Showing posts with label how to live to be 100. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to live to be 100. Show all posts

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Surprising Tips for a Healthier, Longer Life

Are you hoping to have a happy, healthy and long life after retirement?  If so, this article is full of fun and interesting tidbits of information that I have gathered from a variety of sources.  In fact, I promise to come back and update this article from time to time as I run across more interesting ideas!

Tips for Staying Healthy in your Senior Years

Take walks.  There are lots of reasons for spending at least 30 minutes a day walking.  First, taking a walk is even better at improving your memory than spending time solving puzzles.  In addition, exercise of any kind is an effective way to reduce depression, which can become a problem as we age. So, keep moving as much as possible.

Stretch frequently.  It may help to take classes in yoga or Tai Chi.  In fact, these gentle stretching exercises seem to help relieve the pain and discomfort of arthritis or fibromyalgia.

Get any type of exercise you enjoy, including gardening.  The longer you exercise in your later years, the healthier and more active you will be.  This will also make your life more enjoyable. People who live in the "Blue Zones," or areas of the world where it is common to live a healthy life until the age of 100, continue to stay active well into their 90's. Once people stop moving, their life is likely to be shortened.

Spend time outside, weather permitting.  Get a little sun on your skin, about 20 minutes a day, before putting on sunscreen.  Natural Vitamin D is protective against a host of diseases, including certain types of cancer.  When you cannot get outside, take a Vitamin D supplement.

If possible, get a pet.  They can lower your blood pressure and stress levels, as well as give you another reason to get more exercise.

Interact with other people.  Socialize. Join a club. Volunteer.  Work on building relationships with your friends and family.  Participate in the religious institution of your choice.  All of these activities will help you stay healthy and happy for years to come.  Whatever you do, do it with zest.  Having a purpose in life has been shown to help people live longer.

Slow down.  Relax.  Take a vacation.  In other words, take time to smell the roses and enjoy your life.

Tips for Living Longer

Most of the above suggestions for healthy living will also contribute to a longer life.  However, to maximize the length of your life, you will want to use the following suggestions, as well.

Watch less television.  Some researchers have concluded that one hour of watching television trims more time from your life than smoking a cigarette.

On the other hand, this doesn't mean you can keep smoking if you want to live a long life.  People who quit smoking by the age of 40 will still live about 10 years longer than those who keep smoking.

Eat a plant based diet, and eat less than you normally do.  According to National Geographic researchers, people who live in the "Blue Zones," where it is not uncommon for people to live to be 100 years old, tend to eat less meat and stop eating a meal when they are 80% full.

Drink a small amount of red wine on a regular basis.

If you are interested in more tips for healthy living, or you would like ideas about where to retire, financial planning, changing family relationships and more, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page to find links to hundreds of additional helpful articles.


Sources for these health facts:

"Live Longer & Better" by Gretchen Reynolds. Parade Magazine, January 27, 2013

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/happiest-places/blue-zones/


You may also be interested in reading these articles:

Healing Relationships with Your Adult Children
Sexually Transmitted Diseases After Age 50
How to Treat Chronic Pain
How to Prevent Bone Loss from Osteoporosis

You are reading from the blog:  http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

Photo of man with dog courtesy of www.morguefile.com

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Have a Long Life and Live to 100

Why do Some People
Live to Be 100?
Have you ever wondered why some people can stay healthy, have a long life and live to100, while others may die of age related illnesses when they are decades younger?  Researchers have begun to unravel some clues that may give you an idea of how fast you are aging and how likely you are to see the century mark. Based on a lengthy article on Yahoo Health called "10 Surprising Clues You'll Live to 100," this summary just reports the essential facts. If you want more detailed information on any of these factors of aging, you may also want to read the research in the full article on their website.

The first clue that you might live to be 100 is whether or not you have had relatives who lived to be at least 90 years old.  Longevity does seem to run in certain families.

Next, measure how fast you walk when you are strolling normally.  People older than 65 who are able to comfortably and normally walk at a speed of 2.25 miles per hour or faster tend to be healthy and live much longer than their peers who walk more slowly.  This speed works out to 3.3 feet per second.

Sorry, guys, but women really do seem to live longer than men.  They are much more likely to live to be 100. Don't give up, however.  Some men still make it to the century mark.  Look at George Burns.

The next clue applies to women, only.  If you are a woman who conceived a baby naturally after the age of 35, you probably age more slowly.  This means that you are likely to have a longer lifespan.

Another point the researchers made seems to follow a trend that has been going on for hundreds of years.  Just as you are likely to live longer than the generations who went before you, young people today have an even greater chance of living to be 100 than you do.  (Do you think the time will come when Medicare doesn't even start until age 80?  Do you ever wonder how long a life is too long?)

I found the next point very interesting.  People who worry, but only a little, have a longer life than people who worry excessively or people who do not worry at all.  You would think that being free of worry would help us to live a long life.  However, the truth is that people who worry a little are less likely to be risk takers.  This means that they are not as likely to die an accidental death.  On the other hand, people who worry too much are more likely to develop stress related diseases.

Having a Body Mass Index of 27.4 or less increases your chance of living to 100.  Like a lot of Baby Boomers, this may be a weakness for me, as I know that my BMI is higher than that.  However, my heavy-set grandmothers both lived until their late 90's, so it is possible that I will still live a long life, too.

The next factor is one that you cannot evaluate without expensive testing.  How long are your telomeres?  The telomeres are DNA sequences on the ends of your chromosomes.  Long telomeres indicate a longer life.  Although you could have yours tested, you can also simply choose to live a lifestyle that helps maintain the length of your telomeres as much as possible.  Avoid chronic stress, don't smoke, and eat a healthy diet high in Omega 3's.  Researchers have also discovered that walking briskly for at least 40 minutes a day can actually lengthen your telomeres. 

Finally, have a positive attitude.  Your emotions do affect your health, and people with a positive attitude seem to live longer than people who are negative.

Obviously, you cannot control all of these factors.  However, if you control the ones you can, you may live a longer life than you ever imagined.  The opportunity to live to 100 may be within your reach!

If you would like to learn more about retirement, healthy aging, where to retire or financial planning, use the tabs or pull down menu at the top of the page.  They contain links to hundreds of other helpful articles.

For more information on healthy aging read: http://www.baby-boomer-retirement.com

(Photo courtesy of morguefile.com)