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?
You have to have really strong mind all the time giving yourself a good reason of waking up...especially at Winter. It’s easier to get up from bed with a smile on a face when you have a beautiful sunshine outside, warm weather.
ReplyDeleteA good reason of waking up is…the pee problem :) otherwise you would have to change the sheet.
But about longevity.
Few months ago I watched an interview with 115 years old lady. As I remember, she said the main key of longevity and her best practice was more and less 200ml of alcohol per day. Every time when she wakes up she drinks a glass of: wine / cognac / whiskey / vodka – it depends on the mood.
I think that in polish mentality it is easier to drink one or two glasses of alcohol per day, then searching for a good idea of waking up.
Cheers...
I was going to quote the same history :(((9999 [;
ReplyDeleteIf the key to longevity is giving reason for waking up I'll not live long. As Tomek said you have to have strong mind to do that. I don't have. But I'm still trying to change it :]
I believe the food aspect is dominating factor in longevity, especially nowadays, because most food is rather bad for our health.
ReplyDelete"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. ... "
I don't get it. How I am supposed to know how full is my stomach?
@Maciej
ReplyDeleteDon't hurry when eating, take it slow and you'll know when you're full.
As for waking up in the morning.. I get up because I have to do something/go somewhere/meet someone. Maybe sometime in the future it'll happen that I get up because I want to :)
Yesterday when I was going to bed I decided, that today's morning, when I wake up I would comment all post in the blog, that I had not before, so I had no choice..;)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if that's a good reason to wake up, I mean making comments :D
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to longevity, I don't think that higher retirement age is a motivation to get up and will make people feel more important and respected. This has nothing to do with making people live longer, more likely it's connected to problems with ZUS and social insurance system.
The reason for waking up is not to waste your day. I think it's the best one. It is nice to lie in bed and do nothing but then I realize I could have a lot of fun outside my bed.
ReplyDeleteRetirement is the worst thing. When people stop working, they lose their reason to wake up. They don't know what to do, so they're looking for useless activities and actually all they mainly do is complaining. I don't think that respect in family is so necessary to live a long time. Everyone needs to be loved or respected, but it's about whole society not only your family. If you're orphan then what? You don't have a chance for longevity? Of course not. If you have your friends that you can depend on you can be happy as well. But Dan Buettner noticed important thing is if your friends are living healthy. When you abide with some people you take over their habits, so if they're fat you'll probably become fat, if they like sports you will join them and make sports. That's why society around us is so important.
healthy food is indeed important, but the other reason shown - feeling the need to live - is much more important imo. feeling unaccepted and unneeded is a real problem for old people in the western civilization. and bad mental condition almost always leads to health problems..
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say, that when someone stops working then there is no reason to wake up. I think it depends on the personality. Firstly, we should define what does it mean "to work". By work we understand activites that gives us money? I have a lot of ideas and projects, that I would like to realize, that the only way to accomplish them is to wake up very early. By doing that I can save 2h every day. During the whole week that's 14h!
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to older people, in my opinion there are other duties, which can be the reason to wake up every morning, ex: taking care of grandchildren :)
Sometimes it is hard to get reason. But mainly it is work ;/ To be honest I prefer these days without any reason to wake up.:)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maciej that food aspect is one of the most important.
ReplyDeleteGood condition helps up to feel better for sure, but in my opinion positive thinking is even more important if we want to wake up in good mood.
You should all check this book:
http://www.empik.com/potega-podswiadomosci-ksiazka,prod650252,p
I also think that the best reason for waking up is not to waste your day and to find out what this day will bring you. I think that old people who are retired also can find something useful to do. When people are interesting and have some idea on his/her life they have tones of reasons to wake up.
ReplyDeleteThe best reason for me to wake up in the morning with happiness on my face is my beautiful wife laying close to me and my lovely daughter who is the sweetest thing in the whole world!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI got to say that i've never ever before thought about my life as much as nowadays.. I was lazy & addicted so called 'pro gamer'. Nothing was more important to me than games, games, games. Nothing. Since i've finished 23 i seriously started to think about meaning of my life. I discovered very fast that i'm quite unhappy because i wasn't doing anything else than playing computer games.. Within 2 years i changed my life and i'm cured right now :). My recipe maybe not to reach 100 but just to feel satisfaction from life is to run for 40-50 minutes and/or make exercises every day. Believe me it's working! Of course don't forget to avoid fast foods and all kinds of fat food especially very popular in Warsaw Turkey 'restaurants'. What is very important is to avoid stress. If you have stressing job - change it, if you're late to work quite often try - change it - i've always stayed in bed as much as i could even 5 minutes snooze was like a blessing! Then i ate cold breakfast within 3 minutes and run to work. Now i changed everything and i have real satisfation from that - this increases well-being. About retirement age - i really don't understand vegetation of old people like in Warsaw for example. Just like you wrote they're waiting for death instead of fully enjoying our short life..
ReplyDeleteI don't need a special reason to get up in the morning, there is always so much to do! I think that there is one very important but not mentioned thing that helps longevity: it's a will of living. And genes... Observing old people from my family I could conclude that things depend on sex or more precisely on your attitude to your engagement in different activities. Women usually engage themselves in many things beside work - home, children, relations with other people etc. When they stop working they are already tired with too many duties and finally they have some time for themselves. I know men whose main if not only duty and interest was their job. When they got retired, they lost their sens of life. Still, I know other old men, who were engaged in care of grandchildren, garden, art etc. and they were living 100% as long as their health was not very bad.
ReplyDeleteI have so much things to do, purpose in life, 25 years behind me, but still a lot of is waiting for me, it is the reason why I get up at the morning, but the other fact is, that I like sleeping long till midday :)
ReplyDelete