The greatest sprinters of all time are Usain Bolt (100 meters in 9.58 seconds at Berlin, 2009) and Carl Lewis (100 meters in 9.86 seconds at Tokyo, 1991).

The SPRINT trial has some impressive numbers too. It shows that if you intensively lower your blood pressure to 120/80 or below, you substantially reduce your risk for dementia, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and a roster of other cardiovascular disorders, compared to aiming for a systolic (top) number of 140 or less.

But (and there's always a but) you have to stay on an intensive regimen and keep your numbers low to maintain those benefits.

Researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine examined the long-term results of the SPRINT trial's intensive blood pressure reduction. They concluded that while the intensive blood pressure control group saw measurable health benefits during the multiyear study, once it ended and people went back to their everyday habits, the benefits faded.

The participants who formerly practiced intensive blood pressure management ended up with a systolic pressure average reading of 140 — just like the study's control group.

As I point out in "The Great Age Reboot," there are many shortcuts to living younger longer, but you have to execute them.

For example, a colonoscopy can reduce your risk of colon cancer morbidity or death, but you actually have to undergo a colonoscopy.

It’s the same with avoiding a stroke by lowering your blood pressure; you actually have to achieve and maintain a lower blood pressure.