A short micro-class by Brian Johnson titled 'Gravity 101' that explains how leaving Earth's gravity rapidly degrades multiple health markers in astronauts (aerobic capacity, bone density, blood plasma, immune function) and argues prolonged sitting mimics some of those effects. Johnson recommends simple countermeasures (e.g., standing every ~15 minutes) and closes with a promotion for his newsletter and Optimal Living membership.
Questions this episode answers
About 25% loss of aerobic capacity in seven to 14 days.
Up to 5% bone density loss in a month.
Stand up every 15 minutes for a few seconds (even briefly) to improve health.
Chapters
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on Gravity 101. It's inspired by Sitting Kills Moving Heels by Joan Vernakos, who was the former Director of Life Sciences at NASA, which means she was responsible for keeping astronauts healthy before, during, and after their space flights. And in this book, she shares with us the fact that when astronauts leave our beautiful planet and exit the gravitational pull of planet Earth. Hello. Going in a rocket ship. What happens is crazy. Their health goes down in an extraordinarily quick way. So every single health marker basically is affected negatively by leaving gravity. Here's some crazy stats. So usually it takes a decade to lose 10% of your aerobic capacity. Right? You know, every decade, after 20 years old, your aerobic capacity goes down on average by 10% and astronauts lose 25%. Not in a decade, but in seven to 14 days. That's crazy. Bone density. Right. So bone density usually goes down about a percent every decade. Right again, every decade. Well, guess what? You go into outer space and you can lose up to 5% in a month. What? Crazy. Blood plasma, same thing. Immune system. Long, long list. Right. Basically, leaving gravity erodes your health in a very, very quick way. And the whole point of the book is that when we don't use gravity, that is when we're sitting all day long, we experience similar negative effects. Now, of course, we're not leaving gravity completely, so we don't experience this stuff, but our health erodes and atrophies at a much faster rate than it should, and that it would if we use gravity often. Hence, sitting kills moving heels. The easiest, simplest way to work with gravity, by the way, is to simply stand up from your sitting position more often. If all you did was get up every 15 minutes from your desk, stand up for even just a few seconds, and then sit back down, you would do extraordinarily powerful, powerful things to optimize your health and wellbeing. We'll talk about more of those. But that's Gravity 101. Keep the astronauts in mind as you're sitting in your chair all day long. Hi, this is Brian. I hope you enjoyed that micro class. If so, I think you'll enjoy everything else we offer at BrianJohnson. Me. Two basic things. One, our free newsletter. It's called the Optimizer. Over 50,000 people start their day with it and they tell us it's pretty awesome. And two, our Optimal Living membership program. This is where I put all my best stuff 10 bucks a month for a ton of wisdom. Two primary things in there philosopher's notes plus optimal living 101 classes when you sign up, you'll get instant access to 250 philosopher's notes, which are basically six page PDFs and 20 minute MP3s where I capture my favorite big ideas from from great books. The PNTV episodes are kind of a mini version of all that goodness. You'll also get instant access to all my optimal Living classes. This is where I take all the ideas we cover in the Philosopher's Notes and boil it down to the most practical stuff you can apply today. Classes include Confidence 101, Getting Stuff Done 101, Relationships 101, Habits 101, et cetera. You'll also get access to what we call micro classes that I think you'll love. We aim to astonish, and we're blessed to have thousands of members telling us we're helping them change their lives and that this is the best 10 bucks they invest in themselves every month. Go to BrianJohnson ME membership to learn more. Thanks for your support and have an awesome day.
