A 110-year-old Japanese woman reveals the secret to healthy living and an indispensable dish

Yoshiko Miwa celebrated her birthday in February 2024. She shared her stories about the secret to longevity and maintaining good physical and mental health. Although she is over 100 years old, she still regularly goes to the temple every week to perform rituals and live happily with her children and grandchildren.

After retiring, Yoshiko developed a healthy habit of walking about 6km every morning. In 1990, at the age of 76, she even participated in a marathon.

Walking can help the elderly improve motor function, heart and lung function, balance ability and is especially effective in preventing diseases such as high blood pressure, blood fat, obesity... Not only that, Walking can also reduce the risk of aging to a certain extent.

2. Have many interests

For Yoshiko, keeping her body and mind active is the best medicine for longevity. She has many hobbies such as reading, ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arrangement), painting, sashiko ( a traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching )...

These hobbies can give your brain regular exercise, helping to prevent cognitive decline and maintain longevity. Globally, every three seconds an elderly person suffers from cognitive impairment, which increases with age.

3. Participate in community activities

Due to her advanced age, Yoshiko Miwa’s mobility is limited. However, she has never forgotten to attend temple ceremonies as well as other social volunteer activities such as helping to measure blood pressure for the elderly, preparing lunch for the local Japanese Cultural Institute, etc.

An 85-year study by Harvard researchers found that positive, healthy relationships, community activities... will reduce stress levels. Prolonged stress is a precursor to chronic diseases, inflammation, health exhaustion... This leads to the correlation between mental stress and physical health as well as longevity.

Theo, Leslie Kenny, co-founder of the Oxford Longevity Project, also said that after researching blue zones - the areas with the highest and healthiest average life expectancy in the world - discovered These are also places where people focus on social connections.

In addition, the companionship and interaction of family members is also an important part of bringing joy to the elderly and preventing dementia. Mrs. Yoshiko once shared: "Because my mother passed away early, I never felt the fullness of family love. It wasn't until I had children that I realized how important and happy this is."

4. Often eat noodles

Ms. Yoshiko Miwa shared that one of her favorite foods is noodles, including fresh noodles that are not fried such as udon noodles, buckwheat noodles... and this has become her daily dish. Many elderly people are afraid that consuming too many carbohydrates such as noodles will increase the physical burden, so they often limit their intake. However, this can inadvertently weaken the body.

Along with that, she also believes that maintaining healthy eating habits and doing things she loves are the keys to helping her live a long and happy life.

Mikiko Kawaguchi, a nutritionist at the Department of Home Economics, Otsuma Women's University (Japan), said that not being picky about food is a prominent feature of healthy, long-lived people. When the body lacks energy, the energy source from carbohydrates is not enough, causing the body to use fat and protein as an energy source, thereby not being able to maintain muscle and reducing immunity.

Have many interests

For Yoshiko, keeping her body and mind active is the best medicine for longevity. She has many hobbies such as reading, ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arrangement), painting, sashiko ( a traditional Japanese embroidery or stitching )...

Along with that, she also believes that maintaining healthy eating habits and doing things she loves are the keys to helping her live a long and happy life.