I believe a thorough lifestyle assessment is crucial, especially after 45. It's about taking a step back and looking at your life with fresh eyes – as if you're observing someone else's routine rather than your own.
To help you with this vital process, I've included a video below. Also below, a free one-pager (it's both downloadable and printable) to help you through the process.
True story: A few years ago, I moved to a neighborhood with five state-of-the-art fitness parks within walking distance. When I asked my neighbors about local outdoor fitness spots, not one person knew they existed.
These were people who had lived there for decades, yet they'd never discovered these amazing wellness resources right in their backyard.
This experience taught me something profound: Many of us lack what I call "high-altitude objectivity" about our own lives and circumstances.
We're so caught up in our daily routines that we miss opportunities for better health and happiness hiding in plain sight.
The Problem: The Invisible Barriers to Better Health
Here's what most people don't realize: The biggest obstacle to improving your health isn't lack of information or resources – it's lack of objective self-awareness.
We're often too close to our own habits to see them clearly.
We underestimate our daily calorie intake, overestimate our activity levels, and sometimes fail to notice how our environment shapes our choices.
It can be so hard to see our own patterns.
Think about it: When was the last time you truly examined your daily routine as an outside observer would?
It's challenging because we're creatures of habit.
Our patterns become so ingrained that they feel like fixed parts of our identity rather than choices we can change.
Let me share another personal story that illustrates this point. For years, I practiced what I call the "barge meditation."
I would imagine myself sitting on the bank of the Mississippi River, watching my thoughts float by on barges.
This simple visualization helped me develop the ability to observe my thoughts objectively, without getting caught up in them. It was a game-changer for my mental and physical health.
The Solution: Your 9-Point Lifestyle Assessment
Here are the essential questions you need to ask yourself.
The key is to answer them as if you're observing someone else's life with complete objectivity.
1. How Indoor-Focused Is Your Life?
Most people in developed countries spend far more time indoors than they realize.
Look at your typical week objectively. How many hours do you spend in natural light?
Are you missing opportunities for outdoor activity in your local area?
Remember, sunlight and fresh air aren't just nice-to-haves – they're crucial for your circadian rhythm, vitamin D levels, lung tissue, and overall health.
2. What's Your Real Relationship with Movement?
Don't just count your exercise sessions. Look at your entire day. Are you sitting for hours without breaks? What's your posture like when you're working?
Stand naked in front of a mirror (without judgment) and look for muscular imbalances:
- Are your chest muscles tighter than your back muscles?
- Is your head craning forward?
These asymmetries can predict future health issues.
3. How Are You Self-Medicating Daily Stress?
Here's what nobody talks about: We all self-medicate our anxiety in some way.
The question is whether we're doing it consciously or unconsciously.
Some choose excess carbs or alcohol; others choose endless scrolling or television.
What's your method? More importantly, could you replace it with something that serves both your short-term and long-term health?
4. What's Your True Inflammatory Load?
After 45, inflammation becomes increasingly important to monitor. Look objectively at your diet.
Are you consuming hidden inflammatory foods?
Even "healthy" items like your afternoon tea latte or that dark chocolate square can add up.
Consider tracking absolutely everything you eat for three days – most people are surprised by what they discover.
5. How Are You Really Sleeping?
Don't just count the hours you sleep – assess quality.
Are you a "professional sleeper," treating sleep as crucial as any other health metric?
Look at your sleep environment and pre-bed routine with fresh eyes. What would an expert say about your sleep hygiene?
6. What's Your Community Connection Level?
Modern life often creates what I call "phone friendships" – relationships maintained primarily through screens.
How much genuine, in-person community do you have?
Are you trading self-care for community time, or vice versa? There might be creative ways to combine both.
7. How Wide Is Your Movement Spectrum?
It's not just about exercise – it's about variety. Are you covering all bases: strength, flexibility, balance, and cardiovascular health?
Many people over 45 focus on one type of movement while neglecting others.
Remember, muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness are the two strongest predictors of longevity.
8. What's Your Protein Strategy?
After 45, protein needs change, but so does our ability to process it.
Look objectively at your protein intake.
Are you getting enough to maintain muscle mass without overtaxing your kidneys?
Consider tracking your intake for a week – most people aren't getting as much as they think.
9. How Future-Focused Is Your Health Plan?
Here's a question that changed my life: "What do I need to do today to be able to take long walks in my 90s?"
Think about it. Are your current health habits aligned with your longevity goals?
Are you making decisions based on immediate comfort or long-term thriving?
Making Changes That Stick
Remember, the goal isn't to overhaul everything at once. Start with one area where you see the biggest gap between current reality and desired outcome.
Make small, sustainable changes based on your honest assessment.
I've learned that preparation equals success.
Before making any change, ask yourself: "If I were to get in my own way, how would I do it?"
Your first answer is usually the most honest and helpful.
How to Do This Lifestyle Assessment
You probably have more choices and more freedom than you think you do.
But seeing those choices requires stepping back and looking at your life with fresh eyes.
An assessment is a systematic evaluation process that goes beyond simply asking questions - it's a measured snapshot of where you currently stand.
A proper assessment includes specific criteria to gauge your current status, clear benchmarks to understand what "good" looks like, and a consistent scoring method to track progress over time.
For each area you're evaluating (like sleep quality, movement patterns, or stress management), you can rate your current status on a scale of 1-5, where 1 represents significant room for improvement and 5 indicates optimal conditions.
This numerical rating system transforms subjective feelings into trackable data points.
For best results, conduct a full lifestyle assessment every three months, marking your scores in a simple spreadsheet or journal.
This quarterly timeline allows enough time to see meaningful changes while catching any negative trends before they become habits.
→click here to download this Lifestyle Assessment Tracker for free.
Keep your tracking method straightforward - create a simple chart with your nine assessment areas listed vertically and dates horizontally, recording your 1-5 scores for each area.
Each quarter, after recording new scores, spend time reflecting on areas that have improved and those that need attention. A change of even one point in any area can signal important shifts in your lifestyle patterns.
Use these questions as a starting point for your own lifestyle assessment, but remember – the key is honesty without judgment.
Using This Lifestyle Assessment to Thrive
The purpose of this lifestyle assessment is to help you thrive.
"Thrive" means to maintain and continuously improve both mental and physical well-being in a way that enhances your capacity to fully engage with life after 45.
It means having robust physical health that enables you to do what you want, like taking those long walks in your 90s, while maintaining mental clarity and emotional balance through practices like objective self-observation. See this video for inspiration:
Thriving includes creating meaningful connections within your community, moving beyond just "phone friendships," and building strength and resilience that supports longevity.
It's about making conscious choices about lifestyle factors rather than defaulting to habits, and having sufficient energy to pursue your interests and maintain relationships.
A crucial aspect of thriving is being proactive about health rather than reactive to problems. This means not waiting for issues to arise before taking action – instead, it's about creating systems and habits that prevent problems before they start.
For example, rather than waiting for joint pain to develop before thinking about mobility work, you'd already have a mobility practice in place.
Rather than responding to high blood sugar readings with dietary changes, you'd already be following an anti-inflammatory eating pattern.
The focus shifts from fixing problems to preventing them entirely.
Similarly, maintaining or improving your quality of life as you age isn't about merely preserving what you have - it's about continuously finding ways to enhance your capabilities and expand what's possible.
This might mean gaining strength when others are losing it, improving flexibility when others are becoming more rigid, or developing new skills and interests when others are settling into fixed routines.
Ultimately, thriving means having the mental and physical capacity to make a positive difference in the world, contributing to your community, and leaving a lasting positive impact.
True health isn't just about following guidelines; it's about creating a sustainable lifestyle that supports both your current well-being and your future goals.
Sometimes the biggest improvements come not from adding new habits, but from seeing your existing patterns more clearly.
You're not just maintaining your health – you're investing in your future self. Make your assessment count.
