"Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us."
Voltaire
"Since people are going to be living longer and getting older, they'll just have to learn how to be babies longer." - Andy Warhol
Who doesn't want to live longer? Can anyone ensure that they will live longer? You
are not Oscar Wilde's Dorian Grey! I do not want to dwell on misfortunes as that will cause stress which will eventually lead to a death at a younger age. It has been shown that stress, anger and resentment will cause an individual to develop a disease and more than likely succumb to that disease.
We all can age successfully. I want to lead a active full life and when my time comes I want to exit quickly. I mean quickly. As I see suffering every day, I do not want to suffer. I do not want my patients to suffer. In order to live longer you MUST have a healthy mind, body and spirit. You cannot stop the aging process. There are tips to slow the aging process. Allowing others (people , places and things) to run amok in our minds will only speed up the aging process.
Longevity is always in the news. Two months ago I read about the oldest living man
in Montana. He is age 114.
In general, advances in medical technology and healthy lifestyle information have been helping Americans live longer than ever, although the large majority will still never make it to age 100. I have had the pleasure of seeing more than 8 patients reach 100 years. One patient age 103 lives in Florida and we still keep in contact. Her son recently had a bypass. Mary is doing quite well. Endina turned 100 two months ago.
The data on the U.S. Census Bureau website finds that as of 2008, there were nearly 4.3 million people in the U.S. over the age of 85, amounting to about 1.4 percent of the population. Women were nearly twice as likely as men to make it to this age, consistent with longstanding data which finds women have a longer life expectancy than men in general.
There are some normal aging processes that each of you should know about:
1. the brain shrinks; loss of cognitive function and memory
2. hearing becomes impaired
3. vision worsens with loss of visual acuity
4. the skin loses elasticity
5. smell and taste decrease
6. fat increases as lean muscle mass and bone mass decrease
7. the kidney size decreases
8. the incidence of cardiovascular death increases
9. the lungs lose elasticity
10. the pancreas produces less insulin
11. the hair thins
All of the above can lead to disease. There are simple tips if you want to live longer. Throughout the blog you have read some of these, but we all need a reminder as the new year approaches.
TIPS FOR AGING GRACEFULLY
1. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
--Reduce refined carbohydrates
--Reduce saturated fats; eliminate trans fats
--Increase omega 3 essential fatty acids
--Increase consumption of greens
--Increase consumption of all fruits and vegetables; careful on the high glycemic ones
--Use high quality protein such as cold water fish
--Reduce consumption of red meat
2. Consume more water every day
--maximal half your body weight in fluid ounces
3. Exercise
--minimal: 30 minutes 3 - 4 times week
--optimal: one hour every day - combination of aerobic and resistance training
More aging tips tomorrow...
Until tomorrow...
Photograph: Josephine Ray at age 114. Died while planning her 115 birthday celebration.
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