The keys to living long and well
To live until you’re 90, make sure to exercise and not smoke.
To make it to 100, it helps if you don't develop diseases linked to aging until after 85 – and to cope with them well if you do get them.
A pair of papers by two Boston research groups appearing in tomorrow’s Archives of Internal Medicine report on what factors -- other than good genes -- allow the oldest of old people to survive. A group from Harvard Medical School found that men who lived until 90 enhanced not only their lifespan but also improved their mental and physical function if they led a healthy lifestyle in “early old age.” Researchers at Boston University’s New England Centenarian Study said the timing of illness was important in reaching 100, but coping with illness well enough to stay independent was also key to reaching 100.
In the Harvard study, 2,357 men from the Physicians' Health Study with an average age of 72 were followed for 25 years, during which they regularly answered questionnaires on their health and habits. Among the group, 970 men lived to at least 90.
A man who didn't smoke, didn't have diabetes, wasn't overweight, had normal blood pressure, and exercised two to four times a week had a 54 percent probability of living until 90. Each healthy behavior crossed off the list sent the probability down. Men who were sedentary, had high blood pressure, were overweight, and smoked had only a 4 percent chance of living until 90.
"It's not surprising that these (factors) might be associated with lifespan and health, but it's reassuring that these same factors continue to make a difference in older years," lead author Dr. Laurel B. Yates, also of Brigham and Women's Hospital, said in an interview, noting that exercise's effects shade into other factors. "It's kind of a threesome: get more years, better years, and better function."
In the centenarian study, Dr. Dellara F. Terry's team of researchers began with a hypothesis that surviving until 100 meant delaying or never getting such illnesses of aging as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, or Parkinson's disease. But when they looked at a study of 739 people who had lived to age 97 or older, they found that almost one-third of the survivors had developed these illnesses by age 85 -- but were not disabled by them. They also report that men had better mental and physical function than the female centenarians, which they say is consistent with other studies.
"One explanation for this may be that men must be in excellent health and/or functionally independent to achieve such extreme old age," the authors write. "Women on the other hand may be better physically and socially adept at living with chronic and often disabling health conditions."
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my blood pressure whent blooie last decade before i turned 56, now i am pushing 90 100 lbs overweight . i smoke overtime...guess im dead
Jeff,
You are the 4%. The other 96% of people like you are dead. Have a nice day.
Exactly what is the fun in living to 90? Maybe one in a million are spry and active at that age. It's all in the genes.
at least you don't have a negative attitude!
No.
You're the 4%. I wouldn't suggest you author any 'how to' books for living longer.
Well, my mama is 95 (she will be 96 in 6 months), at 93+, she was run over by a dirt ball while walking on the sidewalk 3 blocks from her home (road rage!). Until this happened to her, she enjoyed excellent health and a sweet life. She had both legs broken (green stick break on right leg both tibia and fibula), 5 ribs broken, collapsed lung, fractured pelvis in 3 places, broken wrist, awful contusions, scrapes, concussion, cuts on her face -- took 33 hrs to stablize her before drs could operate on her leg, we were told to say good-bye to her 3 times, she went into cardiac arrest 3 times and each time her heart stopped! She was in intensive care 10 days, 17 days in hospital and 44 days in a nursing home ... every day was a struggle, all she wanted was to be able to go home. Finally, we brought her home, 24 hr care, but she improved only to fight off more infection and set backs. She is walking, but she lost too much ... now her mind is going and her good conversation is gone. She fights to finish sentences. Her doctor bills exceeded $500k!, and the dirt balls who ran her over had expired and suspended lic, no insurance, and priors. What happened to the dirt balls? A $62 traffic fine that is all. If I leave my car on the street on street-sweeper day, I get a $47 fine! Damn near kill someone and cause irrepairable harm, you get a $62 fine. Authorities did not pursue the dirt balls because they figured my mama would die before a trial date could be set! HA. She is still here. She fooled every one. The one dirt ball wrecked his truck by also hitting a fire hydrant that then gysered out all this H2O and my mom almost drowned just from that drenching!, emergency room doctors could not figure out why she had so much fluid in her lungs when she arrived in their care! (The one dirt ball got out of his truck and came over to my mama, who he had just hit and gravely injured, and screamed at her: Who let you out of the retirement home old lady?!) At almost 94, her chances of surviving all that had happened and all that she would have to now endure over come was less than 1% ... she survived all the damage but her mind just could not process it all and now the struggle is even more stressful. I know my mama would othewise rocket right past age 100 when it arrives and probably 105 would not be unrealistic. But now I am not sure. The point in telling you this story is that it can all be grabbed away in an instant and the idea that you must drive with insurance, with a valid drivers license is just so much nonsense, it is meaningless. It does not matter in Orange Country, CA. Like I said, nothing happend to the 2 dirt balls who drove up on the side walk that morning in July, 2006. Their trucks were not impounded nothing happened, absolutely nothing because of my mama's age! The law stops working for you, the law just dismisses you, the law cannot justify spending $$$ on you. The law ignores you. When my mama left the nursing home, they had her on 17 different medicines! It was eye popping. She took 2 meds before this happend to her. I am telling you my mama's story because it is still hard to believe and the fact she is still here, not giving up. The point is that the system can pass right over you, ignore you, dismiss you at some point, if it is in their interest and this is exactly what the system did to my mama. Centenarians have no pull, no power with the law and this is the secret that needs to be told. The law will yawn at your story of harm because the law does not want to help you only to find out you up and died in the middle of things. Specifically, Huntington Beach, CA could have cared less ... their image to be 'Surf City' is infinitely more important to protect ... they do not want to hear that you got harmed or injured in Huntington Beach. If someone breaks the law and messes you up, YOU get to clean up the mess and shoulder the expense. Centenarians need to know that no protection or help will arrive. Medicare and Secure Horizons get to pick up the bill. The dirt balls are off the hook. A lot of the statistics look good on paper but point out that there is no prospect of help should you be a victim of carelessness and/or crime. It is not in the cards. And, if you have no advocate, no one to help you at a bad time, you will be passed over, you will not make it. Let your articles reflect this truth.
Yes you are a dead man walking.
I'm 75. I was overweight, had lots of stress, quit exercising, have high blood pressure and had a mini-stroke. Got rid of stress. Loss 25 pounds and still working at it. Very good diet. Watch my BP with pills and feel like a new man.
So it is all true. I live in a old folks apartment complex and there are plenty of folks that pay no attention to the rules and have to use scooters or walkers. Some idiots still smoke.
It is the younger generation that will pay better attention I believe. Old men are stubborn.
Don Jones
Madison, TN
or you could diet exercise, lose weight and quit smoking. it's your life (and death)-grab it by the cajones and live!!!
some would argue you are already dead. what good is it to be that big and out of shape? are you living or merely taking up space?
There was a lawyer in Cambridge, MA who lived to be over a 100 years. In his 50s he had a head attacked and survived. He stopped smoking, started eating healthy and walking to work from Cambridge to Boston everyday. He added to his life over 40 years. He was considered the oldest practicing lawyer in the USA. The article appeared in the Boston Globe several years ago. So, don't think by reading this article that you have no opportunity to overcome the damage done. There are two sides to every story. Don't get discourage because of this article. Positive attitude and working towards a better health and doing something about it is what matters.
Salud! To health,
Cheers,
M
See 103 year old, 'Navy Centenarian Sailor', Chief Warrant Officer Julio 'Jay' Ereneta, USN (Ret.), Veteran of World War One and World War Two.
http://news.webshots.com/album/123286873BFAAiq
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