Would You Want to Live to 123?

If your grandparents lived long lives, you may have won your first lottery.

This doesn’t bode well for me, my grandfather died aged 42 — although he was run over by a milk float. So maybe I just need to avoid crossing the road at six in the morning whilst drunk.

Anti-aging science is making giant leaps

In a few years, scientists will have the knowledge and ability to tweak our bodies at a genetic level and extend life by years, decades or even centuries.

“It’s not just possible to delay aging, but to reverse aspects of it,” — David Sinclair, Harvard Medical School.

Sinclair says he is part of a growing number of scientists who see aging as something to be treated, like a disease.

There may be a time when people in their 30s or 40s pop pills to keep them healthy. They won’t have to worry about getting cancer or dementia until they have notched up a century or more.

Jeanne Calment, from France, lived to be 122 years. She is the oldest person ever to have lived. This could be beaten by millions of people already born. One day, someone will reach 150 and others could well go beyond.

You won't licve forever, but current research may help us live a much longer and healthier life.

Don’t wait for a cure-all pill

There are things you can do right now that will keep you vital and prevent you from dying earlier than you would otherwise.

Science has already given us enough of an understanding to help ourselves. There are tweaks we can make to keep us hearty and hale. If you want to remain full of vigour and vitality, try these.

Avoid self-destruction

My grandfather died at 42, and as a possessor of an extraordinary level of stupidity, he would have been a worthy winner of The Darwin Award.

The message here is don’t go staying up late, drinking to excess and putting yourself in the way of vehicular traffic — no matter how slow they go.

Self-destruction

Avoid smoking, harmful drugs, and jumping off tall buildings without a safety net. These things don’t need to be said. They are sensible precautions.

Some sensible precautions do need to be said:

Wear a mask, get your jabs, stop reading and believing misinformation.

The not so obvious

Psychology recognises that treating problems is not the sum of their science. They are now studying what helps make people function at their best. It has opened up another field of research called ‘positive study.’

We want our lives to go well. But what does it mean to flourish?

It isn’t the same as being happy or experiencing pleasure. We can get pleasure from things that won’t make us happy in the long term — drinking until 5 am before making our way home, for example.

Based on the research there are 5 foundational principles for developing well-being:

1. What the share price of zoom tells us

We are social animals and our sense of belonging is profoundly important for our condition. If we feel socially excluded, this can affect the same parts of the brain as we experience during physical pain.

The antidote is to connect with others. One effect of the pandemic has been the reduced connection we have had with friends, family and colleagues. For some, this can be devastating.

Fortunately, we have the technology to keep us connected. Oddly, the proof of our desire for connection is seen in the share price of video communication company Zoom.

In January 2020 before the world shut down, Zoom was valued at 70 cents per share. By October 2020, it was worth an incredible 8 X as much. We placed a high value on a company that kept us connected. As we come out of lockdown, the share price of Zoom has been on a downward spiral.

Connecting with others is critically important for our well-being. Loneliness is a killer. Keep in close contact with family and friends. Embrace your interactions with neighbours and work colleagues. Stop and chat with people in shops or those you meet in the street.

Join clubs or take up hobbies that bring you into contact with people. If you can’t do any of those, vow to call five people per day and check in with them. You could save their life and your own.

2. Choice adds years to your life

Autonomy is wonderful. Psychologists have identified that taking responsibility for our lives gives us control. Being able to diary events, organise what we do and carry out our plans adds a sense of power.

This is something the pandemic made harder. We have had our freedoms curtailed. We even had the choice to leave our houses taken from us. Although thought necessary, the sense of imprisonment has been traumatic for many.

Under any circumstances, we can’t have complete control over our lives. We have to consider other people.

A good rule of thumb is to treat others as you would wish to be treated. Act for the greater good, as you would expect others to do. Choose to comply in the spirit of humanity and conform with enthusiasm.

3. Practice gives us peace of mind

Having a sense of competence, being effective in what we do is empowering. This is hard to achieve when we enter new situations or try to attain new skills. But the important thing here is to be open to new experiences and recognise we might not always manage well and we might fail.

To do this requires a growth mindset. To have a growth mindset is to recognise that failure is not something inadequate in us but, an opportunity. Learning to be competent in anything takes practice.

When you take on new challenges, practice, practice practice. As your competence grows, so does your positive mindset. A positive mindset is a prerequisite for a long and healthy life.

4. Wearing rose-tinted spectacles works

We all have an inbuilt negativity bias that helped us when we were evolving and needed to be vigilant, but it doesn’t serve us very well anymore.

It turns out our well-being is greatly increased if instead of focusing on the negative we focus on the positive. Pay attention to what is going well in your life. Savour the sun on your face. Sing praises to your success and season your communications with a smile. Jeanne Calment, the world’s longest-lived person, put her extraordinary longevity down to her ability to smile.

Look at your strengths rather than your deficits, and look for those in other people. The easiest and most natural way to put a smile on someone’s face is to pay them a compliment. Point out their talents, skills, gifts, and virtues.

5. We need a why

We need purpose, a sense that what we do is significant and worthwhile. Having a ‘why’ makes all the difference. There is lots of evidence that shows when people feel their lives or work is meaningful they perform much better and are much more fulfilled.

Have a sense of meaning. You can be in a dead-end job and still have meaning. You might aim to provide for your family, pay for night classes or simply have enough money to buy walking boots so you can go trekking in the wilds at weekends. All these things give you a why.

There is an old fella called George who lives at the end of my street, he’s 92. Every morning George gets out of his house and shuffles down to the old bridge where the kids hang out in the evening.

George carries a litter picker and a rubbish bag. He picks up the chip packets, sweetie papers and broken bottles. Fills his bag and deposits it by the council bucket, only 30 yards away. He takes pride in this. It is his reason for being. We call him Gentleman George.

Lifestyle Science Facts

Scientists are motivated by curiosity. They are curious about the world, the problems we encounter and how they affect us. In their research, they carry out randomised controlled trials and the anti-aging results are in:

1. Stop before you are full

Dietary restriction extends life. Reducing calorie intake or periods of fasting increases life span and protects against diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. It causes changes that protect against these age-related pathologies.

Fasting for 36 hours rejuvenates the body. Our system kicks into repair mode and shuts down the aging process. If you haven’t tried it, here’s the easy way to fast for 24 hours to get you started.

2. Be a squirrel

Nuts are nutritious and contain powerful life-extending properties. Eating nuts is associated with good heart and cardiovascular health. Nuts reduce all-cause mortality.

Findings support recommendations to include walnuts as part of a healthy dietary pattern for improved endothelial function and cholesterol.

3. Eat a curry

Turmeric has long been recognised for its medicinal properties. The curcumin in turmeric has been demonstrated to be safe in six human trials and has shown anti-inflammatory activity.

Curcumin is believed to work by inhibiting the molecules that play a role in inflammation. It may also help exercise-induced muscle soreness, and enhance recovery. A relatively low dose can provide health benefits for people that do not have diagnosed health conditions.

4. Annoy your meat-eating mates

Eat a predominantly plant-based diet. Don’t go on about it, though. Outliving your burger munching friends should be sufficient schadenfreude.

5. Get off your backside

The health benefits of doing 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) per week are well established.

Even a dose of exercise below current recommendations reduced mortality by 22% in older adults. A further increase in physical activity improved these benefits in a linear fashion. Older adults should be encouraged to include even low doses of MVPA in their daily lives.

6. Have a cuppa

A study examining consumption of coffee and tea concluded that drinking at least three cups of coffee or tea per day may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes. The lowered risk of type 2 diabetes cannot be explained by magnesium, potassium, caffeine or blood pressure effects.

7. Have a sleep schedule

Sleep is one process deeply affected by aging. Sleep studies show some people can reach very old ages by adapting against age-associated effects. The oldest individuals maintained strict regular sleep-wake schedules.

The results contribute evidence of the importance of sleep longevity in humans. Now that’s something to sleep on.

Your Good Health

I enjoyed researching and writing this. Much of it is common sense and I kinda knew the truth of each of the results before reading the research.

It was satisfying to complete. As I reward, I’ve cracked open a beer and toast your long life — after all, life is for living. Cheers.