Rick’s Health Letter 2.0
Chapter 2.0 Case Studies Living Longer
Issue 2.0 9/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.netIntroduction
From our last news letter, we know that we can postpone having a chronic illness, which puts us in a nursing home. We can have more years of better health in our golden years through lifestyle changes. We may extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes.
Now we are interested in living longer while remaining healthy and how we might make it so.
Living Longer
We ask, “What do we know about living longer, and why do some people live longer than others?” We know that the longest anyone has lived, a French woman, is 122 years. The average age for men in 2007 in the
We may increase how long we live and can improve the quality of our life by the way we live. We may be able to increase our lives up to
We have a special advantage if we live longer. For every year we live longer, the odds are in our favor to live even longer due to future medical discoveries. Medical knowledge is doubling every three years thus increasing our odds to extend our lives further.
We certainly can improve our quality of life now and into the future. That alone is worth the effort. We want to discover a way to stay active longer, and to enjoy life as we go. Think of it as on-the-job training for living well.
If we do all these things, why do we still die? Currently our species has an outer limit beyond which we do not live. We have yet to find a way to extend this, although this too may be altered in the future.
Staying power
National Geographic[2] studied several groups of people who have an extraordinary number of people living over 100 years old. These groups are located in
The common similarities among these groups are as follows:
- non-smoking
- putting family first
- being active every day
- keeping socially engaged,
- Eating mostly fruit, vegetables and whole grains.
These populations have a high number of centenarians, suffer a fraction of the diseases that kill others; and enjoy healthier years. They seem to avoid the chronic illnesses that we get. Each of these groups had unique ways of living.
The Japanese
Japanese live longer and remain fit and trim, because the traditional Japanese diet is one of the healthiest in the world. When compared to The United States, the average Japanese are consuming fewer calories per day of 2600 verses 3400, eating fish and soybean products for protein, and are eating less fat of 15 to 20 percent. The fat they do eat contains omega-three fatty acids that protect against heart disease and cancer. They eat more vegetables and foods high in fiber. The Japanese eat snacks of vegetables and fruit high in pectin. Pectin is a carbohydrate gelling agent used in jams and jellies and may help with arthritis pain. They drink green tea at every meal which provides water intake and the antioxidants of vitamin C and E.
The average Japanese citizen lives 2600 days (7.1 years) more than a
The Sardinians
The Sardinians drink one to two glasses of red wine, which contain two to three times the amount of resveratrol that may prevent arterial clogging. Let’s hear it for the red wine!
Resveratrol and Red Wine
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring antioxidant in red wine. It decreases the "stickiness" of blood platelets, reducing the risk of blood clots and strokes. It may be involved in reducing cancer. The dose is 650 mcg daily, the amount in 8 ounce glass of red wine. The Sardinians in the study group drank 2 glasses of red wine a day. That wine was found to have three times the normal amount of Resveratrol. A Danish study of 1700 people who drank one glass of red wine a week had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Even though drinking red wine may be more enjoyable, we do not have to drink red wine to get the benefits. Health stores carry resveratrol as a supplement.
Loma Linda, the Seventh Day Adventists
The National Institute of Health funded a study of 34,000 California Adventists from 1976 to 1988 and found that the average Adventist lived 4 to 10 years longer than the average Californian. The Adventists are vegetarians, do not drink alcohol or caffeine, eat vegetables fruits and nuts, and associate with others who reinforce their way of life.
Test ourselves for biological age
We want to know how old we really are, so we begin by taking a test. This will make us aware what simple things we can do that will greatly affect our health. We will learn what we are doing that reduces our biological age and what increases our age. Go to www.realage.com. Here are a few startling assumptions taken from real age.
· Live 8 years longer if we floss our teeth every day.
· We will live 6 years longer by getting the right amount of antioxidants.
· We will live 3 years longer if we buckle our seat belts every time we are in a car.
· We will live 3 years longer if we get 6 to 8 hours sleep. A good night's sleep helps us solve problems.
· We will live 2 years longer if we exercise.
We may sign up to receive e-mails on health each day if we wish.
Summary
We know from studies of people who live the longest that they choose a healthy lifestyle. Not only do these people live longer, but they live better. We can implement these lifestyle choices.
We choose not to smoke. We put family first, we are active every day, we exercise, we keep socially engaged, and we eat mostly fruit, vegetables and whole grains. We develop a strong sense of purpose, and we do things that we enjoy.
We know from studies (Health Letter 1) that we can shorten the period that we have a chronic disability, and that this can be compressed to near the end of our lives. We can have relatively trouble-free later years by eating healthy, eliminating smoking, exercising, consuming moderate to little alcohol, and by being no more than 15 pounds overweight.
References
[2] National Geographic Magazine, November 2005, page 2 - 27.
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0511/feature1/index.html
“Retirement days are the best days of our life. Are we willing to insure that they remain the best?”
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