12. Make Health Your Top Priority

In today’s fast-paced modern society, many people constantly stretch their working hours and deplete their physical resources in pursuit of career success. This phenomenon usually surfaces around the age of thirty, as that’s typically when physical issues begin to appear.

I used to ignore health foods entirely; now I check every day to see if they’re on sale.

In your twenties, your body has strong regenerative capabilities and operates in a relatively resilient state. Staying up late, drinking alcohol, eating sweets, and binging on fried food don’t seem to take much of a toll.

Around age 28, I started noticing how heavily staying up late affected me—it left me completely drained the next day. Years of an irregular lifestyle caught up with me in the form of abnormal markers on health checkups. Furthermore, desk-bound office jobs severely limit daily calorie expenditure.

When immersed in endless work, we often overlook our most valuable asset: our health.

Prolonged sedentary work gradually stiffens our bodies, and an inactive lifestyle raises the risk of various chronic diseases. An erratic schedule disrupts our circadian rhythm, impairing both metabolism and immune function.

Many people end up developing various health problems before even turning thirty. I know this sounds completely alien to people in their early twenties, but whatever you gain at the expense of your health is never worth the price.

Recently, I’ve noticed that many well-known, successful figures maintain lean, fit physiques—like Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, or Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose muscular biceps are hard to miss.

Another topic that is talked about less is mental health. Stress in the modern workplace comes from many angles: challenging work tasks, complicated interpersonal dynamics, and office politics, among others.

A friend working at a large corporation once told me that many colleagues take leave for psychotherapy, or that almost everyone is in counseling, and some who take leave never end up coming back.

I completely understand the state of being so busy with work that you have no time or energy for leisure or exercise—you just want to lie down and do nothing. But if you recognize the warning signs and still don’t make a change, you’re borrowing against your future health.

If that’s the path you consciously choose, that’s fine, but I think it’s worth pausing to reconsider.

Early in my career, I also lived an utterly erratic life: sleeping late, waking up late, pulling all-nighters playing games, or coding for an entire day straight. Over time, back and neck pain set in. When I first moved to Japan, there were frequent drinking parties (nomikai), and my alcohol intake increased. Gradually, my body fat crept up, and with far less exercise than before, I found myself getting fatigued very easily at work.

What I Tried

Here are a few adjustments I’ve made. Honestly, nothing about it is complicated—it’s basically living like a high schooler again:

• No alcohol: I don’t enjoy the dizzy, buzzed feeling, so I’ve avoided drinking as much as possible in recent years.
• No sugary drinks: Indulging once in a while is fine, but I mostly stick to black coffee or unsweetened tea.
• Eat more protein: More white meat (chicken breast, chicken thighs) and less red meat.
• Maintain sleep quality
• Avoid staying up late
• Keep up a routine of strength training and cardio

Hiring a personal trainer is also a great approach—spending money creates accountability and helps force you to build a regular workout habit.

If you’re looking for more systematic advice, you can check out this video. It discusses the critical importance of VO2 Max and muscle mass, featuring an interview with Dr. Peter Attia, author of Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity.

You could also read Dr. Ho Li-an’s book To Fight Aging, You Need Heavy Resistance Training, as well as his 2017 article “A Clear and Present Danger”, which might offer you a fresh perspective.

After looking into these, you’ll realize that strength training isn’t just about looking good in the mirror—muscle mass and cardiorespiratory fitness are decisive factors in your quality of life as you age.

Exercise brings countless benefits. Specifically, weight training is remarkably effective for building muscle. More muscle naturally creates a better physique, boosts calorie burn, and helps build a metabolism that is less prone to gaining fat.

According to the author, many signs of aging are closely tied to muscle loss (sarcopenia). Losing muscle causes metabolism to plummet, leads to fat accumulation, and paves the way for various chronic diseases.

Many people believe their exercise habits are healthy, when in reality they are deeply flawed.

Aging leads to a loss of muscle and bone density. Therefore, training should primarily target “increasing muscle mass” and “increasing bone density” in order to effectively preserve and improve athletic capacity.

Of course, any exercise is better than none, and starting with cardio is totally fine. Even so, I strongly encourage everyone to embrace the benefits of weight training.

After a Year of Weight Training

Here’s a brief look at my results after consistently weight training. I have always had a naturally skinny build. While my workouts might not compare to high-intensity athletic regimens, I can honestly say I was very disciplined about lifting over the past year.

Still, you definitely feel the gap between social media fitness influencers and reality. While I’ve made progress, to be frank, if I don’t mention it, people probably wouldn’t notice I work out at all—with clothes on, the difference is minimal. Building muscle is seriously hard work 😭.

Health is the foundational pillar supporting your career and life. Let’s take good care of it together.

Wow, looking back, not only was I skinny, but I also radiated full-on nerd energy.