How to live to 100
« 10% of how long we live is dictated by our genes. The other 90% is dictated by our lifestyle. »
INSPIRED BY :
DAN BUETTNER
National Geographic fellow
explorer, educator, producer
storyteller, public speaker
author of :
The Blue Zones
The Danish Twin Study established that, within certain biological limits,
only about 10% of how long the average person lives is dictated by their genes.
The other 90% is dictated by their lifestyle.
But what is it that really helps us live longer and better ?
Doing yoga or running marathons ?
Eating organic meats or having tofu ?
Taking supplements, hormones, resveratrol ?
Caring about purpose, spirituality, socialization ?
The truth is that we are programmed for procreative success,
after that the effect of evolution completely dissipates.
No matter how hard we try, we’re not programmed for longevity.
Making it to age 100 takes having a very good lifestyle and very good genes.
As we age, a lot of things deteriorate and can go wrong :
our knee cartilage can be ruined, our brains can gunk up with plaque, our arteries can clog.
Every time our 35 trillion cells turn over, some damage occurs and builds up exponentially.
We also tend to get increasingly isolated, and it is now known that loneliness kills.
The capacity of the human body is about 90 years.
But why is the life expectancy in the USA only 78 ?
Somewhere along the line, we're leaving 12 good years on the table,
years that can be largely free of chronic disease, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
There are ways to get these extra years.
Some cultures around the world are actually experiencing them.
There are areas where people are living to age 100 at rates up to 10 times greater than we are,
where the rate of middle age mortality is just a fraction compared to ours.
These areas are called :
the Blue Zones
1. The Nuoro province, up in the highlands of Sardinia
It’s an area with about 10 times more centenarians than there are in America.
A place where people reach age 100 with extraordinary vigour,
where 102 year-olds chop wood and still ride their bike to go to work.
Men live the longest partly due to a Bronze age culture that’s been isolated and an infertile land.
They are largely shepherds which confers them with a regular, low-intensity physical occupation.
Their diet is mostly plant-based, accentuated with foods that they can carry into the fields :
- an unleavened whole wheat bread made out of durum wheat
- a type of wine that has three times the level of polyphenols
- a type of cheese made from grass-fed animals high in omega-3 fatty acids
People in Nuoro province in general are physically active :
they live in vertical houses and go up and down the stairs regularly.
In addition, every trip to church, to a friend's house or to the store,
is one more great occasion for them to go for a walk.
Finally, one of the most salient elements of the Sardinian society is how they treat older people.
The older people get, the more equity they have, the more wisdom they're celebrated for.
Keeping aging parents close to the family adds to their life expectancy.
They have lower rates of mortality and lower rates of disease.
2. The northern part of the main island of the archipelago of Okinawa
It is a place where the oldest living female population is found,
and where people have the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world.
They live a long time and tend to die (often after sex!) very quickly in their sleep,
they have 1/5 the rate of colon and breast cancer and 1/6 the rate of cardiovascular disease.
They have a plant-based diet, full of colourful vegetables,
they eat about eight times as much tofu as Americans do.
More significant than what they eat is how they eat it,
they have all kinds of little strategies to keep from overeating.
- They serve at the counter, put the food away, and then bring it to the table.
- They eat off of smaller plates and tend to eat fewer calories at every sitting.
- They have a 3,000-year-old adage invented by Confucius, the Hara, Hatchi, Bu diet :
this saying reminds them to stop eating when their stomach is 80 % full.
It takes for the feeling of satiety to travel from the stomach to the brain about half an hour.
Okinawans have moais, a half-dozen friends with whom they travel through life.
They share with them the bounty they get whenever they encounter luck.
They also have somebody who is there for them when things go bad,
if a child gets sick, a parent dies, someone has their back.
They sit on the floor, and get up and down off the ground 30 to 40 times a day.
This keeps them physically active and agile, it strengthens their balance and legs.
Okinawans do not have a word for retirement, they have ikigai,
a reason for which they wake up in the morning that imbues their whole life.
It can be catching fish for their family, carrying forth a martial art,
or simply spending time with their great-great-great-grandchildren.
3. In and around Loma Linda, California.
America's longest-lived population can be found among the Seventh-Day Adventists.
It is a white, black, Hispanic and Asian heterogeneous community.
They are conservative Methodists who celebrate their Sabbath, a “24-hour sanctuary in time.”
No matter how busy they are, no matter how stressed out,
every week, for a day, they stop everything and focus on their God.
Hardwired right in the religion, are nature walks,
and so is the diet they take directly from the Bible :
green plants, legumes and seeds.
Ostensibly missing is meat.
Adventists can also rely on a strong social network,
people like them who are physically active, and into healthy recipes, praying, and walks in the nature.
They influence each other in profound and measurable ways.
Adventists also volunteer, they consider a stranger a friend they just haven't met yet.
There are some common denominators that can be distilled from these 3 distinct areas :
1. None of them exercise by going to the gym,
their lives are just set up in a way that makes them physically active.
They don't have any conveniences, they do most things by hand.
And when they do intentional physical activity, it includes things they enjoy,
like going for a walk or taking care of their garden.
2. They take some time to downshift.
They regularly pray or venerate their ancestors.
Slowing down for 15 minutes a day has been shown to reduce inflammatory state,
triggered by hurry and stress and responsible for heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
3. They have a sense of purpose,
they have the right outlook on life.
They continue to activate,
they hardly ever really retire.
4. They tend to eat a plant-based diet.
They eat meat occasionally and have lots of beans and nuts.
They have strategies to keep themselves from overeating,
and enjoy regularly a little bit of wine.
5. They connect,
they put their families first, take care of their children and their aging parents.
They belong to faith-based communities and surround themselves with the right people.
This is the most significant thing they do, friends have the biggest impact on them over time :
they not only add more life to their years but also more years to their lives.
There is no short term fix when it comes to longevity.
There is a set of very small lifestyle habits that have to be followed ritualistically.
Things that have to be done every week for a lifetime,
things that involve physical activity, outlook, diet, purpose, connection.
It is all about setting up life right :
none of it really costs money, none of it is really hard.
There is a way to get these extra years,
but it might involve making a few changes.
by : antιdrastιc element
based on : Dan Buettner’s TED talk
photo credιt : www.heatherthomson.com
image credιt :
Thanks for reading!
NUMBERS
Only about one out of 5,000 people in America live to be 100.
Our bodies have 35 trillion cells that turn themselves over once every eight years.
A 65-year-old person is aging at a rate of about 125 times faster than a 12-year-old person.
Fifteen years ago, the average American had 3 good friends, we're down to 1,5.
If your 3 best friends are obese, there is a 50% chance that you'll be overweight.
Okinawans live around 7 good years longer than the average American.
There are 5 times as many centenarians there as there are in America.
Life expectancy for the average woman in America is 80.
An Adventist woman’s life expectancy is 89.
Adventist men are expected to live about 11 years longer than their American counterparts.
Extra life expectancy :
knowing your sense of purpose and activating : + 7 years
belonging to a faith-based community and attending four times a month : + 4 to 14 years
keeping you aging parents close to the family : + 4 to 6 years