.

"I was thinking about alcohol a lot of the time. I was drinking every day, and I couldn't even imagine taking two days off," she said.

Three years ago, Moon decided to go sober after upsetting someone she loved while drinking. She joined the Gen Zers and millennials who are drinking less than past generations, in a trend that is improving people's health — and profits for non-alcoholic bars.

Moon said her life, in and out of work, is "much better" now she's sober.

Going sober benefited Moon's career

As an influencer, she attends a lot of press events with plentiful free alcohol, including Champagne or mimosas in the morning. She felt she needed to "be the life and soul of the party," so would never say no to a drink and was always the last person to leave.

"When I stopped drinking, I was worried I was going to be boring and awkward in work events, and thus maybe compromise my potential for making money," she said.

But she has had the opposite experience. She goes to just as many events, but knows that any worries she had about socializing were in her head and won't be fixed by alcohol. Plus, she remembers more of her interactions, which has helped her network.

Moon said she is also more reliable, particularly with her paid partnerships, and uploads content more consistently.

"My life is more predictable in a very positive way. I don't have blank spots in my memory, and I feel much more in control of my finances and my decision-making," she said.

Moon wasn't an "alcoholic," but couldn't drink "normally"

Moon prefers to describe herself as someone with an "alcohol problem" because she can't drink "normally" or safely, rather than an alcoholic, which carries stigma.

There were always "consequences" when Moon drank. She would often black out; lose her keys, wallet, and passport; spend more money than she had; or get lost and injure herself. After three or four drinks, she would forget what happened that night and wake up the next morning "filled with anxiety" that she'd upset loved ones or made a fool of herself.

"I'd come to and not know where I was," she said. "I was simply not in control. Once I had one drink, I lost the ability to be able to stop."

"Being young, there's this idea of 'Oh, well, things didn't get that bad for you.' But things got bad enough that I have enough proof that I can't drink safely. And if that were to carry on for another 20 years, it wouldn't be good," she said.

"That is ultimately why I gave up drinking when I was 26. I looked at those last five years, and I looked at how I was at 18 and I was like, 'Oh my god, I'm not growing out of this. Nothing has changed from the way I drank when I was 18.' And that's scary."

Getting sober was hard but felt like the only option

Moon knew she would struggle alone, so went to a local recovery group to find support to stop drinking.

"The first three or four months absolutely sucked. I was very low and just trying to get through day by day. It was a real struggle, but I just knew that if I got my head on the pillow sober at night, then that day was a success," she said.

By month five, things started to look up. But until then, she was motivated by her belief that it was her only option.

"My life had stagnated, and everything was really hard to deal with. I realized that drinking wasn't an option anymore if I wanted my life to improve. Drinking was causing pretty much all of the issues in my life, and I was the only person who could change that," she said.

She added: "My lips used to be chapped all the time, and I used to lose my voice — now they're both rare. I was nearly always ill, and now I get sick much less frequently.

"My relationships have developed and grown in such a beautiful way. And I don't wake up with crippling anxiety every day."

• Supatra Tovar is a psychologist, dietitian, and pilates instructor who used to follow fad diets.
• She found that strict diets didn't work, so she made small changes to enjoy eating nutritious food.
• These included changing her social-media feed, eating slowly, and not giving up carbs.

In her late 20s and early 30s, Supatra Tovar followed fad diets such as South Beach and Atkins, which she couldn't stick to.

When she started her master's degree in nutritional science, it set alarm bells ringing over the state of her diet.

Tovar quit her job as a pilates teacher in California to take the course after she noticed her clients felt social pressure to eat less to achieve the "right" body shape. She felt a duty to educate herself to help her students, she told Business Insider.

She learned that our mindset plays a key role in what we eat, which motivated her to do a doctorate in clinical psychology. She has now been a qualified clinical psychologist for five years and a registered dietitian for 10.

"I realized fad diets just don't work," she said. "They are designed to give us false hope that they might actually work in order to get our money."

Her training taught her how to eat nutritious food and maintain a healthy weight.

At 52, she can "really love and enjoy food" and has never felt better about herself, she said.

Tovar is part of a wave of people ditching fad diets that give unsustainable results. A 2024 survey by the International Food Information Council found that consuming enough protein and mindful eating were more popular.

Tovar shared some of the changes she made to unlearn diet culture.

Unfollow social-media accounts that make you feel bad about yourself

"First, you have to depopulate your social-media feed from all of the content that is designed to make you feel terrible about yourself. And then repopulate it with stuff that makes you feel good," she said. "For me, that's puppies and kittens and Kevin Bacon singing to his goats on his farm."

In a 2023 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, 226 participants, ages 18 to 40, completed an online survey that suggested viewing pictures of people who fit stereotypical beauty standards on Instagram was linked to a lower mood and dissatisfaction with their bodies.

Anchor new habits to old ones

People often think they have to take drastic action to change their lives, Tovar said, but small changes to our behavior can make a big difference because they're sustainable.

Tovar recommended adding a new habit to an existing "anchoring behavior." For example, she made her daily coffee an "anchor" for 20 minutes of exercise.

This chimes with what the clinical psychologist Kimberly M. Daniels previously told BI: Making one or two small changes to your diet at a time is less overwhelming and, therefore, more sustainable than adopting an entirely new one.

Eat slowly

"It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to register the presence of food in our stomach," Tovar said.

Eating slower at mealtimes can allow you to monitor how full you are so that you don't over- or under-eat, she said.

Sitting with others can also help because eating communally encourages us to have conversations and eat more slowly, she added. Another tip is to take a break during a meal for a few minutes to see whether you're still hungry.

Don't vilify foods — especially carbohydrates

Diet culture labels certain foods as "unhealthy," so people can feel guilty when they eat them. But feeling as though you are being denied foods you enjoy can make it harder to follow a nutritious diet long-term.

Carbohydrates, in particular, are commonly vilified as fattening when they are actually "our best friend," Tovar said.

Carbs are our brains' preferred energy source and aren't any more fattening than other micronutrients (fat and protein). Fat loss comes from eating fewer calories without needing to cut out an entire group of micronutrients.

"Your body absolutely adores natural carbohydrates," Tovar said. "Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes — all of them."

• Luke Smith started drinking more after he moved from the UK to Dubai for a job in luxury real estate.
• Alcohol made him "hazy" at work, and his personal trainer advised him to give it up.
• His health, social life, and performance at work have improved since he gave up drinking last year.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luke Smith, a 27-year-old commercial manager for a real estate firm in Dubai. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In March 2020, I moved from the UK to Dubai to take a real estate job. Now, almost five years later, I'm making multimillion-dollar deals and have given up alcohol — a change I never would have imagined making if I'd stayed in the UK.

In the UK, I would often binge drink on weekends, but I didn't have a problem and I never woke up the next day with regrets. It's just ingrained in UK culture.

In the first 12 months of being in Dubai, I would drink here and there, but I was very, very disciplined. My role was commission only with no salary, so I had to make sure I didn't spend all my savings.

But by February 2021, I had my roots planted and was starting to see some success. That's when my drinking picked up quite dramatically.

I started drinking more after I settled in Dubai

There's a tight-knit British community in Dubai who have carried over the UK's drinking culture.

There was also a lot of drinking at work events, especially if things were going well. On Fridays, I'd go for a business lunch and drinks with colleagues or somebody who I'd closed a deal with. And when the job got stressful, I'd let off some steam by going for drinks with colleagues.

I also started drinking more outside of work hours. Whereas in the UK you might go to a club on a Saturday night, the British social scene here is centered on bottomless brunches and afternoon drinks by the pool. So, as I made friends, a lot of the plans involved alcohol.

All that alcohol definitely made me feel foggy — but most of my colleagues were doing the same. Everyone would come in on a Monday a bit hazy, talking about how wild the weekend was.

By November 2023, I had noticed that my decision-making was getting worse when I was drinking. I did and said things I wouldn't have ordinarily. I didn't like the fact that I'd started feeling out of control.

I drink less for my health and well-being

People often assume that I stopped drinking because I had an alcohol problem. But while I wasn't happy with my decision-making, it was by no means a problem. Stopping was just a personal decision to benefit my health and well-being.

I got a personal trainer in December 2023 because I wanted to improve my fitness. He said he wasn't interested in having me as a client if I continued drinking like I was because I wouldn't get any of the benefits.

Plus, I had been getting closer and closer to a friend who didn't drink. As I spent more time with him, I did more activities that didn't involve drinking and I was introduced to a different lifestyle. We would go to the gym or the sauna, or just enjoy what Dubai had to offer.

Then, in January 2024, I did Dry January. I realized I didn't miss alcohol at all, so I didn't drink until February.

I didn't set out to stop drinking, but I realized it wasn't worth restarting because it was benefiting my so much. I had so much more energy, mental clarity, and focus. That might have been from a change in diet and exercise, but giving up alcohol also improved my lifestyle, too.

I started playing golf more regularly, got into padel, and started running. I was just trying to find different hobbies to fill the gap left by alcohol, but going sober put me in more appropriate circles for what my deeper interests actually are.

Ultimately, I'm in Dubai to make a difference for my family and my future self, and I want to focus on that. Drinking alcohol at the weekends just doesn't feed into that goal.

If I hadn't moved to Dubai, I don't think it would have been possible to change my lifestyle in the positive way that I have.

I still go to work events — I just have 0% beer

Now, I pick and choose when I actually want to drink.

I still go to all my work events and participate — I just drink tonic water or a 0% beer and leave earlier than I would when I drank.

When I'm on holiday or have some downtime, I quite happily have alcohol.

I went back to the UK last month and drank most days, because that's what the culture is — especially over Christmas. I really enjoyed it because I knew it was only going to be for a short time, and it was something I hadn't done in a while. By the end, I was very much done.

You can be labeled boring if you're not going for drinks on a Friday. But at this point, because of my hobbies and the people I surround myself with, it doesn't affect me. I have other ways to enjoy my life.

• A video of Bridgette Vong, a marketing specialist, breaking up with her partner went viral on TikTok.
• She leveraged the engagement to create a side hustle and then a full-time career as an influencer.
• The breakup was the "best thing that's ever happened" to her, she said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bridgette Vong, a 26-year-old content creator based in Toronto. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In July 2022, I posted a TikTok video of the final hug my ex-partner of five years and I shared before we broke up. Two years later, the breakup and posting about it are possibly the best thing that ever happened to me.

It never crossed my mind that recording our final goodbye wasn't a "normal" thing to do. I was into recording little moments of my life as sentimental keepsakes. I have a background in marketing and content creation, so it was a creative outlet of mine.

I posted it to my few hundred followers and used hashtags — like #healingjourney and #postbreakup — but didn't expect it to blow up.

When I woke up the next day, I had 22,000 followers and the video had a million views. I thought it was a one-off, but the next few videos I posted about how I was feeling and our last moments together also got millions of views.

People started sharing their breakup stories with me and asking for tips on how to stay strong. My content was inspiring, comforting, and relatable to many.

I had never seen anyone post about their breakup journey on TikTok before, but I thought I'd keep documenting my healing process to help all the girls who were sending me comments and asking for advice. It gave me so much purpose.

I knew I couldn't waste the opportunity

I thought to myself: "OK, Bridgette, you have some choices here. You have 30,000 followers all of a sudden, your comments and DMs are going crazy, you have always wanted to be Kylie Jenner — why don't you just keep posting?"

With a background in marketing, I knew I would be an idiot not to do something with the opportunity.

So, I started posting regularly. I didn't hope for financial gain or a career out of it, I just wanted to show people my journey and help those who resonated with it.

Even if the video hadn't gone viral, I would have kept posting regardless — I was just so passionate about encapsulating emotions into little videos. I wanted to document myself every day and see the progress I was making in my heartbreak journey so one day I could look back and see how far I had come.

I was 100% authentic and just shared how I was feeling that day, something my therapist suggested, or what was working for me at that moment. It was fun to do and never felt like a task.

I owe my life to posting those silly videos. It gave me a project to dive into, and the community I found was without a doubt the most amazing resource for healing from the breakup.

I started to take it more seriously and earn money from influencing

Because marketing was my job, I already had a tripod and knew to tag brands in posts and do simple things like have my contact email in my bio.

After the breakup, I went to the gym a lot, trying to "glow up." I tagged many activewear brands in my posts in the hope they would repost my content. That's when brands started reaching out to me to invite me to events.

I got my first brand deal with Notion — $100 to use a product that I used anyway. Two months after it all kicked off, an agent reached out to me. I put my marketing hat on and started to think about how I could make a few hundred bucks a month as a little side hustle.

For the first year, I'd maybe get two brand deals a month. I was posting consistently, sometimes twice a day without really thinking about it, which built my personal brand and kept the followers coming.

By April 2023, I had healed from the breakup, and I didn't want to keep talking about it.

So I started posting more content about living alone in Toronto. I would still answer DMs about breakup advice, and the original video was still gaining traction, but I didn't want to be known as the "breakup girl."

I posted a video about owing $15,000 in credit card debt, which blew up and got brand interest, so I was super strategic and used that to finally move away from posting about the breakup.

I started spending more time on my social media feeds than on my full-time job at the time, and it went incredibly well.

By January 2024, I realized I either needed to quit my full-time job or scale back on my content because I was spreading myself too thin. I took the chance and quit.

I've paid off my debt, have done five-figure brand deals, and I'm making more than my corporate salary while working way fewer hours on my own schedule. It took a while to get used to, but it's been incredible, beyond my wildest dreams.

• DonnaJean Wilde, 59, holds the world records for the longest plank and most push-ups by a woman.
• She can plank for 4.5 hours and do 1,575 push-ups in an hour.
• She shared tips on how to get and stay strong at any age.

DonnaJean Wilde started planking in the early 2010s, when her children started doing it in random locations as part of a viral craze. At the time, her wrist was in a cast so she couldn't run and strength train as she normally would — but she could plank on her forearms.

Wilde, a teacher, started planking for longer and longer amounts of time each day, and by 2020 she was able to plank for hours, planning lessons and reading for her master's degree while horizontal.

Now retired at age 59, she holds two world records — one for the longest time spent in an abdominal plank position by a woman (four hours, 30 minutes, and 11 seconds), and one for most push-ups (1,575) in one hour by a woman.

Wilde's feats aren't just impressive, they require strength and could be helping her to age healthily.

People typically lose muscle mass as they age, but strength training can help to maintain it — and is linked to living longer. A 2022 meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that strength training for an hour a week appeared to lower the risk of dying from any cause by 27%. Resistance training helps to regulate blood pressure and insulin sensitivity, improve lean muscle mass and strength, and reduce belly fat, the authors said.

After she signed up to attempt to break the world record for longest plank, she started training by doing hundreds of push-ups a day — and then decided that would be her next challenge.

"I realized I loved push-ups, too. So, I increased to about a thousand push-ups a day, and tried to shorten the amount of time it took me to do it," she said. "By the official attempt, I had already broken the push-up record at home a few times."

While most of us won't be spending hours planking or doing push-ups, Wilde shared what has helped her to stay fit.

Find an activity you love

"Just go with whatever it is that makes you feel good, and just start," Wilde said, because loving the exercise you choose to do is key to maintaining it as a habit.

"I still plank because I love it. Whenever I have texts or emails to reply to or something to read, I just go on the floor wherever I am and just plank," she said.

While it's important to do a mix of cardio and strength training, Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist and healthy aging researcher previously told Business Insider the best exercise is what you can stick to.

Start small, taking one step at a time

It took Wilde a decade to build up to planking for hours.

"Little by little, it becomes a lot — it's just that compounding effect. It's called 'aggregation of marginal gains,'" she said, referring to the idea that making small changes can add up to significant progress in whatever you do.

But in order to make those gains, you have to "just start," she said.

Experts concur: Sohee Lee, a personal trainer, previously told BI that the best way to get fit is to ease yourself in with lighter workouts so that you aren't deterred from continuing.

Think about the benefits

"I love the way planking makes me feel," Wilde said. "It helps me to stand up straight, and it just helps me feel strong. And I never have any back pain, which I attribute to planking and push-ups."

She said it also helps her keep up with her grandkids every day and stay mentally healthy.

Exercising has benefits ranging from reducing your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, as well as improving your brain function and memory.

• Ruth Goldberg Jaskow is 101 and does fitness classes every day.
• She shared her tips for staying happy and healthy into your 100s with Business Insider.
• These include staying active and eating what you like.

101-year-old Ruth Goldberg Jaskow has an unusual fitness goal: she wants to live to 103 to "beat" her husband.

Goldberg Jaskow, who lives in New York City and worked as a teacher, has always been determined — when she was younger, her family gave her the nickname "Wouldn't Budge."

She was married to Lou Jaskow, a sailor who served in World War II, from 1943 until he died in 2023.

Although she believes that "age is just a number," Goldberg Jaskow now wants to stay fit to live longer than her husband.

Centenarians' longevity is partly determined by genetics and luck, but lifestyle factors also play a role. Goldberg Jaskow shared the things she does that she thinks are helping her stay active at 101.

Keep moving

Goldberg Jaskow has always been active. She studied under Martha Graham, an influential modern dancer and choreographer, and played tennis when she was younger.

Now, at 101, she still does a workout class every day. She has tried every class available at the upscale New York senior living community where she lives, Atria Rye Brook. Options there include yoga, Zumba, and tai chi.

Her advice to younger people is: "you just need to keep moving."

Exercising is great for longevity — one 2022 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that of the 99,713 participants aged between 55 to 74, those who did regular aerobic exercise and strength training were 41% less likely to die from any cause in the 7-10 years after.

Eat what you want

Goldberg Jaskow has no special diet and eats everything she wants because she loves food.

While this approach works for her, dietitians recommend the "80/20" method for people wanting to start eating healthily. This involves eating nutritious food 80% of the time and allow yourself to eat what you like the other 20%.

Nichola Ludlam-Raine previously told Business Insider that the 80/20 rule can make it easier to stick to a healthy diet because it doesn't involve any restrictions.

Jennifer Aniston uses it, as well as Tom Brady.

Enjoy your life

Goldberg Jaskow also recommended that people try to enjoy life if they want to prolong it. She sees her family every week and makes jewelry, which makes her happy.

According to a small 2023 study of 19 people aged between 100 and 107 published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, common traits among centenarians included looking for silver linings, nurturing relationships, and being grateful for the positives in their lives.

106-year-old Katie MacRae previously told BI that her biggest advice for longevity is "just smile, be happy, and enjoy life."

• Frank Rothwell, a 74-year-old from the UK, wasn't sporty as a child but got into sailing in his 30s.
• He switched to rowing in his 70s — he has now twice rowed across the Atlantic solo.
• He raised money for Alzheimer's Research UK by rowing for 12 hours a day for 56 days.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Frank Rothwell, a 74-year-old British businessman who owns the soccer club Oldham Athletic. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I didn't get much chance to do sports as a child. But when I got to my 30s, I got interested in sailing. And now, at 74, I've rowed solo across the Atlantic twice.

In 1990, my family chartered a yacht off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands in Australia for two weeks. We enjoyed it so much that we bought a yacht.

I started doing longer sailing trips, about six weeks. At this point it was only a hobby, and I was using all my holidays to go sailing. I own my own business, so I could take as much time off as I liked, but I was close to retiring then anyway.

I met a bloke in a pub who'd just sailed the Northwest Passage, the sea that goes between Alaska and Russia. I couldn't stop thinking about doing it too, so I did. And then I sailed from the UK around South America, and then a figure eight around the Americas and through the Panama Canal.

By the time I got home, I'd had enough of sailing. It's really hard to find people willing to come sailing with you, because they think it'll be a holiday like in the ads — but you need someone with sailing experience who can take months off work and who will still want to go out when it's rough and pouring rain and they're seasick. So I wanted something I could do by myself.

I switched from sailing to rowing

One night I met a woman in a pub who had a mate who was going to row the Atlantic solo. I thought it must be achievable if someone who had no sailing experience was planning to do it.

So a couple of weeks later, in 2020, I entered the same race, the World's Toughest Row. I was doing it purely for my own benefit, but when I found out all the other teams were raising funds for a charity, I thought I should too. I knew it would be easy for me to raise money because I'm a wealthy bloke and I have wealthy friends.

I decided on Alzheimer's Research UK because Alzheimer's affects everybody — the person who has it, their family, their neighbors. On my first trip I raised £1.1 million.

You had to record 100 hours of rowing to take part in the race, but I enjoyed the training so much that I ended up doing 400 hours in proper open-sea conditions.

I also trained by doing hill runs and weightlifting — I did lots of pulling movements with weights heavier than how much I'd be pulling when I rowed.

I rowed all day, every day, for 56 days

For my first Atlantic row, I set off on December 12, 2020, from La Gomera, one of the Canary Islands. It took me 56 days. I arrived in Antigua on February 6, 2021. At 70, I was the oldest person in the race.

I did my second row at 73 — I finished on February 15, 2024, after 64 days of rowing, and I raised over £383,000.

On the boat, you're either rowing or sleeping. I used to try to row between eight and 14 hours a day, depending on the sea conditions. Some days I made good progress and went 70 miles forward; some days I ended up going 8 miles backward.

On a typical day I'd wake up around 7:30 a.m. and phone base control to assure them I was still there. Then I'd phone my wife, Judith, for 10 minutes as she woke up, and have breakfast — dry granola out of the tin and coffee with cold water.

Then I'd row until 10 or 11 a.m. until the sun got warmer and I needed to put on more clothes to completely cover my skin. I'd have a snack, maybe a couple of chocolate bars, and carry on rowing.

I had to row quite slowly, about 2.5 mph. If you're going to be rowing for 12 hours, you have to go at a speed you can keep up easily. It's easier to row in a boat than on a rowing machine because you have inertia helping you.

During the rowing, I snacked on macadamia nuts, because they're full of calories. I'd get through a kilogram of those a week for lunches. If I wanted to sleep, I'd try to have a nap just after noon, when the sun is at its hottest.

I'd row until teatime, when I'd have two or three pot noodles made with warm water. All the water I had was 23 degrees Celsius, or 73 degrees Fahrenheit — always warm. One of the things I really looked forward to when I finished was drinking something cold.

I was completely alone

I called my son every day for advice. He'd spend an hour every day checking the weather, and so I'd call him for five minutes when he talked me through the route I should take.

I had no other support. A safety boat came to check on me when I was asleep once, but other than that, I didn't even see an airplane.

During my second row across the Atlantic, the boat capsized twice in 24 hours. I was in the cabin, so I was OK. The boat would always flip back over, but I lost one of its safety features and my sea anchor.

I felt a bit depressed afterward, so my wife suggested I have a day off. But I got halfway through the day and thought, "What am I doing?" So I got back on the oars, stopped being soft, and banged on.

My family isn't keen on it, but I'd love to row again.

• A new report recommends doctors stop using Body Mass Index to diagnose obesity because it isn't nuanced enough.
• Doctors should consider a patient's overall health instead of their weight, it said.
• A leading obesity expert told Business Insider why BMI is bogus and how to better assess the risk of overweight.

The previous version of this story was published in 2022, when Business Insider spoke to Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford. It has been updated to reflect the findings of a new report. 

Chances are, a doctor has at one point measured your Body Mass Index to check if you are a healthy weight. But a new report suggests that BMI should no longer be used as a measure of an individual's health. 

BMI is calculated using a person's weight and height, and doctors may tell those who fall into the obese or severely obese categories that they could be at risk of health issues including diabetes and cancer. The solution?: Lose weight.

But the report, published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology on Tuesday, suggested that having obesity according to the BMI scale doesn't mean a person is unhealthy. It comes after the American Medical Association raised similar concerns about BMI in 2023. 

The report includes recommendations from 58 experts in multiple medical specialties and from multiple countries, as well as input from two people with lived experience of obesity.

The experts concluded that people should be diagnosed with "clinical obesity" if their weight negatively affects their organs or they struggle with daily activities. If patients have excess fat but no health problems, they should be diagnosed with "preclinical obesity," and not be treated for their fat levels.

"It doesn't tell you anything about the health of a person," Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity medicine physician and associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, previously told Business Insider.

Here's why BMI is a bogus way to evaluate your health and what you should be paying attention to instead, according to experts who spoke to BI in 2022 and prior, before 2025 Lancet report was published. 

Higher weight is not a death sentence

Having a higher body weight increases the risk of developing a life-altering disease such as diabetes or high-blood pressure, but not everyone who has excess body fat has "significant disease," Stanford said.

The problem with BMI is that it puts too much emphasis on a target weight, which can be misleading.

Stanford recalls the case of a patient who weighed 550 pounds and had obstructive sleep apnea and low testosterone levels, in spite of an active lifestyle.

He reduced his weight to 300 pounds, and no longer had any health problems caused by severe obesity, she said, despite his BMI still being "very high."

BMI is an arbitrary and outdated metric

When BMI was created, it had nothing to do with health. 

Albert Quetelet, an astronomer and sociologist, first defined a metric relating weight to height squared in the 1830s, and this later formed the basis of BMI. Originally, it was meant to help describe the dimensions of the "perfect" or average man.

Quetelet only looked at white French and Belgian men, a very narrow representation of humanity. His ideas were later used to justify racist and eugenic policies and have been discredited. 

Quetelet never intended the ratio to be linked to health. That came in the 1900s when the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company used Quetelet's formula to build actuarial tables based on height and weight, and used data from their mostly white policyholders.

So the metric is deeply biased, and was only designed to measure your risk of dying if you're white, said Stanford.

Studies, including one led by Stanford, have shown that Black and Asian people may not be at the same risk as white people with the same BMI. 

Waist size is a better predictor of ill health — but still isn't perfect

The 2025 report suggested that health is much more complicated and individual than BMI can show.

"Where we carry our adipose or fat is much more important than how much fat we have," Stanford said.

That's because not all fat cells are created equal. Fat that wraps around internal organs is much more likely to lead to disease, but fat around the hips may have a protective effect against heart disease, for instance, Stanford said.

Plus, BMI doesn't take into account the differences between fat and muscle, or differences in fat distribution among different ethnicities, the report said.

So while BMI can be useful when studying the health of a population, the authors of the report recommended that other measurements be used to assess individual patients' health, such as a direct measurement of body fat or waist-to-hip ratio. 

Stanford said that waist size is a reliable measure of weight-related health risk.

Women with a waist size over 35 inches and men with a waist larger than 40 inches are at higher risk of developing metabolic diseases, she said. 

Regardless, without other measures of ill health — such as blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, or cholesterol, insulin, and testosterone levels — it is very difficult to tell if a person is unhealthy, said Stanford.

What if your doctor only looks at BMI? 

Some doctors will use BMI to assume ill health and prescribe weight loss, Stanford said.  

Stanford advises patients whose doctor only focuses on BMI to challenge them.

"Say: 'Okay doctor, I hear that. And I do see that BMI does exceed these guidelines, but how does this relate to my current health status?', which will probably challenge them because they've only thought to think of it in terms of BMI," she said.  

The recommendations made in the report were endorsed by 76 organizations worldwide, including scientific societies and patient advocacy groups.

Erin Brodwin contributed reporting to a previous version of this article.

• Paul Hokemeyer has been a therapist to the ultra-rich for the last decade.
• There are certain issues his clients experience because of their wealth, which he shared with Business Insider.
• These include feeling valued only for their money and internalizing negative stereotypes.

A therapist to the ultra-rich shared what his clients talk about in sessions, from the wealthy father troubled by his children's entitlement to a man who feared leaving his home in case people asked him for money.

Paul Hokemeyer, a licensed marriage and family therapist who for 10 years has worked with clients with a net worth of at least $30 million, told Business Insider that his typical client is middle-aged and with inherited wealth. Only a handful of his clients have earned their own money because, in his experience, such people tend to feel more in control of their lives.

He previously told BI that ultra-rich people "suffer from the same mental health and relational issues as the rest of humanity."

But there are certain problems his wealthy clients talk about in therapy that are specific to their ultra-high net worth.

Feeling objectified

"The most common comments I hear from my clients are along the lines of 'people aren't interested in me, they are only interested in my money,' or 'my children are just waiting for me to die so they can get their hands on my money,'" Hokemeyer said.

"People of wealth are expected to provide. When they say no or create boundaries around what they are willing to give, they are perceived as villains," he said. The constant expectations on ultra-wealthy people can be exhausting and lead to painful, transactional relationships.

Hokemeyer gave the example of a father in his 80s whose adult children had spent their €40 million inheritances and expected him to continue to bankroll their extravagant lifestyles by taking money from their own children's inheritances. He started drinking heavily to manage the stress and the guilt he felt about his children's entitlement.

Hokemeyer helps clients address the sadness and disappointment they feel toward their relationships and create boundaries with people who rely on their financial support.

Feeling isolated

"While providing material comfort, wealth and power elevates people into a very isolated and too frequently self-destructive sphere of existence," Hokemeyer said.

There are a tiny number of ultra-rich people in the world — about 627,000, BI previously reported — and they can feel excluded from the rest of society. Plus, dealing with constant demands from others can lead them to retreat from normal life, he said.

One of his clients with a huge fortune from manufacturing stopped going out because he felt constantly accosted by everyone, Hokemeyer said — even in his apartment building's elevators, where his neighbors kept asking for charity donations.

"Over time, he became severely depressed and morbidly obese. He came to see me after suffering a near-fatal heart attack and realizing he needed to make some significant changes to reconnect with other human beings," he said.

Substance abuse

Hokemeyer finds that people of wealth often suffer with substance abuse problems, because they have easy access to intoxicants and because they can use their resources to avoid negative consequences.

This means that clients tend to come to Hokemeyer for help when those consequences have become "dire," he said — when their health is severely compromised, they've lost a lot of money, or their spouse has left them, for example.

The path out of substance abuse can be tricky for these individuals too, because, being used to being in control, they often resist treatment.

Feeling vilified

From teachings in the New Testament and Buddhist beliefs to the popular phrase "eat the rich," Hokemeyer said that we are surrounded by images of wealth as a form of moral decay and wealthy people as selfish and corrupt.

Many of his patients internalize these negative stereotypes and feel they are bad people, he said. So he works with them to address any guilt or shame they feel about their net-worth and to develop personalized ideas of what is healthy, within the context of their wealth and social status.

• Cherie Rohn, 79, took up fencing at 75. She also works out and does ballroom dancing.
• She shared some of her secrets to staying so active at almost 80.
• These include finding an exercise you love and not trying to be perfect all the time.

Cherie Rohn, 79, has a very structured week when it comes to workouts.

On Sundays, she does a fencing lesson. On Tuesdays, she works out "strenuously." On Wednesday, she does a three-hour fencing session. She takes Thursday for stretching, and on Friday has a ballroom dancing lesson.

The freelance writer and editor based in Fort Myers, Florida, started fencing when she was 75. She stumbled across online fencing lessons during a lockdown in November 2020, and has been doing it ever since.

Rohn has been active all her life and had done ballroom dancing for a decade before she took up the blade. But fencing is "the most strenuous thing I've ever done," she said. "I have to work out constantly just to be able to do the sport."

Factors including genetics, luck, and our environment are thought to play a role in how long we live, as well as lifestyle choices such as regularly exercising.

Here how Rohn stays fit as she approaches 80.

Find an exercise you love

From whitewater rafting and scuba diving to skydiving and ballroom dancing, Rohn has tried lots of different activities.

"Whatever pulls your chain, do that," she said, because if you're not motivated to do something, you won't do it.

Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist who researches healthy aging, previously told BI that a mixture of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training is best for protecting our health. But the best exercise is one you can do consistently, so pick an activity you enjoy and will do regularly.

A 2018 study on 70 people over six weeks, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that those in their 80s who exercised regularly for most of their lives had similar levels of skeletal muscle and enzyme activity to those around 30 years younger than them.

Don't give up

"Don't quit too soon," Rohn said. Instead, think about what you're getting out of exercise.

For Rohn, fencing gives her "immense physical strength" and the ability to "meet the challenges of the day." Plus, the intense concentration it requires provides an escape from worries, she said.

A 2023 study by researchers at Duke Kunshan University, China, using data on 22,463 people found that physically active people over 80 tended to live longer than their inactive peers, even if they took up exercising later in life.

Don't try to be perfect all the time

"You can't be Wonder Woman all of the time," Rohn said. "Sometimes I eat really crappily. I'm not perfect. I screw up."

Lots of dietitians advocate for the 80/20 diet, where you eat healthily 80% of the time and allow yourself to eat what you want for the other 20%. This is because the healthiest way to eat, like exercise, is one you can maintain in the long term.

Making resting part of your workout routine

She also takes multiple rest days a week to help her body recover.

Working out too much and not taking adequate rest can lead to issues such as tiredness, lack of motivation, and increased risk of injuries, Danielle Gray, a personal trainer, previously told BI.

• Brooke Shields, 59, has been in the limelight since she starred in the movie "Pretty Baby" at 11.
• She told Real Simple society is obsessed with youth, but with age comes experience.
• Here life lessons include not being afraid to age, having strong friendships, and loving yourself.

At 59, Brooke Shields doesn't like being called "aged."

"People imprint onto me what they remember from a certain era of my life, and they're attached to that," she told Real Simple.

But the actor and model, whose career started at age 11 when she appeared in the controversial 1978 movie "Pretty Baby," hopes that this will change with the release of her new book, "Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old."

Shields said she is embracing aging, which feels "rebellious" because "our society has become so myopically focused on youth."

Brookes doesn't want people to "lose sight of the value that comes with age and experience and time," she said.

Here are three lessons she has learned in her 59 years.

Friends are important

Shields said that she wouldn't be alive today without her friends.

She sees spending time with friends as self-love. "I leave either knowing a bit more about myself or remembering something I liked about myself through them," she said.

Plus, "it's really important to have friends so it's not all on your partner," she said.

Friendships are important for our physical and mental well-being. Professor Rose Anne Kenny, a gerontologist at Trinity College Dublin and lead researcher on the The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, thinks friendship is just as important as diet and exercise for longevity.

Love yourself

"It's kind of a cliché, but God, you really have to learn early to love yourself," Shields said, adding: "There's just such freedom in finding all the ways you like yourself."

She said part of that is finding a sense of humor about yourself that isn't self-deprecating — which she used to be. But "after 30, 40 years, you start to believe your self-deprecation, and that's dangerous," she said.

Business Insider has previously reported on what it means to love yourself.

Don't fear aging

Shields wants her daughters, aged 21 and 18, not to be "terrified" of aging because "there's something to be said" about life at 59.

"I feel like more of a new person now than I've ever felt," she said, adding: "I'm a bit more in my own life and skin. I'm sitting with myself more. I don't bore myself." This is because she's no longer focused on age-related milestones, such as having children, she said.

Plus, she said she couldn't have launched her hair care business in her 20s, without the life experience she now has.

"I think a life experience is the biggest gift we can be granted," she said.

BI has previously reported on other people who started businesses in their 50s and older.