You're fine until 40. Then you have to earn your existence. You'll slowly begin lifting, stretching, vegetarian eating, cutting out other foods like sugar and saturated fat, getting the proper supplements such as D, B12. Also bringing in lots of fiber, mixing sitting and standing, various forms of stress relief like breathing, meditation, etc.

Smart things to get started on now include: skin care, at least SPF and moisturizing, posture - watch out for gluteal amnesia and "cell phone neck," hand/wrist/finger stretching and strain care, eating low-sugar, learning to cook, finding sports/physical activity you can enjoy long-term, taking care of your eyes, follow the 20/20/20 rule, scalp massage to reduce baldness if applicable. Also paperwork: start an organized system that's mirrored and on offline, and get a basic will set up.

Most doctors (in the US anyway) don't cover things until there is a problem. For example, someone can eat a diet that will lead to heart disease. But, doctors won't tell them to make changes until problems are already showing up.

This has to do with the way billing works for healthcare in the US. It's billed as sick care.

And, most doctors have almost no training on things like nutrition. So the impact of that isn't something they can help with.

If I were to suggest self study I would look at a couple things:

1. The Blue Zones. These are areas that researchers have identified where people live longer and thrive for longer. Something like 10x the number of people live past 100. Much lower rates of disease. Looking at how they live. There's a good book on it at https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Zones-Second-Lessons-Longest/dp/....

2. A good book by a dietitian. I like "The Proof Is In The Plants". Despite the author being vegan and the book talking about plants, the book covers meat and dairy along with amounts that are healthy. All of the recommendations include explainations of how this is known. https://www.amazon.com/Proof-Plants-science-plant-based-plan...

Most of the good advice I would summarize as "do what athletes do to achieve higher performance, minus the stuff with known downsides." So, periodized training, quality sleep, managing gut health with a mix of probiotics and fasts, occasional tests to homeostasis to help your body recalibrate. But not the extreme diets, performance-enhancing pharma, heroic training sessions.

The way in which I've noticed most people get themselves in trouble when they didn't start from a position of impoverishment is simply because their response to problems is to, instead of noticing and addressing them, to normalize them and spend their energy making arguments to change nothing. Which is basically baby behavior: "no sleep, no food, no potty, wait why am I crying". Everyone does end up being in "poor health" someday, but it's often a case of how long you want to continue to struggle and preserve what you have, and some people seem to give up when they're, like, 17 years old.

Exercise regularly, ideally a mix of weights and cardio. Eat fruits and vegetables. Don't get too fat. That's pretty much it.

45 checking in -- essentially, preventative maintenance. Increasingly, a focus on joints and the muscle groups that support them, particularly towards range of movement/flexibility. Annual physicals to catch problems early, ask your parents about family health history if you haven't yet, and don't ignore the small things that linger.

The better health habits you can lock in now, the better -- it's only going to get harder from here on out to lay that foundation.

Stop drinking. Build strong exercise habits.