“Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the sidelines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day's work an achievement for eternity”
- Helen Hayes - stage & film actress
Concord, MA - January 9th, 2012 - In this fifth part of our series on Life over 50 - Neglect we look at the issues dealing with Longevity.
N - utrition
E - xercise
G - eneral Health
L - ONGEVITY
E - nergy
C - onfidence
T – ime
Ahh, longevity. The golden grail for all of us. Living a long life is just about everyone's goal...assuming that we're reasonably happy with our 'lot' in life to begin with. It occurs to me that the older I get the more I'm preoccupied with stretching out that time line. Makes sense right? But wait a minute; is it just about hanging on for dear life? Well, if you've been reading my previous contributions you'd know the answer to that question. Quite clearly this is a two part answer.
We've been looking over the past several months at the challenges facing us as we sail past 50 into the 'new middle age'. We started by talking about what I call the 'nitty gritty of staying healthy; nutrition and exercise. We looked at nutrition and how we need to modify our food pyramid. To begin to get a tighter control over calories, start to increase our veggies and fruits to raise fiber intake, drink more fluids and supplement more specifically to our shifting needs. Some longevity studies done by the National Institute on Aging have shown that caloric restriction diets (25% reduction or more) can lead to increased longevity. We also talked about how we can become more active by understanding who you are as an exerciser, moving onto where to start and then how to build and maintain your program. The take away point from this with respect to longevity is that the biggest improvements in health gains from exercise were in those people who moved out of the sedentary group into the active group. The worse shape you are in, the quicker you will see results and the more you have to gain!
In our 4th installment looking at 'general health' we looked at how important it is to become proactive with our health by getting more regular and more thorough screenings and check-ups. I listed several websites to visit for a complete list of things to check but one other website you might find interesting is; http://www.realage.com. Take the real age test to see how your physical age might differ from your actual age. 28 million people have so far and it's a good resource for helping to make positive lifestyle changes.
Moving beyond the 'cornerstones' of health as I referred to them we introduced the idea of a larger model of health we often call Wellness. Beginning to think in terms of wellness rather
- Helen Hayes - stage & film actress
Concord, MA - January 9th, 2012 - In this fifth part of our series on Life over 50 - Neglect we look at the issues dealing with Longevity.
N - utrition
E - xercise
G - eneral Health
L - ONGEVITY
E - nergy
C - onfidence
T – ime
Ahh, longevity. The golden grail for all of us. Living a long life is just about everyone's goal...assuming that we're reasonably happy with our 'lot' in life to begin with. It occurs to me that the older I get the more I'm preoccupied with stretching out that time line. Makes sense right? But wait a minute; is it just about hanging on for dear life? Well, if you've been reading my previous contributions you'd know the answer to that question. Quite clearly this is a two part answer.
We've been looking over the past several months at the challenges facing us as we sail past 50 into the 'new middle age'. We started by talking about what I call the 'nitty gritty of staying healthy; nutrition and exercise. We looked at nutrition and how we need to modify our food pyramid. To begin to get a tighter control over calories, start to increase our veggies and fruits to raise fiber intake, drink more fluids and supplement more specifically to our shifting needs. Some longevity studies done by the National Institute on Aging have shown that caloric restriction diets (25% reduction or more) can lead to increased longevity. We also talked about how we can become more active by understanding who you are as an exerciser, moving onto where to start and then how to build and maintain your program. The take away point from this with respect to longevity is that the biggest improvements in health gains from exercise were in those people who moved out of the sedentary group into the active group. The worse shape you are in, the quicker you will see results and the more you have to gain!
In our 4th installment looking at 'general health' we looked at how important it is to become proactive with our health by getting more regular and more thorough screenings and check-ups. I listed several websites to visit for a complete list of things to check but one other website you might find interesting is; http://www.realage.com. Take the real age test to see how your physical age might differ from your actual age. 28 million people have so far and it's a good resource for helping to make positive lifestyle changes.
Moving beyond the 'cornerstones' of health as I referred to them we introduced the idea of a larger model of health we often call Wellness. Beginning to think in terms of wellness rather
than fitness and good nutrition links us back to that question of, 'being happy with our 'lot' in life'. These other dimensions, first expressed as a whole By Dr. Bill Hettler include Emotional, Occupational, Physical, Spiritual, Intellectual and Social health and are all interdependent and get us back to our original reason for today's contribution, longevity. We can see that living a long life is not just about taking care of the physical it is also about reevaluating our health as it relates to our work, home, family and friends and intellectual pursuits. Geriatric psychiatrist Dr. Charles Reynolds refers to this as, "active aging". According to Alina Tugend, writing in the Atlantic, "...people who maintain connections to others--whether through family, friends or work --remain healthier in old age.
So, continue to work on good exercise and nutrition but don't forget to stay in touch with that old college friend, sign up for that evening course and leave a little time for that charity you've been meaning to support.
So, continue to work on good exercise and nutrition but don't forget to stay in touch with that old college friend, sign up for that evening course and leave a little time for that charity you've been meaning to support.
No comments:
Post a Comment