Palace Merano’s Dr Max: “Balance is the key to longevity”
Scientific Director & Revital® Method Director, Dr Massimiliano Mayrhofer - © Alessandro Moggi
A pivotal figure at the Palace Merano for over twenty years, Dr Massimiliano Mayrhofer shares his secrets for a longer, healthier life, with disconcertingly simple advice that could change your daily routine.
Born in Merano and with a degree in medicine from the University of Verona, Dr Massimiliano Mayrhofer – affectionately known as ‘Dr Max’ – embodies the medical side of the Palace Merano. A pioneer of homeomesotherapy and ozonotherapy in Italy, trained in homotoxicology in Baden-Baden and in traditional Chinese medicine, for the last two decades he has overseen the Revital® Method, a holistic approach that attracts heads of state, celebrities and captains of industry from all over the world. Whether it’s Princess Caroline of Monaco or Jacques Chirac, Flavio Briatore or Monica Bellucci, Cristiano Ronaldo or Victoria Beckham, or Zinédine Zidane, who has been personally looked after by Dr Max for several years and is now Palace Merano’s official ambassador, they have all entrusted their health to this man, who isn’t shy about telling the great and the good what they might not want to hear. We spoke to this singular doctor.
Monaco Tribune (MT): Based on your experience at Palace Merano, what daily habits do you find most frequently undermine our health?
Dr Max : The first is a monotonous diet. If you think about it, we always eat the same foods – five, six, ten at most. We’ve forgotten all about legumes – beans, lentils and chickpeas. Why is this? Because they make us bloated? No, if they make us bloated, it’s because we have an intestinal problem or we’re not chewing enough.
And that brings me to the second problem: rushing. We eat too fast, without mindfulness. The rule should be to chew at least 30 times. Ask someone what they ate two hours ago – they probably don’t remember.
The third bad habit: not drinking enough. We have a simple rule here: every time you go to the toilet, you should drink the same amount of water to replenish what you’ve lost.
Fourth point: lack of physical activity. We try to replace exercise with medication, injections and supplements. But no-one will ever be able to invent a gym pill!
Finally, over-use of electronic devices. The generational difference is striking – 30 year-olds don’t use their phone the same way as 12 year-olds. We’ll see the results in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time.
You can’t separate the brain from the body
MT: How would you define true well-being in our hectic, performance-oriented world?
Dr Max: True well-being means having time – time for yourself, time for your hobbies. We are on call 24 hours a day through our emails and phones. Even at night, we’re thinking about what’s happening in Japan or America. This constant connection prevents us from achieving the balance we call health, which is harmony between the mental and the physical.
Let’s not forget that we are psycho-physical – the two are connected. You can’t separate the brain from the body. This disconnect gives rise to psychosomatic pathologies such as psoriasis, acne, allergies, gastritis and colitis. Being out of the habit of thinking about ourselves leads to pathologies.
Q: What are the safest and most scientifically-proven ways of detoxing at home?
Dr Max : We are what we eat, but we often eat without thinking that it’s our fuel. Beautiful cars need premium fuel!
It’s the worst possible meal!
Detoxing at home means eating foods that are neither too oxidising – such as salt, red meat and cold cuts – nor too reducing, which cause fat retention and cellulite – such as flour and sugar. A croissant with coffee for breakfast? It’s the worst possible meal! A habit you can indulge occasionally, but not every day.
Q: What daily rituals do you recommend for managing stress?
Dr Max : There are two types of stress. Eustress, or good stress – a promotion, something satisfying, a win – is positive. Distress, or negative stress, puts our bodies on alert. Our system reacts by producing cortisol and adrenaline and raising blood sugar levels.
Everyone has their own way of eliminating these toxins: dancing, listening to music, reading. We know deep down what makes us feel good, but we often don’t have the time or we feel ashamed to do it. Take yoga – lots of people say “that’s not for me” without ever trying it! Developing mindfulness meets this need. Everyone needs to find their own method.
Q : How important is sleep in the regeneration process?
Dr Max : It’s one of the three keys to longevity, and the one that we have the most trouble with. If you don’t dream, if you don’t get into a deep sleep, you struggle to stay alive. Experiments on animals have shown that they die without regular sleep.
For a good night’s sleep: absolute silence, a dark bedroom, no electronic devices for half an hour before bedtime – the screen light disrupts our circadian rhythms. Try to solve your problems before you go to bed, otherwise you’ll wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning with that problem unresolved – that’s the root of anxiety.
Q: What are the signs that it’s time to stop and refocus on our health?
Dr Max : These are all symptoms that a doctor, even a very reputable one, will put down to stress because they can’t find the cause. Headaches, waking up tired, sleeping badly, feeling hungry but no real appetite…
Here, you eat very little during the week, and yet you feel full of energy. Why? Because you’re setting your body up to work better, without being overloaded. These symptoms, which are not pathologies, are very important to us.
We are not doomed by our genes
Q: What part do genetics have to play, and to what extent can lifestyle compensate for hereditary predispositions?
Dr Max : We’ve moved on very quickly from the importance given to the genome, to the importance of epigenetics – everything that influences genetics. Sure, I may be predisposed, but I can change my lifestyle so that these tendencies don’t become a reality.
Epigenetics shows us that by changing certain things, we can alter genetic tendencies. That’s the hope: we are not doomed by our genes.
Q: For anyone who wants to live a long and healthy life but doesn’t know where to start, what would be your first piece of advice?
Dr Max: Cut down on the little vices. Coffee – one or two a day max. Give up smoking, tougher but essential. Take physical exercise and adopt a good quality diet, not necessarily a reduced quantity.
Avoid hydrogenated fats, pre-cooked foods and cold cuts, which are 99% nitrites and nitrates – carcinogenic substances just as much as cigarettes. Only Parma and San Daniele ham don’t have any.
Humans are the only animals that keep consuming what they know to be harmful. Rats test things out on the oldest member of the group and wait to see the outcome before they eat them. We know smoking is dangerous, but we carry on. We need to develop this awareness of what is good and bad for our bodies.
If we continue to eat junk food, we will convert it into junk energy in our bodies. If we eat a healthy, balanced diet, we’ll have the energy to support all our bodily functions. It’s as simple – and complex – as that.