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