Younger Next Year

In Younger Next Year, coauthors Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry Lodge present a science-based argument that the biological decay of aging is largely optional until roughly age 80. The book grew out of Crowley’s retirement and Lodge’s internal-medicine practice, and it alternates between Crowley’s irreverent first-person “Harry’s Rules” chapters and Lodge’s explanatory “The Science” chapters. Their central claim is that humans evolved for constant physical stress and scarcity, so modern sedentary comfort signals the body to decay. The remedy is what they call the “New Old Age”: treat the last third of life as a demanding training camp rather than a slide into rest. The book’s signature framework is six rules. Exercise six days a week, with four days of serious aerobic work and two days of strength training. Skip the junk food and eat less overall. Quit smoking and limit alcohol. The remaining rules concern emotional life: connect with others, commit to something larger than yourself, and stay engaged. Lodge explains the physiology behind each, including how exercise triggers repair hormones and how chronic stress accelerates decline. Crowley illustrates the rules through his own late-life athleticism and the book’s recurring cast of older men who took up rowing, skiing, or weightlifting. A memorable device is the “Harry” persona, a blunt inner voice urging action over excuses. The book is addressed mainly to men over 50, though its advice has been widely read by women too. It is less a diet plan than a call to treat fitness and social connection as nonnegotiable obligations for the rest of your life.