The American comedian, George
Burns, who lived to be 100 years old, was asked about the secrets of his vigor,
prosperity, and longevity. He answered in one word, “Attitude. If you have a
problem getting a twenty-two year-old girl, get a twenty-four-year-old,"
he wrote when he was eighty-six years young. [1] That serves as a right
introduction to a subject toiled over by numerous writers, and explored by
scientists and doctors all over the world. The truth is that nobody knows how
to combat ageing, and in a greater sense how to achieve longevity. It could be
a simple genetic malfunction, or a multitude of factors and life parameters,
that you need to get right and in the right mix, to achieve a long and good
life.
No matter how daunting the
task may seem to us, or however vain, the words of the people that have
actually reached a long age, or the result from scientific and medical research,
can actually help in shedding some light to the workings of that miraculous
machine, the human body. Ranging from life altering perceptions, like a change
in attitude towards everyday things, or a shift of the pace and the intensity
of life that surrounds, to the more trivial, like what we eat, or how we eat
it, or the amount of sunlight we get each day, there are certain things we can
do to aid ourselves towards achieving a longer life.
Reproduced from the original
article, find below a comprehensive list of tips that could help you in your
quest to achieve longevity. [2] For the complete list, please go to the
original article. :
Read a magazine upside down
Consciously
going outside your comfort zone every day, such as reading upside down, puts
the brain under mild stress, damaging the cells — in repairing this damage your
body also repairs age-related damage, says Dr Marios Kyriazis, a U.S. ageing
expert. He suggests writing with
your non-dominant hand, arguing the opposite to what you passionately believe,
even listening to music you loathe.
Eat something red
‘A red
pepper contains more vitamin C than an orange, beetroot contains nitrates that
help to relax blood vessels, and tomatoes are packed with lycopene (a powerful
antioxidant), especially when cooked, which may help protect against cancer,
heart disease and other health problems,’ says Dr Susan Jebb, of the Medical
Research Council’s Human Nutrition Research unit in Cambridge. ‘And red grapes are rich in
resveratrol, thought to have anti-inflammatory, cancer-preventing and
cholesterol-lowering properties.’
Run a mile as fast as you can
The
speed at which you can run a mile in your 40s and 50s is a spooky prediction of
heart disease 30 or 40 years later, according to a study by the Cooper
Institute in Dallas, Texas. For
men, eight minutes is good; for women, nine. But if you struggle to do it in
ten minutes (12 minutes for women), you have 30 per cent greater risk of
developing and dying from heart disease. Try
walking the distance briskly first. When this becomes easy, break into a jog
for a few yards at a time, gradually building up.
Have a banana
Reduce
your blood pressure (and risk of strokes and heart disease) by increasing your
intake of potassium-rich foods such as bananas, fruit juice and dried fruit. ‘Potassium helps counteract the
damaging effects of excess salt in the diet,’ says nutritionist Dr Sarah
Schenker. The recommended daily
dose of potassium is 3.5g; to lower blood pressure, you need 4.7g — found in precisely
one banana.
Practise squatting
squatting
— lowering yourself as if to sit on a chair, hovering, then standing again — is
widely regarded as the single most effective muscle-strengthening exercise of
all (and the closest one movement gets to a full-body exercise). It’s important to keep agile so you
can get out of a chair (or off the loo) in old age, and to prevent falls.
Drink one tea a day
This
has been shown to reduce levels of stress hormones and even boost survival rate
following a heart attack by 28 per cent. Researchers at Harvard Medical
School believe
antioxidants in tea may help the blood vessels relax.
Go to bed an hour earlier
Just
one extra hour in bed could be enough to lower your blood pressure in as little
as six weeks. A recent study from
Harvard Business School
of people who slept for seven hours or less a night found that going to bed an
hour earlier led to a significant drop in blood pressure (and risk of heart
attack and strokes). The
researchers think too little sleep affects the body’s ability to deal with
stress hormones.
Floss every day
Don’t
just floss when food gets stuck.
‘Flossing
nightly can make a significant difference to how fast you age,’ says Dr Michael
Roizen, a leading U.S.
anti-ageing expert.‘It can take as much as 6.4 years off your age.’ Bacteria that cause tooth decay
trigger inflammation, which in the arteries is ‘a significant precursor of
heart disease’ (flossing may also protect against diabetes and dementia).
Breathe with a straw
Take a
few minutes each day to take deep, long breaths through a straw — with this
simple exercise you end up breathing more deeply, which can improve your
lung function and capacity (which otherwise reduce with age), slowing your
heart rate and lowering blood pressure, says Dr Mike Moreno, author of The
17-Day Plan To Stop Aging.
Walk every day
Research
shows a short walk is enough to bulk up your brain — and slow down memory
decline. One study of elderly
sedentary people who covered six miles a week found they did better in memory
and decision-making tests after six months — possibly because greater activity
triggered new brain cells, as well as new blood vessels and connections between
the brain cells.
Less on your plate
U. S.
research shows rats, mice, flies and monkeys live up to twice as long when
their food intake is reduced by a third. It’s
thought eating less means the metabolism has less work, and so slows down,
producing fewer damaging ‘free radicals’.
Use an extra onion
One
80g onion per person (in bolognese, say) is a sneaky way to add to your five
portions of fruit and vegetables. Onions
are thought to lower the risk of colorectal cancer, laryngeal cancer and
ovarian cancer — they’re rich in quercetin, an antioxidant that prevents
harmful enzymes from triggering inflammation, and contain sulphur compounds
that boost the immune system.
Have sex at least twice a week
A
study of men aged 45-50 in South Wales (the Caerphilly Cohort Study) found that
regular sex has a protective effect — those lucky Welshmen who enjoyed frequent
orgasms (twice a week) had a 50 per cent lower risk of early death than those
who missed out. One U.S.
expert estimates sex at least three times a week can add two years to your life
(by increasing heart rate and blood flow) — do it every day and your life
expectancy could increase by eight years! In addition to boosting circulation
and reducing stress, sex releases DHEA, a building block of testosterone which
helps repair and heal tissue; it’s also a natural anti-depressant, especially
for women.
Forget something every day
Many
age-related memory problems are not caused by shrivelling brain cells, but
because we try to hold too much in our heads, says Dr John Medina, a leading U.S. brain
researcher. ‘Middle-life brains
have a really hard time blocking out unnecessary information.’ His solution: consciously dropping
unimportant pieces of information to free up space — so let the bus timetable,
the names of people you met at dinner, the plot of the TV soap opera drift from
your mind.
Ditch the scales
It’s
not so much your weight as the amount of fat around your middle that matters —
waist measurement is a better predictor of heart disease than BMI (body mass
index) because it can point to visceral fat, the dangerous fat around the organs. For a quick check, lie on your back on
the floor — if your tummy flattens, your fat is mainly subcutaneous; a ‘dome’
or paunch indicates visceral fat that could shorten your life.
Build up your biceps
Anti-ageing
expert Dr Miriam Nelson, of Tufts University,
Massachusetts, says weight
lifting is great for anti-ageing. In
a study of 40 post-menopausal women who did strength training, twice a week for
30 minutes, she found after a year ‘their bodies had become 15 to 20 years
younger (in terms of restoring muscle mass) and they all regained bone density
instead of losing it, as women normally do at that age.’
Skip the sunscreen
The
body’s ability to synthesise vitamin D from sunlight is reduced with age, and
lower levels affects your immunity and bones. The over-60s are advised to have
a daily 10mcg supplement as well as spending a little time in the sun (ideally
20 minutes a day).
One wine a night
Try
stopping at one glass (125ml) of red a night (the equivalent of one unit of
alcohol) — studies show this provides flavonoids and resveratrol, compounds
which could reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers and slow the
progression of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s. But drinking three
units may be enough to increase the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat,
oesophagus, breast and bowel.
Argue with your partner
Don’t
bottle it up — researchers at the University
of Michigan found couples
who suppressed their anger were 25 per cent more likely to die early. Over
time, suppressed anger can cause high blood pressure, insomnia, heart problems
and could increase risk of cancer.
Chew 20 times
Not
only is it a tried-and-tested weight-loss tip, but a study presented at the
International Congress of Endocrinology last month suggested not chewing properly
can double the risk of type-2 diabetes — partly because people then eat more
but also because chewing helps break down the food, making it easier for your
body to absorb the nutrients.
Have children
Children
may exhaust you, but they could save your life. A Danish study reported men
unable to conceive were twice as likely to die early from circulatory disease,
cancers and accidents — childless women were four times at risk. It’s thought
they’re more likely to end up drinking, becoming depressed or ill. Adoption
reduced the risk.
No late-night TV
After
the age of 25, every hour of TV you watch could shave 22 minutes off your
lifespan, suggest scientists at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. It doesn’t matter if you exercise —
it’s long periods of inactivity the body really hates. Muscles aren’t
used properly, sugars and fats are not adequately processed, raising risks of
illness and early death.
Laugh
Humour
may boost levels of infection-fighting antibodies and immune cells, says Robert
Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland.
A really good belly laugh improves blood flow by more than 20 per cent. Some
studies suggest it can reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Professor Provine has found we’re 30
times more likely to laugh with other people than alone — the social nature of
laughter has more impact than physiological changes.
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