For many people, the promise of renewal arrives neatly on Jan 1: a new year, a clean slate. For Gurmit Singh, that idea no longer holds much weight.
“When the new year starts, people think that’s a new chapter. I used to be one of those people,” the 60-year-old actor and television host tells The Straits Times in a Zoom interview. “But because of my health scare in 2017, every day is a new chapter.”
That health scare was not a minor one, but a medical mystery that left him unconscious and, briefly, without a heartbeat.
It started when Singh collapsed at a gym and was later found to have lost all memory of the previous 24 hours. After a series of neurological tests, he was subsequently diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a rare condition marked by sudden, temporary memory loss.
During follow-up tests with a cardiologist, he underwent a stress procedure designed to push his heart from a resting state into overdrive. Five per cent of patients, he was warned, might pass out.
“When I woke up, I saw the doctor and some nurses,” he recalls. “I said: ‘Ah, I’m part of the 5%.’ And the doctor said: ‘Mr Singh, not only did you pass out, but your heart also stopped.’ He said it had never happened before in his clinic.”
Medical staff performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Singh was rushed to the intensive care unit and kept under observation for days. Yet, even after extensive tests, neither the cardiologist nor neurologist could pinpoint what had gone wrong.
“It’s a mystery,” Singh says. “All I can say is, I’m glad I’m still alive.”
That brush with mortality has fundamentally altered how he looks at life and health. “Little did I know that routine check could have been my last hour on earth,” he says. “So, without getting too religious, I make it a point every day to say my thanks to God.”
Today, he is driven by two things: ageing well, and the belief that health should be guided by science rather than guesswork. He is also unapologetic about his wish to live longer.
“If I can, I want to live to 100,” he says. “And if I could, I’d live 1,000 years.”
Singh is undergoing a DNA-guided wellness programme through Singapore-based company ConnectingDNA.
Through comprehensive DNA testing, he received a science-backed report detailing his specific nutritional needs, optimal training approach and key lifestyle adjustments.
Fitness, once something he approached in bursts, became non-negotiable. A lifelong athlete who had as a boy spent more time on the track than in class, Singh says he had grown complacent in recent years.
“We go through times when we’re very focused on fitness, and then slowly we fade away,” he says. “Now I realise it has to be lifelong.”
He now exercises almost daily, goes to the gym regularly and has made lifestyle tweaks, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift when possible.
He has cut down sharply on refined carbohydrates, opting instead for lower-glycaemic options such as sweet potatoes, and says the benefits are tangible.
“There’s no more ‘food coma’ for me,” he says. “I won’t deny it – it felt like I left part of my soul behind when I gave up rice. But your body adapts if you give it a chance.”
Even his family has followed suit, with his wife and three children eating less rice. He has three children with his 55-year-old wife Melissa Wong: daughter Gabrielle, 28; son Elliot, 23; and daughter Mikaela, 12.
As the year draws to a close, Singh is not making grand New Year’s resolutions. He does not need Jan 1 to remind him of what matters.
“The older you are, the more you should preserve being healthy,” he says. “Not the other way around.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
