The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Secret of Longevity -- A Simple Solution

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Look what we found for this week's Wednesday End Bits special --- a huge study, done over thirty years, and what it concludes is the best secret of longevity. It's pretty simple, but are you doing it? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You're just moments away from the latest episode of the bridge. It's Wednesday. And on today's program, we're going to unveil the secret of longevity. Really? How could you ask for more than that? Coming right up. And hello there.

Peter Mansbridge here. You know, what do we call Wednesdays? We call them wonderful Wednesdays. We call them hump day. Here at the bridge. we call it a day to kind of sit back and pause, stay away from the craziness of our world these days. Sometimes we run an encore edition.

And other days we do what we call an N-bit special, and this is one of those days. You know, there's always a collection of stories that builds up that we never get to, but are interesting. And so more than a few Wednesdays, We try to give you some of those on what we call an in-bit special. And listen, there's a blaring headline for this week. Teased it at the beginning of the program,

but when you see this, scientists reveal the secret of longevity. It's a story in the telegraph. And, I mean, how can you ignore that headline? People my age, we race to the story. Secret of longevity. Great. Let's go. What is it?

Where do I sign up? Well, that's where we're going to start today. Now, this isn't just your average study. Just the kind of next study that rolls off the process somewhere. This one is a study that tracked 111,000 people. for more than 30 years. This isn't like a poll that was done last week over three days of, you know, 890 people.

111,000 people were tracked over 30 years because the scientists were determined to find the secret of longevity. The headline suggests the 30-year study finds that variety is the spice of life. Okay, well, that should get us to dig a little deeper into this study. So let's get some of the facts. Walking. Shock.

Walking. Was the single activity associated with the lowest risk of death, 17% lower for those who did the most walking compared with those who did the least. who did the least. Now think about that. I mean, how much walking do you do? If you're not somebody who is determined to do, you know,

whatever, 4,000, 6,000, 8,000 steps a day and you apportioned amount of time to do that, how much walking do you actually do in a day? You know, if you're someone who rarely leaves the house, you're just sort of walking around the house. You're not going to pick up many steps that way, right? And a lot of us, especially in the winter, and especially lately in the winter, in many parts of the country, it's just not been a time to get out there and walk.

But walking is the single activity associated with the lowest risk of death. Individually, tennis, and I'm reading from this article, it was the health editor, the Telegraph, has written this just last week. individually tennis, squash, and racquetball were found to cut risk by 15% rowing by 14% running or weight training by 13% jogging by 11% and cycling by 4% climbing the stairs regularly was linked to a 10% lower risk

got stairs in your house how many flights how often do you do them do you kind of avoid doing them by ensuring that what you need is on the floor where you're at? Well, maybe you better build the stairs in. Those whose lives involved a regular, varied mix of activities saw the best results with a 19% lower risk of death in total.

Meanwhile, risk of death from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, and other causes was lowered by between 13% and 41%. So that's if you've got a regular, kind of varied mix of activity. Let me skip down a little bit more. Units called MET, metabolic equivalent tasks, were used to measure exercise intensity, and the study found that the ideal weekly exercise regimen totaled 20 METs from at least 3,000.

three different activities. So those who conducted the study to help us, those of us who were going, give me some hints, tell me what should I be doing? Well, they kind of broke it down to what your week of exercise should look like. And we're talking about just doing some basic stuff each day. The metabolic equivalent tasks are used to measure the intensity of exercise.

Here's what they suggest, and they break it down over a week. They give you Sundays off, but there's a little bit of something each day otherwise. Mondays, a brisk walk, like a brisk walk. Just one, that's it, that's the only thing you have to do on a Monday, for 45 minutes. Okay, that's not long. Tuesday's weight training for an hour. Now, if you're going to start weight training, be careful. I mean, if you haven't been doing it,

it takes a while for your muscles, your joints, your body. So I'd start, you know, this is suggesting an hour each Tuesday. I'd suggest, and I'm not a trainer, but trainers have told me, you're going to start weight training, start easy. five, ten minutes. Very basic stuff. And I work yourself up. Wednesdays, a short run.

I hate running. I never liked running. I didn't like running as a kid. But a short run, 25 minutes. It sounds like a long run to me. Thursday is back to a brisk walk, but this time only 45 minutes. I don't know.

That's the same as it was on Monday. Fridays. is weight training again? Saturday, gardening for 20 minutes. Okay, that's not a heavy exercise routine, but it's a routine which will make you live longer, will help towards that goal of longevity. Okay, anything else in this study.

It was published, by the way, by BMJ Medicine. Researcher said the study was observational, so it could not prove cause and effect, but concluded overall, these data support the notion that long-term engagement in multiple types of physical activity may help extend the lifespan. Oh, now it's may help. Participants with higher total physical activity levels were less likely to have risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. They were also likely to weigh less, eat more healthily, engage in a broader range of activity, and drink some alcohol, the study found.

All right. There you go. The bridge brings to you some very easy steps that may help prolong your life. So let's all keep that in mind. Now here's an interesting story. I don't know how many of you have been on the, or are on the Zempec style drugs. You know, they were designed to basically to work at the diabetes issue.

But the side impact, the side effect has been that people have lost weight by being on them. And as a result, a lot of people are used to. these drugs. For some, they call them the GLP-1 medications. But think, you know, there's a whole bunch of the different ones now, but the most well-known one is OZMPIC. So here's the headline in an NBC News story. Smaller portions, more protein, how GLP-1s are quietly changing chain restaurant menus.

I hadn't realized this, but it does appear to be happening. Once exclusively a treatment for diabetes, GLP-1 medications have gone mainstream, forcing restaurants to adjust to changing appetites and nutrition needs. So let's grab a few of those and let's see. This is what the study by NBC News will not study, but a report by NBC has done. they've checked a bunch of different restaurants and asked them,

you know, are you putting out special menus or special portion sizes as a result of the move towards these kind of drugs? And people definitely losing weight as a result of them. Smoothie King is among the restaurants that capitalized on this movement as early as 2024, introducing a menu featuring smoothies with high protein and fiber content and with zero grams of added sugar. Now some of the biggest names in American dining appear to have followed suit.

So I'll give you a couple of examples of these. Olive Garden, you know that chain? Olive Garden announced just last month that it was adding a lighter portion section to its menu, offering seven dishes with smaller portions at lower prices. Chipotle now offers a high protein menu including a serving of cubed chicken with 32 grams of protein for around the price of a latte. At Shake Shack, I'm not sure whether all of these restaurants are in Canada or not,

but at Shake Shack, customers can enjoy lettuce-wrapped versions of the chain's famed smash burgers on the good fit menu. This month, Subway, added protein pockets, small, snack wraps with more than 20 grams of protein. For those taking these kind of drugs, eating higher protein foods goes hand in hand with eating smaller portions. The medications severely curb users' appetites, so when they do eat, they need nutrition or nutrient-rich foods

to ensure they're still eating a balanced meal. Protein also keeps you fuller for longer. So eating foods packed with protein helps with weight loss, as you do not have to eat as frequently or as much. So, interesting. I'm just scanning the rest of this to see if there's anything else in here. It's a fairly lengthy piece. You can find it on the NBC News website.

It's called Smaller Portions More Protein. But, you know, look, it's hard to knock this idea of downsizing the portions. because as you know, at some especially fast food places, the portions you get are ridiculous. You know, they're huge. So downsizing sounds good to me. All right.

Okay, here's one. Those are kind of, those two are kind of news you can use stories. And there's a couple more coming up. but I love this story was in the New York Times and you know it's what we call a feature but it's a feature

that is born out of some current day trends here's the headline why London's chimney sweeps are enjoying a resurgence chimney sweeps a resurgence

here's the way it starts Against a grey London skyline, a spiky round brush protruded from the chimney of a large family house as Josh Furkins got to work. The brush would have been familiar, Mr. Furkin said, to his great-great-great-grandfather Charles, who began working as a chimney-sweep in the mid-19th century. Other aspects of the job would have seemed outlandish to him, though. A digital camera revealed the chimney's interior. An industrial vacuum cleaner removes soot and other debris dislodged by the brush. Earlier, a drone buzzed above the house, scanning the state of the rooftop. Chimney seeps were once an essential part of British life,

when households relied on coal and wood-burning fires to heat their homes. they played an outsized role in the cultural imagination, whether because of Dick Van Dykes' portrayal of Burt in Mary Poppins, or less cheerfully, the children sent up flus in the 18th and 19th centuries, some getting stuck or suffocating in the process. So here you have the clash of our modern technology and what has been ingrained in us through reading Dickens and other books, from a couple hundred years ago

and the stories of chimney sweeps. Now, chimneys depended upon and got so dirty because of coal, right? That's what it was that caused people to, you know, send little seven or eight-year-old kids up chimneys to clean them. Well, in 2023, only two years ago, In 2023, England banned the sale of almost all traditional coal for domestic use. But even urban areas, like London, allow the burning of officially authorized smokeless fuels, which produce very little visible smoke, but do generate soot, although much less than coal does.

To limit air pollution, the British government recommends that chimneys be professionally swept once a year. and that households choose the cleanest available fuels. I'm going to give you a little bit of the history. I love this stuff. I'm not sure how much you do, but I love it. Chimney sweeps have been in business in Britain since at least 1519. The date of the first recorded payment to one, according to a history of the trade. British chimney sweeps by Benita Cullingford.

Records are sparse because sweeps had no given. yield to keep documents, unlike in some other countries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, climbing boys, often orphans, were enlisted to clamber up narrow chimneys. This dangerous, sometimes deadly activity was outlawed by an act of parliament in 1875, not long after the death of George Brewster, who was just 11 years old, who got stuck in a chimney in fullborn near Cambridge. Censored records show that Charles Firkens,

that's Mr. Furkin's ancestor, we talked about at the beginning of this, was sweeping chimneys in 1860. By 1864, his three brothers had joined him. So this is a long-held family business. Family had a share of drama, including one altercation recorded in the local press in which Charles punched a rival who mocked the way he advertised his services with the cry, sweep, sweep, chimney sweeps.

Mr. Furkins, 37, was heard of builders recovering the remains of children and chimneys. Come on. More common in the discovery of hidden items. Mr. Furkins himself uncovered a stash of love letters, written by men to a male doctor dating from an era before homosexuality was legalized. Mr. Furkin's father once recovered a revolver, which was turned into the police. More than a century and a half after the family business began, chimney sweeping remains profitable for the business for each Furkins and sons. And to winter months, Mr. Furkins said,

we'll probably take 70 to 80 calls a day. People enjoy sitting in front of a fire. You can shut the curtains, light of fire, and it doesn't really matter what's going on outside. People have a glass of wine, the fires are light, they read a book, I guess they switch off. He believes the rising cost of living is driving the surge in business, although fires are less efficient than gas or electric systems, they can help ration the use of central heating, while those with access to free or cheap wood can save cash in areas where burning logs is permitted. Our busiest times are when there is a recession or when energy prices are high. Mr. Furkins.

You got a fireplace? Do you have fireplaces? I mean, there's a number of ways to go now, right? There's a lot of gas fireplaces. But there's nothing like that winter feeling of a wood fire. And wood stoves now are incredibly efficient. And can heat a whole house because of its efficiency. But, you know, they still need, cleaning. And you might want to, you know, if you have wood stoves in your house or a wood stove

or any kind of stove that burns fuel like that, add it to the list of things you should do once a year. You know, you get your furnace checked. You get your humidifier dehumidifier setup checked. You have your water pipes checked. Maybe you should check your chimney. to make sure. I know I've got to, it's one thing for me to say it. It's another thing for me to do it. So I've got to do it.

All right. There's a couple of end bits for you. We've got a couple more, but time to take our break. We'll be back right after this. And welcome back, Peter Mansbridge here. This is The Bridge for Wednesday. It's a low-key show.

You know, my contract calls me to have Wednesdays off. And that's why a whole idea by Encore editions. And they're somewhat popular. Most people have actually heard him before. Some people want to hear them a second time. That's good. Others go, you know, I already heard that. So that's why we throw in these NBITs programs.

And I like to do them. Mark Bulgich collects these stories and fires them my way every once in a while and says, here's some stuff for an NBIT show. and sure enough we do. You're listening on Sirius XM, Channel 167, Canada Talks, or on your favorite podcast platform. Glad to have you with us. Tomorrow, by the way, just a quick plug for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the final of our Ask Me Anything programs. The final opening three, I think we'll do Ask Me Anythings once a month, something like that. But we offered up and asked me anything idea. three weeks ago and we were, we had a lot of letters. There's been enough, there's been more than enough for three shows,

but we're going to cut it off after tomorrow. Maybe we'll save some of these, use them a month from now. But we'll get as many as we can in tomorrow for three in a row of Ask Me Anything, which have been the highest rated Thursday shows that we've done. It's quite remarkable, really.

And, of course, it's not just asked me anything. It's also the random renter who will be by tomorrow as well. Okay. A couple more stories that fit the bill. How often do you actually write a letter? And I don't mean an email. I mean actually sit down and pen a letter to somebody, anybody. You know, I can't remember the last time I did.

You know, I write more than I used to because of the simplicity and the easiness of email and not needing stamps or envelopes or any of that stuff. But what have we lost by losing that? The art of letter writing. And that's kind of what this story is about. It's from Associated Press. And the headline is,

letter writing enjoys a revival. As fans seek connection and a break from screen time. We're all looking for that. Let me read a bit of this because it's kind of interesting. At a time when productivity means of optimizing every second and screens blur the line between work and home. Some people are slowing down and disconnecting by looking to communication devices from the past. Tactile activities ranging from writing letters and typewriter clubs to TikTok communities

showcasing calligraphy skills and wax seals are giving retro writing instruments a resurgence. More than quaint throwbacks, the pursuits, the pursuits provide their enthusiasts with opportunities to reduce their technology use, be more intentional with time, and build meaningful connections with others. I feel as though my pen pals are my friends. I don't think of them much differently than if I were chatting with a friend on the phone, in a coffee shop or another person's house, said Melissa Bobbitt, a devoted letter writer who corresponds with about a dozen people from her home in

Claremont, California, and has had up to 40 pen pals at one time. Focusing on one person and really reading what they're saying and sharing what's on your heart is almost like a therapy session. You know, I remember pen pals. I think I had a couple. I know my sister did when we were growing up in the 50s. in different parts of the world. We had pen pals.

And there was great excitement when a letter would arrive from, you know, New Zealand or South Africa or somewhere. Far away from your pen pal. Somebody who you had never met, never would meet, but connected you. And it seemed like magic. the days of pen pals. Stephanie

Contonopinos is 21 years old. She lives in Chicago. She said it can be hard to put her phone and computer away, especially when it seems all of her friends and peers are on social media

and her classes and personal life revolve around being online. There are times when I'm with my friends and at dinner, I'll realize we are all on our phones. She said, adding that she tries to put her phone down at those moments. We've all seen that right. And we've all been a part of that. You go out for a social event and you're looking

at the next table and everybody's sitting there is on their phone. They're not even talking to each other. Stephanie goes on to say that she unplugs consciously by sending postcards to her family and friends, scrapbooking. Boy, remember those, scrapbooks. And junk journaling, which involves repurposing everyday materials like tickets and receipts to document memories or ideas. She says going to the post office has become an activity she does with her mother back home in Kansas

and includes sharing stories with the postal workers. People she would not have routinely encountered. Okay. That's the American example that Associated Press uses. But here's a Canadian one. Writing and sending letters is nostalgic for Kiki Klassen, who lives in Ontario. The 28-year-old says it helps her feel more connected to her late mother, who is a member of the Canadian Union of postal workers, Cup W,

which represents mail carriers and other postal employees. In October of 2024, Classen launched the Lucky Duck Mail Club, a subscription-based monthly mail service that sends participants a piece of her art, an inspiring quote, and a message. She says her memberships include more than a thousand people. That's amazing. Across at most 36 countries. When I sit down, I'm forced to reflect.

and choose my words carefully, Clausen said. It also lends itself to vulnerability because it's easier to write down how you are feeling. I've had people write me back and I've cried hearing so many touching stories. I think for a lot of people, paper creates a safe space. You write it down, send it off and don't really think about it after. Hmm. Okay. So how do you get started?

If you're sitting out there, you're going, yeah, Peter, tell me, how do I get started if I'm going to start writing letters again? Or maybe for the first time. You know, teachers will tell you that it's hard to find kids who can write, you know, like physically write in a legible way. Anyway, here's how Cheyenne Mumfrey, who's the reporter for AP, who wrote this piece. Here's how to get started. While writing letters and engaging in other vintage pursuits might seem accessible, it's not always easy to get involved. For many people, carving out time to slow down can feel like another obligation

in a schedule filled with to-does. Contopinos says she decided it was important for her to reprioritize her time. The older I get, the more I realize, how much time had been wasted on my phone. Creating space to explore allowed her to discover the hobbies she loved doing enough to make them a priority, she said.

There are many hobbies to consider, some of which don't require expensive tools or hours of free time. Frequenting spaces where communities centered around these hobbies can be a way to learn about the different activities. For example, participating in typewriter clubs such as type pals

typewriter clubs I haven't heard of this I do you know as I've told you before I frequent a lot of kind of online antique auctions

and the number of typewriters you see good typewriters for like five bucks man they look like it's like our story on the chimney sweeps, you think, oh my God, how long ago was that? Typewriters. It wasn't that long ago.

Anyway, participating in Typewriter clubs such as TypePels, attending events like the Los Angeles Printers Fair, hosted by the International Printing Museum in California, and engaging with social media communities like the Wax Seal Guild on Instagram, and the calligraphy hub on Facebook. One of the people Shyan talked to says that based on posts she's seeing on her social media feeds, reviving vintage writing instruments and small

tactile pleasures might be on the verge of becoming trendy. The girls are going analog in 2026, she said. Okay, I'm going to need a little more proof than that. That this is happening, but hey,

back to the future. Okay, we got time for at least one more. Are you one of those people who sets your alarm to wake up in the morning? You know, I always set my alarm. I do this podcast usually quite early in the morning, no matter where I am, whether I'm in Scotland or in Toronto or in Stratford. If I can, I do it early. So it's not to bother anybody else in the house.

and to do that, I got to set an alarm. But you know what? If you're like me, you always wake up before the alarm goes. I know I do. Sometimes it'll be like five minutes before the alarm. It's always somewhere within a half hour of when the alarm is set to go off. I'll wake up. And then I'll switch the alarm.

off so it never rings. But I think it's the simple act of setting the alarm that, you know, clicks in my head saying, okay, he wants to get up at whatever. He wants to get up at 5.45. So we're going to wake him up at 5.30. Something happens. I don't know whether that happens to you, too, but it certainly happens to me. I can't remember the last time an alarm woke me up because it never ran.

It never rang. Anyway, the answer in, or the question in this New York Times piece is about snoozing and alarms and how you use them. So here's the opening question. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I often feel like a zombie. Is it really so horrible to snooze it a few times? And that's what the article's about. It's snoozing your alarm, right? you know, they have that button that you're in push and it'll ring, you know, five minutes later or something.

So the question is, is that a bad thing to snooze the alarm? So according to the New York Times, and it's the New York Times, they must be right. In a recent study that used smartphones to track the sleep habits of more than 21,000 adults around the world for six months, You know, you read something like that and you go, really, really, you're tracking the sleep habits of 21,000 people around the world over six months. I don't know. But it's in the New York Times. So obviously, it must be true. Anyway, all that tracking researchers observed a perhaps unsurprising trend.

After more than half of the recorded nights, participants hit the snooze button and after, average of 2.4 times before getting up. Snoozing involves setting consecutive alarms, usually spaced close together to allow for additional sleep before rising for the day. Some people are more likely to hit snooze than others. Research suggests, including night owls, those who usually feel drowsy upon waking, and people who wake up frequently throughout the night.

There's very little research on how, or even, even if hitting snooze might affect your health or quality of life, sleep experts say. But the few studies we do have suggest that the answer may depend on why a person is choosing us to snooze and whether the practice is exacerbating or enabling poor sleep habits. You know, it's another thing. I'm not sure I've ever done this.

Hit the snooze button back in the day when I, did occasionally set the alarm and let it go off to wake me up. I think the other part of the reason why I don't set an alarm is, or I do set an alarm, but I never get to hearing it because I get up beforehand, is I, you know, I'll be sleeping not comfortably because I'll be subconsciously aware that I've got to get up early to do whatever it is I have to do or catch a flight or what have you. And I'm afraid I'm going to miss it. Or the alarm got unplugged or there was a power failure or something.

And so I'll wake up before it's due to go off. Sometimes when I wake up, but I still have my eyes closed, I'll say it's 517. I'll open my eyes, look at the clock, and it'll say 517. Now, how does that happen? I don't know. You want more of this? Just about done.

Well, here's a chapter. Not a chapter, a bit of paragraph in here. Why snoozing gets a bad rap. Some sleep scientists and physicians who criticize snoozing say that it can reduce the amount of rapid eye movement. or REM sleep that you get. Now, REM is a crucial sleep stage that's important for brain health and for helping to enhance memory, process emotions, and foster creativity.

And we want all those things, right? It occurs throughout the night, but tends to happen more in the later evening and early morning hours. If you set your alarm for earlier than needed to allow time for snoozing, That's crazy. You might interrupt a useful REM phase. The thinking goes. Then when you fall back asleep,

it's likely to be a lighter non-REM sleep, which will be more fragmented and not as restorative, said Rebecca Robbins, a sleep scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. That said, we don't have solid evidence showing that tiny losses in REM sleep in the morning are enough to meaningfully affect brain performance or well-being the next day. Okay. I'm always fascinated by looking at what other people do and, you know, taking nothing away.

And it's certainly admiring those who are in the sleep science business. I go, now, how did that happen? How did that person get so fascinated by sleep science that that is, the job they do and contribute to society because of it. I don't know. Sleep science. Hey, Dad, how was your day? Oh, it's good.

It's good. What did you do? Well, I was doing sleep science. Well, you know, I'm glad somebody is or we wouldn't have articles like this to talk about. And for those who have trouble sleeping or trouble waking up, you're going to end up talking to one of these people, and you'll be glad you did. All right.

Enough. Enough for NBits for this week. I hope you enjoyed at least one of them. I enjoyed giving them to you. And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's AMA and the Random Ranter. And then Friday, of course, it's Good Talk with Bruce and Chantel.

Record numbers last week for Good Talk. touching 30,000 downloads and 150,000 views on our YouTube channel. Those are astonishing numbers. I always get such a kick out of these. Here we're doing our little podcast from our, well, in this case a condo in Toronto, snowbound Toronto. Pumping a note there. And all these people who are finding it interesting to listen to. Thank you for that.

that. Okay, that's going to do it for today. I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back in less than 24 hours. We'll talk to you then.