Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week. Neverlin, Hey guys, welcome
Speaker 1: back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for
Speaker 1: clicking and downloading on today's episode with doctor Nick Coatesworth,
Speaker 1: who is currently on Channel nines Do You Want to
Speaker 1: Live Forever? Which is on Monday nights at seven point thirty.
Speaker 1: For the next few weeks, Esteam journalist Tracy Grimshaw and
Speaker 1: medical expert doctor Nick Coatesworth have been putting four pairs
Speaker 1: of everyday Australians under the microscope, testing the limits of
Speaker 1: human longevity in a brilliant news series about our health.
Speaker 1: Doctor Nick Coatesworth stands as Australia's foremost and widely recognized
Speaker 1: medical authority and public health communicator. His unmatched depth of
Speaker 1: experience in the delivery of healthcare extends from the frontline
Speaker 1: rolls across four states and territories to international humanitarian disasters.
Speaker 1: I have to say I absolutely loved catching up with
Speaker 1: doctor Nick. He is a wealth of information and I
Speaker 1: will also ask him about what it's like to share
Speaker 1: his name with that Simpsons character Doctor Nick. Kind of
Speaker 1: course I would ask an embarrassing question like that to
Speaker 1: a health expert. I will talk about how he got
Speaker 1: involved in the project, what Tracy Grimshaw brought to the show,
Speaker 1: and if he helped cast Liberty and Eliza from the Block.
Speaker 1: We will unpack the average Australian's health and find out
Speaker 1: what life hack he learned during production that he is
Speaker 1: still doing to this day. Doctor Nick will share his
Speaker 1: thoughts on COVID and ozempic and I will ask about
Speaker 1: his predictions on the long term effects of both of
Speaker 1: those situations. You will find out how this show could
Speaker 1: change your health routine with a dramatic twelve week shoot
Speaker 1: that will most likely inspire the most complacent Australian. There's
Speaker 1: actually so much to unpack with Doctor Nick, So sit
Speaker 1: back and relax as we unpack the wonderful world of
Speaker 1: Do You Want to Live Forever, which is now on
Speaker 1: Channel nine.
Speaker 2: How are you? I'm very well, Indeed, I appreciate the interest.
Speaker 1: I was so excited to talk to you because I'm
Speaker 1: going to say full disclosure. I saw the ad for
Speaker 1: the show, I didn't think it was for me and
Speaker 1: was unsure how I was going to react to this
Speaker 1: new show, and then I'm obssessed.
Speaker 2: Actually, that's wonderful to hear. Mate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I feel like you know a lot of Australians.
Speaker 1: We all and I'm going to get into this, but
Speaker 1: I think we're all very health conscious under the surface,
Speaker 1: and I think we don't do anything about the issues
Speaker 1: that we have with our own health. And then when
Speaker 1: you see something like this show as a product on
Speaker 1: the screen, it's really confronting. It's very informative, but it's
Speaker 1: also entertaining.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I reckon learn production really thread the needle on that,
Speaker 2: and that's that's what I was hoping it would be.
Speaker 2: But I'd also realized that that was the greatest challenge. Really.
Speaker 1: It's sort of the show that it's either going to
Speaker 1: do really well or people are not going to watch
Speaker 1: it at all, do you know what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: it's it's either going to resonate and penetrate or it's
Speaker 1: just going to fly under the radar, where I'm happy
Speaker 1: to say that all of the people I've spoken to
Speaker 1: are loving it, are talking about it, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And that's that's what you need with shows
Speaker 1: these days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, the whole ratings is and is
Speaker 2: beyond me. It's a bit like me giving a Dexcess
Speaker 2: scan or a Voto Max to a Channel nine exit
Speaker 2: can asking them to interpret it. I really don't understand.
Speaker 2: But I mean I think that idea that people are
Speaker 2: talking about it, and that first segment where you know
Speaker 2: it's from around the country, including many of m friends
Speaker 2: of our family had jumped up and started doing the
Speaker 2: one legged test as soon as soon as I was,
Speaker 2: and so I did. My nine year old I love that.
Speaker 2: And of course you know they were just standing for
Speaker 2: about ten minutes on one leg with their eyes clothes.
Speaker 2: But that's what you can do when you're nine years old.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't want to tell you how long I
Speaker 1: stood up for. I was like like a rist of Australia.
Speaker 1: I stood up and stood on one leg and I
Speaker 1: fell over straight away, and I was like, oh, we
Speaker 1: did in a week.
Speaker 2: That was probably the main explainer issue. So when I
Speaker 2: stuck it on Instagram just a ninety second explainer, it
Speaker 2: sort of punched through. It's not huge, but to my boats,
Speaker 2: it's huge. Twenty thousand years and twenty four hours. People
Speaker 2: were interested.
Speaker 1: No, that's good. No one ever comments anything like that
Speaker 1: on my social media, so that's a good sign. It's
Speaker 1: a good sign. You're an influencer.
Speaker 2: Now doctor Nick ah local may it continue?
Speaker 1: Well, that's one of the funniest things about this was
Speaker 1: that I was talking to a friend of my last night.
Speaker 1: I say, I'm so excited I'm talking to doctor Nick tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and they said, doctor Nick from The Simpsons. Do you
Speaker 1: know that reference?
Speaker 2: I know that it very much dates people, because you've
Speaker 2: got to be a sense about thirty five or above
Speaker 2: for that to mean anything.
Speaker 1: Is that you just waiting for that doctor Nick reference
Speaker 1: to slowly dissipate as we move further and further away
Speaker 1: from The Simpsons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I as I it was like the age
Speaker 2: more than the first episode, as I'm most closer to
Speaker 2: ninety the less that Simpson through it.
Speaker 1: I can't believe I've even brought this up. This must
Speaker 1: be so embarrassing. I'm gonna have to drop the audio
Speaker 1: into the podcast so people under the age of thirty
Speaker 1: five know what the hell we're talking about.
Speaker 2: Exactly. And to be honest, I do a horrible impression
Speaker 2: of Nick rivievraship.
Speaker 1: Do you come on? We've got to do that now.
Speaker 2: You can't say no, We're sure, I'm mister mcgreg with
Speaker 2: a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's just yeah. My podcast has also got twenty
Speaker 1: thousand views. How do you get approached for a show
Speaker 1: like this? Because I'm sure there would be a lot
Speaker 1: of people that could do or facilitate some of the
Speaker 1: information that you're providing. Did you come with the show? Like,
Speaker 1: how did this all come about?
Speaker 2: Well? Interesting? Then I pitched the show to nine and
Speaker 2: so it wasn't it was nothing new the longevity space
Speaker 2: of course, Blue Zone and Netflix and Limitless I think
Speaker 2: it already come out, but it was. It was more
Speaker 2: just the angle of what can Australians take away from this?
Speaker 2: And I guess my motivation. My motivation was twofold. Really,
Speaker 2: I work and I have worked in public hospital since
Speaker 2: two thousand and two, and you know, I obviously see
Speaker 2: the consequences of the diseases of aging, and it really
Speaker 2: it doesn't just take years off people's lives. It actually
Speaker 2: ruins the last decade or two of people's lives. And
Speaker 2: so you know, we could we could do something about
Speaker 2: that that would be good. And the personal motivation was
Speaker 2: that that happened to my old man. He got something
Speaker 2: called fronto temporal dementia when he was very young, probably
Speaker 2: in retrospect in his early sixties, died when he's sixty nine.
Speaker 2: And you know, you'll say, actually, in episode three, I
Speaker 2: think people people will see that that little little homage
Speaker 2: to Dad comes through in one of those segments.
Speaker 1: Wow. And then I mean, I didn't know that about
Speaker 1: you present. You know, this is your concept and maybe
Speaker 1: that says something about the research I do for these
Speaker 1: podcasts full disclosure. But then did you have an idea?
Speaker 1: Is that you wanted Tracy involved? Like how did Tracy
Speaker 1: Grimshaw get involved with this? With this? Was that? Was
Speaker 1: that an idea you had or did no?
Speaker 2: Well, look it was. It was sort of a beautiful
Speaker 2: culbination of I think three key decision points. The first
Speaker 2: one was was the pitch. Now the pitch was four episodes,
Speaker 2: the structure of the episode, in fact, the theme of
Speaker 2: each episode was as I'd originally pitched it. Then you know,
Speaker 2: learn Production's got to learn. Media got the contract and
Speaker 2: Loan came up with the idea of the participants, and
Speaker 2: then nine came in and said, listen, we would love
Speaker 2: for Trace to be interested to be involved with this.
Speaker 2: And you know, Tracy, she is a deeply curious person,
Speaker 2: and it's unusual that I would find myself paired with
Speaker 2: someone as curious or more curious than I am. And
Speaker 2: so I think I think each of those three decisions,
Speaker 2: which were independent and from each of the three main
Speaker 2: parties involved, you know, they combined together really well. They
Speaker 2: were three good ideas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's one of my favorite I'm
Speaker 1: always drawn to curious people, you know, people that want
Speaker 1: to aner questions, and like it's something Tracy does very
Speaker 1: well in the sense that she is genuinely and deeply
Speaker 1: interested in the subject matter, which I think then permeates
Speaker 1: for the audience.
Speaker 2: And then permeates for me. I mean I was watching
Speaker 2: it and watching how Tracy was asking the questions, and
Speaker 2: I mean my immediate reflection was, right, well, that was
Speaker 2: a good decision. I went, I went to Okinawa and
Speaker 2: did the you know, let's go into people's houses, have
Speaker 2: the meals, all that kind of stuff, and then the
Speaker 2: stuff that needed the Tracy Grimshaw, you know, I'm a
Speaker 2: little bit on at a current affair here when you're
Speaker 2: telling me that you're spending seven hundred thousand dollars picking
Speaker 2: something up your nose like that is a spacial expression
Speaker 2: only Tracy Grimshaw had, but doctor Nick.
Speaker 1: You know, That's that's what's interesting about it. When you
Speaker 1: talk about Tracy Grimshaw to people that I guess are
Speaker 1: still watching Free to Wear television, she's kind of like
Speaker 1: a god, do you know what I mean? Like people
Speaker 1: who loved a Current Affair that loved her on all
Speaker 1: people that still do love that show, but loved her
Speaker 1: on that show. She owns that space and so she
Speaker 1: brings that kind of understanding that that's her brand and
Speaker 1: that's what she can do, and she can ask questions
Speaker 1: about well, in the first episode, you know, how is
Speaker 1: how is his poo? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like you, how does your poo? How's your sex? Like?
Speaker 2: Not all those sort of questions, do you know? I mean, well,
Speaker 2: you know, doctors obviously do have those old questions, but
Speaker 2: not quite with that sort of professional journalism way.
Speaker 1: Not on telling correct And then so were you a
Speaker 1: fan of the block and that's how you got Liberty
Speaker 1: and Eliza? Like how did they come onto the project?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean the casting was obviously an agency did
Speaker 2: that with nine and I just think we were we
Speaker 2: were incredibly lucky. It is it is obviously partly that
Speaker 2: they are on the block, but those two sisters are
Speaker 2: very special individuals in the way that they can convey
Speaker 2: a message where and they've also they're also go down
Speaker 2: to earth about it, you know, particularly Eliza, and I
Speaker 2: think Liberty also lives the life of someone who's an
Speaker 2: optimizer and is deeply into her health, and just you know,
Speaker 2: the juxtaposition of those two together, it's a really powerful message.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed working with them, you know, I mean
Speaker 2: Luke and Taylor as well. My general clientele are older
Speaker 2: than Edvar and Ellieanna, so the sixties and seventies, and
Speaker 2: whilst that's a special and a privilege of being a doctor,
Speaker 2: this was a different experience for me was I was, Yes,
Speaker 2: we saw in episode one that every single one of
Speaker 2: them had had health issues, and that was one of
Speaker 2: the most important things of the show because they appear healthy.
Speaker 2: They appear very healthy. But for me, dealing with yes,
Speaker 2: essentially healthy people and then trying to extend their lifespan
Speaker 2: now that that was a bit of fun.
Speaker 1: Well, I felt really confronted with some of it because
Speaker 1: I was like, well, the way I socialize, I absolutely
Speaker 1: drink and I feel like that is a part of
Speaker 1: my DNA now because I'm forty four and I've now
Speaker 1: worked out that I as associate alcohol with my ability
Speaker 1: to socialize, and this is really confronting even to even
Speaker 1: say to you right now, like this makes me feel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: I also will socially smoke, and I think, oh, look,
Speaker 1: that's fine. I'm not smoking all the time, so it's
Speaker 1: not really affecting me. I mean, these are the lies
Speaker 1: that I tell myself, and watching a show like this
Speaker 1: it really does put you under the microscope and make
Speaker 1: you realize that you need to be accountable for these
Speaker 1: decisions that you're making, because they are going to make
Speaker 1: you accountable for them at some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're very, very similar to the feedback I've got
Speaker 2: from others and also myself better. I mean, we're all
Speaker 2: we are all like that, and I would I share
Speaker 2: that similarity with you, that I enjoyed socializing with alcohol
Speaker 2: and that sort of became bound to it. So what
Speaker 2: do I do now, Well, I really have to make
Speaker 2: sure that I don't go beyond three standard drinks in
Speaker 2: a sitting. You know, I've got the deep impact of
Speaker 2: Dad's illness on that he was a sort of inver
Speaker 2: dial drinker. My old man like he would go through
Speaker 2: four to six strong bows an evening, and just that
Speaker 2: was fairly consistent when we were young, and that consumptions
Speaker 2: that consumption's gone down. But I think for people of
Speaker 2: our age, you know, forties and Liberty and Elves's age
Speaker 2: in their thirties, the concept of binge drinking is something
Speaker 2: that we haven't well had tackled yet as a society.
Speaker 2: Chronic consumption of alcohol decreasing, binge drinking more than you
Speaker 2: recommend it amount in an evening and in Alivesa's case,
Speaker 2: well more that we haven't haven't tackled yet. And for
Speaker 2: me it's as much of a problem I think.
Speaker 1: But my question, and I think it's a lot of
Speaker 1: people's question, and I don't know because I'm only up
Speaker 1: to episode one. I want to know, like, are you
Speaker 1: going to address how we need to break this, because
Speaker 1: I think that's everyone's biggest obstacle. I think people are
Speaker 1: going to watch the show. I think people are going
Speaker 1: to put question marks about their lifestyle. But I want
Speaker 1: to know about how we, as the everyday person is
Speaker 1: going to break a routine such as punching, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of lines on your Friday night. Is that
Speaker 1: going to be addressed in the show, because I think
Speaker 1: that's going to be the biggest obstacle and if you
Speaker 1: can penetrate the audience and help them make that change,
Speaker 1: I think this show is going to help people live forever.
Speaker 2: So you know how I say I think it doesn't
Speaker 2: then that's because people will see that these are essentially
Speaker 2: ordinary Australians. Yes, of course we know Duncan, we know
Speaker 2: Liberty in our lives are from the block, but they're
Speaker 2: leading the same lives as we are. And throughout all
Speaker 2: the four episodes there is this really important theme of
Speaker 2: choice and we don't try to quate simple with easy,
Speaker 2: We don't ten than any of its, but we do
Speaker 2: show that it's possible, I think, and that's going to
Speaker 2: be the thing that people go by the end of it. Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: if Envy and Eliana can go from zero exercise at all,
Speaker 2: which is what Eleana admitted to in the first episode
Speaker 2: where they get to in the fourth episode, which I
Speaker 2: was highly spoiled, but if they if they see that,
Speaker 2: they'll they'll turn around and go, well I can do
Speaker 2: that as well, and this is not you know, This
Speaker 2: is not people living in to Iraq or you know
Speaker 2: Bondai Beach in Sydney. This is the suburb of Sydney
Speaker 2: and Melbourne, Brisbane at Adelaide, And you know, we can
Speaker 2: do it, and I think if we do do it,
Speaker 2: it's changes the country. I mean, you know, my biggest
Speaker 2: my biggest joy was going to Japan and seeing what
Speaker 2: a traditional lifestyle in Okinawa can do for people in
Speaker 2: their old in their older years. And we bring a
Speaker 2: little bit of that. You know, we don't have to.
Speaker 2: We're not looking for radical change, but we are looking
Speaker 2: for change.
Speaker 1: Bad time to mention this, but I'm recording this podcast
Speaker 1: into reck that's from my day. I'm not giving my
Speaker 1: address away. But it was funny when you said to
Speaker 1: Rak it was so specific. I was like, is he
Speaker 1: watching me like.
Speaker 2: This? You see, coming from Perth and living my adult
Speaker 2: life in Sydney. I was going, right, where's a al
Speaker 2: in Melbourne?
Speaker 1: It just came across really creepy.
Speaker 2: Very sorry, Mabe. Now I know where you live, You'll
Speaker 2: come down, We'll come and give you some health advice.
Speaker 1: Well I need it. You know. There's a couple of
Speaker 1: quick questions that I had and I think that they're important,
Speaker 1: and I feel like you're going to be able to
Speaker 1: answer them. For me, what's ozeenpic going to do for
Speaker 1: people that are a part of that fad? I think
Speaker 1: we'd all like to be skinny. I think we all
Speaker 1: like to quick fix. But what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: something like this as a drug that people are now
Speaker 1: using quite freely.
Speaker 2: Well, my thoughts are very clear. Ozempic might be the
Speaker 2: catalyst for change, but it won't deliver the change. It won't.
Speaker 2: It'll deliver a change whiles you're injecting it, and if
Speaker 2: you want to inject something the rest of your life,
Speaker 2: well I suppose so. But I think what it can
Speaker 2: do is it can just give a kickstart to people.
Speaker 2: Seeing results is difficult. If you start in changing your
Speaker 2: diet or your exercise and you don't see results, that
Speaker 2: can be very demotivating. So I definitely think it has
Speaker 2: a place early on. It certainly has in weight loss.
Speaker 2: I certainly think it has a place in what we
Speaker 2: call more but obesity, where it is a health condition
Speaker 2: that people may well need a decade or two of
Speaker 2: this medication to address. I think there's kinic obesity clinics
Speaker 2: in every public hospital in Australia that where people are
Speaker 2: desperate for this medication. So, you know, for people who
Speaker 2: are struggling to lose weight but they're not in the
Speaker 2: more but obesity category, this can be a kickstarter. But
Speaker 2: I reckon the show might just demonstrate some interesting results
Speaker 2: and we certainly don't use any OZM pic so I
Speaker 2: think we can we can look forward to episode forward
Speaker 2: to see exactly how far we got with the participate.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's one of those things that we're going
Speaker 1: to need to look at a lifetime before we can
Speaker 1: see what that has done to people as well, if
Speaker 1: that makes any sense. I feel like it's such an
Speaker 1: well it's been around for about ten years. When I
Speaker 1: did the research on it, because I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: going to use it, you know, I want to lose
Speaker 1: this bit of weight that I can't shift, and I
Speaker 1: want to look like JACKIEO, you know who looks fantastic,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean like. But then the more
Speaker 1: and more research I did about it, the more and
Speaker 1: more question marks I just had about the overall effect
Speaker 1: on health long term.
Speaker 2: Yes, I think at this stage new drug. Anytime we
Speaker 2: have a new drug, we have to be very vigilant
Speaker 2: about you know what the pharmacy companies either didn't find
Speaker 2: out or if you're a conspiracy theorist, didn't disclose in
Speaker 2: there in their research. And you know, I approach with caution.
Speaker 2: I think that's always important and I'll always be someone
Speaker 2: who advocates diet, exercise, sleep and stress over pharmaceutical use.
Speaker 2: But as you know, equally, as a doctor, I prescribe
Speaker 2: stuff all the time people who who need it. So
Speaker 2: it's going to be it's going to be a healthy
Speaker 2: combination of both two things.
Speaker 1: I think that absolutely. And the other thing I have
Speaker 1: was because you mentioned conspiracy theorists is I was curious
Speaker 1: about this conversation that I've been having with my friends
Speaker 1: for a good three years now. Drinking COVID has affected
Speaker 1: my life spanned because I wonder because I'm from Melbourne. No,
Speaker 1: we just worked out that I'm from Tuac, but you
Speaker 1: know we were affected with the longest lockdown. I reckon
Speaker 1: I'm going to live longer because I was at home
Speaker 1: that time. I reckon that was just a pause on life.
Speaker 1: Do you reckon that COVID in any way and what
Speaker 1: happened to us all is going to affect the average
Speaker 1: person's life span.
Speaker 2: Well, interesting question. I don't think the virus itself will
Speaker 2: because I think that you know, I think we've been
Speaker 2: exposed to viruses throughout the past century or two, and
Speaker 2: the past century or two has been the time when
Speaker 2: we've seen greatest increases in longevity. So no, I can't
Speaker 2: imagine that virus is going to shorten their lives. I think,
Speaker 2: you know, for people, for people who were locked down
Speaker 2: for a significant portion of a year or two, they're
Speaker 2: going to have They're going to have time to make up.
Speaker 2: You know, it's going to have an effect. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure what sort of an effect, but it'll affect your fitness,
Speaker 2: that'll effect your mental health, and both those things that
Speaker 2: I do effect longevity. But my greatest joy now is
Speaker 2: going down to Melbourne and see it recovering as a
Speaker 2: vibrant and happy city. So I think it's well on
Speaker 2: track to be a long lived city.
Speaker 1: But I guess it always comes down to being circumstantial,
Speaker 1: you know, and to the individual. Because like for me,
Speaker 1: who's an introverted extrovert, I loved it. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: It gave me the perfect amount of downtime because people
Speaker 1: would see me as a big personality, but I require
Speaker 1: an enormous amount of downtime to be that. It actually
Speaker 1: was fine for me, but then it would affect the
Speaker 1: mental health of another person who is an extrovert and
Speaker 1: gets all their energy from other people. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, It'll affect different people in different ways.
Speaker 1: Doctor Nick. I have to just finish. This is four
Speaker 1: hundred episode four hundred and thirty, and every episode ends
Speaker 1: with what is something from behind the scenes, something we
Speaker 1: wouldn't know? Can you give me like a little what
Speaker 1: is something from behind the scenes of do you want
Speaker 1: to live forever? That the audience might not know?
Speaker 2: Well, I won't know that. Every member of production, including
Speaker 2: the hosts, Trophy and I talk on little bio hacks
Speaker 2: from this and we still do them. And so everybody
Speaker 2: that touched this show is now a little mini biohacker,
Speaker 2: and mine is taking one shot of olive oil every
Speaker 2: day twenty mils measured dize to improve my good cholesterra.
Speaker 1: That's my one, ben Bo, You enjoy your day. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having this weird, sort of off
Speaker 1: tangent conversations with.
Speaker 2: Me, beautiful conversation.
Speaker 1: I love love this show and I hope people listening
Speaker 1: to the podcast will check it out because I think
Speaker 1: they will love it too, So thank you so much,
Speaker 1: all the very bitday fun now