As a physician, I spend most of my days telling patients to walk more, eat better, stress less, and maybe, just maybe, go to bed before midnight. So when I came across a piece on ancient Roman and Greek health habits, I had to laugh. Turns out, they were doing a lot of things right — without fitness trackers, $12 smoothies, or a trillion-dollar wellness industry.
We like to think of ourselves as sophisticated, modern creatures. But when it comes to health, we’re often just spinning our wheels in Lycra.
Take personalization. Hippocrates understood two and a half millennia ago that no two people are alike. He tailored diet, exercise, even advice on sex to the individual. Meanwhile, today we slap everyone on the Mediterranean diet and a statin and call it preventive care.
They exercised on an empty stomach, believing it helped burn the body’s own energy — what we now call “fasted cardio,” though back then, no one was booking a brunch reservation for post-workout recovery. They understood that sexual health was part of overall health, not something we patch with testosterone scripts or antidepressants. They adjusted how they lived with the seasons — eating seasonally, dressing appropriately — while we blast the AC, wear shorts in February, and wonder why our bodies feel out of sync.
Most importantly, they focused on the basics. Walk, bathe, rest, eat well. No “biohacks,” no 75-day challenges, no influencer shouting at you through your phone. Just consistent, small daily habits.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: we have modern medicine on our side, yet we’re chronically unwell. Maybe the Romans knew something we’ve forgotten — that health isn’t about the latest gadget or breakthrough drug, but about the boring, unsexy rituals we practice (or don’t) every day.
So, are you healthier than a Roman? Maybe. But they’d probably look at how we live — Ubering four blocks, eating dinner from a box, eyes glued to screens — and offer some pretty timeless advice:
Walk. Eat real food. Rest. Repeat.
Larry Kaskel is an internist and “lipidologist in recovery” who has been practicing medicine for more than thirty-five years. He operates a concierge practice in the Chicago area and serves on the teaching faculty at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In addition, he is affiliated with Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital.
Before podcasts entered mainstream culture, Dr. Kaskel hosted Lipid Luminations on ReachMD, where he produced a library of more than four hundred programs featuring leading voices in cardiology, lipidology, and preventive medicine.
He is the author of Dr. Kaskel’s Living in Wellness, Volume One: Let Food Be Thy Medicine, works that combine evidence-based medical practice with accessible strategies for improving healthspan. His current projects focus on reevaluating the cholesterol hypothesis and investigating the infectious origins of atherosclerosis. More information is available at larrykaskel.com.
