There comes a point in life when you realise you can no longer treat your body like a hire car.
Drive it hard. Ignore the warning lights. Assume somebody else will deal with the strange noise coming from underneath.
Because, rather inconveniently, this is the car.
And somewhere in midlife, the question begins to change. We become less interested in how to stay young and rather more interested in how to stay well.
Not simply living longer, but having the strength, energy and health to enjoy those extra years.
That is really at the heart of Julia Bradbury’s Hack Yourself Healthy: Reclaim Your Health to Boost Your Energy, Clear Your Mind and Live a Long, Vibrant Life.
A very personal starting point
Bradbury’s interest in health isn’t simply the latest stop on the wellness bandwagon.
Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2021 and subsequent mastectomy, she began looking more closely at the evidence around health, disease prevention and longevity — and at the everyday choices that may influence how well we live.
It gives the book a seriousness beneath its upbeat exterior.
This isn’t about trying to cheat death or promising that green vegetables and a cold shower will protect us from everything. They won’t.
It is about recognising that while much of our health lies outside our control — genetics, illness and sheer bad luck among them — there are also things we can influence.
And that distinction matters.
Healthspan, not just lifespan
One of the ideas I found most interesting is something we’re hearing increasingly often in conversations about ageing: healthspan.
We have become rather good at measuring lifespan — how many candles eventually appear on the cake — but longevity means rather less if the final decades are spent in poor health.
Healthspan asks a different question:
How many of those years can we spend feeling well, strong, independent and mentally engaged?
Suddenly exercise becomes less about fitting into a smaller pair of jeans and more about being able to carry our own shopping, get up from the floor, climb the hill, travel, garden, play with grandchildren and continue doing the things that make life feel like ours.
For women in midlife, I think that is a much more compelling proposition.
I’ve reached the stage where I’m far less interested in having a “bikini body” and considerably more interested in having a body capable of carrying my suitcase up a railway-station staircase without requiring oxygen at the top.
So, what does Julia actually try?
Quite a lot.
Bradbury explores nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, medical screening and the gut microbiome alongside some of the more fashionable edges of modern wellness and biohacking.
There are saunas and cold-water therapies. There are tests and experts. She looks at complementary practices including Ayurveda, and travels in search of ideas about how we might live better.
Some of it will appeal more than others.
And perhaps that is the point.
You don’t finish the book with a rigid prescription for perfect health. Instead, it encourages you to become more curious about your own.
What is my sleep actually like?
Am I strong enough?
When did I last have the health check I’ve been avoiding?
Am I eating in a way that supports me?
How much of my day do I spend sitting down?
And when did “getting some fresh air” become something I had to put on a to-do list?
The wonderfully unglamorous basics
For all our fascination with biohacking, there is something rather reassuring about discovering that many of the things associated with healthier ageing are not especially glamorous.
Move regularly. Build and maintain muscle. Eat a varied, nutritious diet. Sleep properly. Manage stress. Maintain relationships. Keep up with appropriate screening and medical care.
And get outside.
Bradbury has long been an advocate for walking and nature, and this thread runs naturally through the book.
It was probably the part that resonated most with me.
We spend an extraordinary amount of money trying to feel better while sometimes overlooking one of the simplest things available to us: opening the door and going for a walk.
No subscription.
No charging cable.
No password to forget.
Just shoes, weather and the possibility that twenty minutes later the world — or at least your place in it — might feel slightly different.
Midlife doesn’t need another list of things we’re doing wrong
There is another reason I enjoyed the book.
Women arrive in midlife to discover an entire industry waiting to point out our deficiencies.
Our stomachs need flattening. Our faces need lifting. Our hormones need balancing. Our hair needs thickening. Our metabolism apparently requires rescuing.
Even our eyebrows, which managed perfectly well on their own for several decades, suddenly require strategic intervention.
It can make “wellness” feel suspiciously like another job.
What I took from Hack Yourself Healthy was something gentler.
Looking after yourself is not the same as fixing yourself.
One assumes there is something wrong with you.
The other recognises that your body has already carried you through an enormous amount and might deserve a little investment if you’re hoping to ask another thirty or forty years of it.
That investment doesn’t have to mean completely reinventing your life.
It might mean resistance training a couple of times a week.
Eating more plants.
Going to bed half an hour earlier.
Walking after lunch.
Making the appointment.
Seeing your friends.
Putting the phone down.
Doing the boring things often enough that, collectively, they stop being boring things and become the way you live.
My verdict
Hack Yourself Healthy isn’t a magic formula for longevity, and I’d be suspicious of any book that claimed to have one.
What it does well is open the door to a much more useful conversation: what can I do now to give my future self a better chance?
You don’t need to adopt every idea Bradbury explores. Some will intrigue you, some may send you down your own research rabbit hole, and others you may decide are absolutely not for you.
I’m still not entirely convinced that my route to enlightenment involves voluntarily getting into freezing water.
But the bigger message stayed with me.
We cannot control everything about ageing.
We can, however, participate in it.
We can build strength rather than simply worrying about weight. We can pay attention to sleep and stress. We can eat well most of the time, move our bodies, keep up with our health checks and make room for the people and places that make us feel alive.
Not because we’re desperately trying to be young again.
But because there is rather a lot still to do.
And I’d like to feel well enough to enjoy it.
Hack Yourself Healthy by Julia Bradbury is published by Piatkus.
Have you read it? More importantly, what is one thing you’ve started doing in midlife that you hope your future self will thank you for?
Have you read Hack Yourself Healthy? Click here to Purchase!
Further Reading: How to Age Review: Liz Earle’s Healthy Ageing Guide, Life Is Life: Finding Joy in the Beautiful Chaos of Everyday Living, How to Rebrand Yourself and Shape Your Next Chapter
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