How to live a long life

[JaneV2.0]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43992058/ns/health-aging/#.TjmI_IIUw3h

Even though I'm a veteran vitamin-popper and generally careful eater, this kind of article always does my contrarian heart good. I've been reading about healthy centenarians for years (and especially Barzilai's studies), and this report sums it up nicely:

"The living, old people in the study were remarkably ordinary in their lifestyles, Barzilai said. By and large, they weren't vegetarians, vitamin-pill-poppers or health freaks. Their profiles nearly matched that of the control group in terms of the percentage who were overweight, exercised (or didn't exercise), or smoked. One woman, at age 107, smoked for over 90 years."

[Mrs-M]

Love it! Thanks for this Jane. One thing I'm a firm believer in is the afternoon nap. I really do think it does a body good.

[ctg492]

I truly love the articles on the 100 year old group. I try to live a healthy life style and hope the cards are in my favor, my health lasts and {{{money}}}. I only wish I had started at 20. I look forward to seeing the world and how things have changed hopefully for the better. The new improvements or realization that things had to change for the better. I look back at just technology improvements since 1980 and am amazed. My Uncle passed away at 99 and one of his last pictures was him learning the computer. Uncle used to say that everyone his age was his friend, because by the time you go that old you had all been through the same things in life.
I see so so many over weight people, unhealthy looking people, if not just for today but for their future and long life, I wonder Don't they think about reaching 100 or even 70?

[Suzanne]

I love it!! Every time somebody brings up the Okinawa centenarians, I point out that the reason there is such a high percentage is because these are the survivors of the children who died in enormous numbers during the period when there was almost no food available, and much of what was available was purple sweet potato. When more than half of the children die, the surviving population is more than halved, so the numbers of centenarians in this group is more than doubled in respect to the number originally born. The same is true of every other Blue Zone; there was extremely high child mortality during periods of great poverty, and those who were genetically gifted to get by on the least nutrients survived. We in the West don't see our children die at these rates, because we have the wealth and the technology to feed our kids, even those who are gluten-intolerant, lactose-intolerant, soy, corn, and everything else intolerant, so the low percentages of centenarians are probably closer to the real figures of average populations.

[JaneV2.0]

"I see so so many over weight people, unhealthy looking people, if not just for today but for their future and long life, I wonder Don't they think about reaching 100 or even 70?"

"The living, old people in the study were remarkably ordinary in their lifestyles, Barzilai said. By and large, they weren't vegetarians, vitamin-pill-poppers or health freaks. Their profiles nearly matched that of the control group in terms of the percentage who were overweight, exercised (or didn't exercise), or smoked. One woman, at age 107, smoked for over 90 years."

I hope to live as long as my mind does. So far so good, and I'll never be a thin woman. I'm a whole lot healthier, mind and body, than many people my age who "look good on paper." (Considering I'm in my sixties now, and all...)

Thanks for the pointing that out, Suzanne. I take a certain satisfaction in being "genetically gifted."!thumbsup!

[Suzanne]

I suddenly remembered the Loma Linda group; these are not necessarily survivors of childhood famine, but they are a self-selected group with very high levels of commitment, education, and plain old wealth - plus they basically LIVE in a medical facility!! Even here, however, as the 90 year old surgeon pointed out, making it to 70 is not a given. He spoke regretfully of those who are committed, eat well according to the SDA tenets, exercise - and die in their 60s of heart attacks or cancer. He said that, on average, the SDAs get just as many of the dread diseases, only a few years later than the average population. I'm all for a few years more of good health, and a fast decline and death, rather than many years just lingering. Obviously there is some stuff we can do, like not eat fast, processed, and and packaged foods; take care of stressors; get good clean air and water. Overall, though, I think a lot of longevity is just plain dumb luck of the draw.

[JaneV2.0]

I remember the 104-year-old LL woman on a treadmill. She was the first vegetarian centenarian I've run across. I'd love to have her health and stamina at an advanced age. My health weakness is a tendency to sit for hours at a time; obviously I'm not prone to deep vein thrombosis, or I'd have had it by now--many times over. (And my mother did have clotting/circulatory problems, so that's one genetic bullet I've dodged.)

I'm with you Suzanne about the a swift demise. Two of my relatives just keeled over and died (three if you count my 90-year old wood-chopping great-grandfather), and that's certainly not the worst way to go. I've seen too much of the alternative.

[Glo]

My MIL died at 97; FIL died at 101. Both were overweight; when they retired at age 65, they spent the rest of their years sitting on their butts watching TV. Go figure!