A 1999 study of Danish twins 75 years and older, found that only about 25 percent of a person's ability to lead a long and healthy life is genetic. Therefore, lifestyle choices and environmental factors contribute more to longevity than one's biology does. Scientific research has identified several common denominators that can promote health and well being as the years progress.
Diet
National Geographic writer Dan Buettner studied the eating habits of inhabitants of the Blue Zones, four geographical regions that produce a remarkably high number of centenarians. People in these communities generally eat a plant based diet that incorporates a number of "longevity foods," such as beans, nuts, tofu, red wine and richly colored vegetables. Buettner also noticed that the way these communities ate was as important as what they ate. Strategies like eating off of smaller plates and remembering to stop eating when the stomach is 80 percent full helps these communities consume fewer calories.
Physical Activity
Buettner found that physical activity is an important factor in the prolonged health of the Blue Zone inhabitants. Although rather than spending time at the gym, these centenarians "set up their lives so that they are constantly nudged into physical activity," says Buettner. By walking to the store, working in a garden, and taking the stairs, they are burning calories all day. And when they do engage in intentional exercise, it tends to be an activity that they enjoy.
Purpose
Patricia Boyle at Rush University Medical Center says that having a sense of purpose in life contributes to longevity. She followed 1238 seniors of comparable health for five years and found that those with a high sense of purpose lived longer than those with low purpose. Finding meaning in life is different for everyone, Boyle says, and can include things like spending time with family, accomplishing a goal or contributing to society in some way. On the other hand, feeling resigned, irrelevant or like there is nothing more to accomplish in life would indicate a lack of purpose.
Brain Health
Robin Mirante, a specialist in cognitive rehabilitation therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital, asserts that exercising the brain helps to retain mental fitness in one's later years. Activities that challenge one's memory, verbal skills, logic and visuospatial skills help "to counter mental decline associated with aging," she says. These activities can include crossword puzzles, learning a foreign language, piano lessons or keeping up on current events. The important thing, according to Mirante, is "the process of thinking, particularly by learning something new."
A Cure For Aging
Controversial Cambridge researcher and biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey likens aging to a disease that can be cured. Rather than attacking age related diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer, de Grey argues that aging can be stopped or reversed by correcting the breakdown of human tissue at the cellular and molecular level. His organization Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS) works to find regenerative therapies that he believes will allow people to live active, healthy lives for several hundreds of years.
References
- TED: Dan Buettner: How To Live To Be 100+
- "The Blue Zones" Dan Buettner, 2009.
- "Washington Times"; Finding Purpose In Life; Meaning, Longevity Connected; Gabriella Boston; September 2009.
- "Mind, Mood and Memory"; Bulk Up Your Mind With Brain Exercises: March 2006.
- TED: Aubrey de Grey Says We Can Avoid Aging
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