Mark Sullivan

I run AgingWell Men from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, which is a suburb of Denver that my wife and I moved to twelve years ago because it was the kind of place where you could have a yard. Hank the golden retriever has fully claimed that yard. He is seven, I am 52, and this is relevant because watching him do a full sprint-and-skid across the back lawn after his evening walk — while I'm standing there holding the leash, catching my breath — was roughly the moment I decided something needed to change.

The actual trigger was a checkup. My GP used the phrase "well, at your age" three times in one appointment. Once about energy levels. Once about the sleep questions. Once about cholesterol, which he described as borderline but "expected for someone your age." Expected. I drove home from that appointment and sat in the driveway for a few minutes before going inside. Not dramatic — just the kind of sitting where things rearrange themselves.

I work in logistics management. Long days, a lot of time behind a wheel or in front of a screen, the slow accumulation of bad nights showing up on my face for two days instead of one. I started keeping a note on my phone — what I was doing differently on days I felt better. That habit became a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet became a testing system. The testing system became this site.