Daily habits of a doctor who focuses on healthy aging in women

Studies show that on average, women have a higher chance of living longer than men. Orthopedic sport surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright wants to ensure that when women enter old age it is an enjoyable experience, not one full of pain.

“I am acutely aware that even though we’re living longer, we’re suffering longer, and that most of the conversation around longevity in this country so far has been directed at men, or using the science of men,” says Wright.

For 20 years, Wright was an academic surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh researching musculoskeletal aging and longevity with the goal of “dispelling the common notion that aging was an inevitable decline.” With her fellow researchers, she studied active members of aging populations, including seniors who competed in the National Senior Games, a biannual event for athletes over the age of 50.

“The mantra that I laid down in the early 2000s when I [wondered], ‘What is going to be the guiding light of my career?’ is ‘I’m going to change the way we age in this country,'” Wright says.

Today, she is a practicing clinician and founder of Precision Longevity. She shares tips with her patients for a longer and healthier life in hopes of “building communities of people who believe that they can have the agency to change their future.” She recently published a book titled, “Unbreakable,” which is a guide to healthy aging for women.

Much of what Wright, 58, recommends to her patients, she practices in her own life. Here are her daily habits for health and wellness.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

CNBC Make It: What are some practices that you’re doing to keep your body healthy physically?

Interestingly, in my book, “Unbreakable,” the heavy lifting plan is actually the one I was working on as the book was being written.

I walk at least 45 minutes a day, three to four times a week. When I have a clinic day, I know that it’s 30 steps down the hallway in my office, and I just don’t sit down all day. So I work mobility into my lifestyle, and then twice a week, I sprint. Sometimes it’s on a treadmill or a bike or a stepper.

That sprinting, in addition to lifting heavy, which I do at least twice a week, those are the things that recompose your body and make us lean. Because I’m not trying to teach anybody or myself to be skinny. It does not interest me. But lean is healthy.

And then I jump intentionally a lot. I just got two new jump ropes. One is two and a half pounds. On social media, I reintroduced the game of hopscotch to my followers, because it’s not just jumping up and down that matters. It’s the multi-directional jumping that builds better bones.

What are you doing specifically for your brain?

I am religious about my sleep, meaning I am in bed by 9:30pm. I am up by 5:00am. You can count on it, weekend, weekday, because I can tell the difference in my brain.

I like to challenge my brain to learn new things all the time, so I’m constantly learning. I’m reading all kinds of stuff all the time. Learning is pleasurable for me.

But the number one thing I’ve done for my brain since I turned midlife and menopausal is I have chosen to replace my estrogen. Estrogen is covered in estrogen receptors. The work of Lisa Mosconi and the work of Roberta Brinton, show that without estrogen, a brain starves. And I felt that at 47 when I was hit in the wall by perimenopause.

I felt like I was going to die, and one of the things was the loss of the sharpness in my brain. So I chose for many reasons, but brain health being one of them, to replace my estrogen, and I think that makes as big a difference as anything I’ve said to you so far.

Something I see in a lot of longevity studies is the importance of staying connected and staying social. What’s your social fitness like?

I encourage myself, and when I talk about this to patients, to choose five people. Have a very close knit group. So, I have five people. It’s five women within the menopause-y space. A urologist and three OBs, and we talk every day on our chat groups. So that’s number one, connecting. I have found that easier to do in midlife than I did when I was younger.

Number two, I am the mother of a blended family of six children, three grandchildren, three very old grandparents and two very old dogs. So we also communicate every day, even if it’s just a little bit.

And then number three, I really do still answer people on my Instagram. I mean, I know they’re strangers, but it is a way to keep connected. But it’s the five people that you surround yourself with most that are most important to your longevity and health.

On nutrition, what are the foods that you’re aiming to get into your diet each week?

Every single day, I focus on clean, whole-food nutrition with one gram of protein per pound. So I focus on getting 130 grams of protein a day so that I can build the muscle that I need to do all the other things I mentioned, and that’s not that hard.

I eat a lot of green leafy vegetables. I eat a lot of kale, even at breakfast. I have a salad for breakfast. Sometimes it’s spinach and kale. I have basically the same things every day. I get protein in the form of dairy and egg, and I do eat animal meat. Every ounce is six grams of protein, so I eat a lot of that every day.

And I don’t eat sugar. Yesterday, I had three bites of ice cream because I was out with my 17-year-old. But on a day-to-day basis, I don’t eat sugar. And here’s why, I can physically feel the difference in my body. I can feel inflamed. I can feel the dullness in my brain when I’m eating sugar. So I focus on anti-inflammatory nutrition, which is good for my body and my brain.

I don’t eat simple carbs, with the exception of sourdough. I make sourdough every two weeks and then we freeze the loaves, which decreases their glycemic index. It’s wholesome and made out of fermented bacteria. So those are the really simple ways that from a nutritional standpoint, I stay healthy.

One question that I always ask every longevity expert is, what are you currently reading?

I constantly refer to “Estrogen Matters” by Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris. I am reading little parts of “The Menopause Moment,” which is coming out by Kelly Casperson. Of course, I’m reading my own book.

I don’t read fiction, but I picked up a fiction book because I met this fascinating author at a book author event. It’s the Red Rising series, which is a futuristic series of science fiction. I’m really surprised at myself because I don’t usually read that. But you know what it let me do for a short amount of time? Escape the real world of taking care of people.

Here’s a brief summary of Wright’s practices for a long and healthy life:

For her physical health: Counting her steps, sprinting, lifting heavy weights multiple times a week and finding ways to jump more through hopscotch and jump rope.For her brain health: Prioritizing sleep, stabilizing her estrogen levels and fueling her appetite for learning.For social fitness: Catching up with her friend group of like-minded health professionals, connecting with her family and chatting with her Instagram followers.For her diet: Eating a high-protein, anti-inflammatory diet rich in green leafy vegetables, dairy and meat.For her media diet: Reading the latest women’s health books about menopause, and starting a new sci-fi series.

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