Some time ago I had an opportunity to read Dan Buettner’s lecture about so called longevity. During his cogitation he is trying to answer how to live to be 100+.
He starts his research from finding the four demographically confirmed areas that are geographically defined areas where people are living to age 100at rates up to 10 times greater than we are - so called Blue Zones.
- 1.Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica
- 2.Sardinia outside Italy
- 3.The island of Okinawa in Japan
- 4.Loma Linda in California
And then he brings a team of experts there to go through exactly what people, who live in this areas, do to be able to reach the age 100. He’s theory of longevity contains 5 main points.
He starts from well known facts as plant-based diet accentuated with foods that people can carry into the fields, every day exercising, well organized life with constant points etc. nothing new in fact. But then he points the meaning of the way that society is organized –not so obvious. According to his research one of the most salient elements of the longevity society is how they treat older people – it gives you more chance to reach 100 if you live in society which treats older people with respect and love.
Then he returns to food aspect showing how the way of eating is associated with longevity. The clue is to stop eating when your stomach is 20 percent full. It takes about a half hour for that “fullness” feeling to travel from your belly to your brain it shows that most of the time you even do not notice that you are already full and you do not need food any more. He strongly points the term for the benefits of closely bonded community. The health and longevity advantages of, say, joining a live, knowing your neighbors, shearing your good and bad moments with people who are always next to you.
Does this really work? There are some people, whose life shows that following those points really works. The person that I found the most remarkable was not the oldest one of those interviewed by researchers, but still what he is able to DO at his age is just amazing. He lives in the only blue zone in the US, in Loma Linda. His name is Dr.Wareham from California, he is 94 years old and he STILL performs heart surgeries!!
And Dr.Wareham’s example brings me to another point. In Poland recently we have a public debate about retirement age and government plans to make people work longer. From ageing point of view that’s a good move. Retirement is a waste in today`s society of the knowledge older people have, it`s like they`re meant to just stop living at the age of 65 and wait to die. When there`s still so much left to do, and I`m sure the perfect recipe for getting older is just to sit down and do NOThing. THEN you for sure just fade away.
Buettner ends up his lecture with something that I find extremely interesting he says that the most important thing which is the key to longevity is to have the reason for which you wake up in the morning. I’ve noticed that with this simplest thing we have got the biggest problem, we are losing the point of our life, we are losing the REASON.
What do you thing about this? is it easy for you to give the reason why did you wake up today in the morning?
It's hard question to answer because one day you have and another not. But I don't think that retirement is a waste of knowledge. it's the best tome to rest and fo what you really want to do and like. When someone feels healthy and is strong enough to work he can do this - nut many people are just to tired to be useful at work. everyone need some time to rest and I think that retirement is the best way to rest and see places where you feel good. and I think that when someone still need to work he will wrok much better after some time of rest.
ReplyDeleteAnd when we talk about longevity I don't think it's only the way how someone treat you or waht you eat - very important is stress - the more stress you have the shorter your life is.
And the reason for starting new day is the best way to keep smiling all day :)
To live a long life is one thing, the other, and perhaps more important, is to understand how to live your life to the fullest after you retired and to find a reason to face each new day. Some people just don't know what to do when they are left without the need of going to work every day anymore. Anyway, such an old age can be a great time to do what you always wanted - now you wll have a lot of spare time at last!
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