The Healthy Art of Ageing

I've always had a keen interest in longevity. In fact one of my primary e mail addresses prefaces with longevityplus. But it's not just the idea of living for an extended period of time that has maintained my interest over these many years. Living a productive, happy existence from A all the way to Z, free of the illnesses and ailments that prevail our society has, even as a youngster, seemed a concept of choice rather than consequence.

What we do, how we act and even or especially the way we think should, to my way of thinking, dictate the state of our health even in extreme old age, rather than the idea that we are predisposed to illness and disease as a result of our genetics. Until very recently, science has told us that if your grandfather died of cancer, then you too have a significantly higher probability of spending your final days suffering with the ravages of sickness and morbidity. These days thankfully, science seems a whole lot less sure.

Welcome to the age of lifestyle diseases, where indeed your choice about what you eat, how much activity you subject yourself too and how well you handle the stresses of our modern world are far more likely to determine, not only the length of your life, but also and probably more importantly, the quality of your health throughout your journey in it.

Irrespective of whether or not you are practicing the art of maintaining a long and healthy life, if you are reading this post, then there is a good chance that you already know that our ability to maintain good health is in fact a choice. What is easily forgotten in our society is that we should be able to do this well into our 80's, 90's and yes, even our 100's.

So why is it that most of us living in a 'modern society' are labeled old a decrepit by the age of 70? Is it because by then we are 5 years into retirement and are no longer seen as a contributing member of our community? Perhaps it's because at 70, we are seen more and more as someone who has well and truly passed the best and most productive years and that the most we can hope for is that we don't become too much of a burden on our family's as we spend our final years at the mercy of doctors and nurses who battle vainly against, for the most part, incurable diseases. It is interesting to note that for many society's around the world, being of advanced age doesn't necessarily mean that your need end up dying of cancer, heart disease or stroke. How novel.

There are, I believe, two possible reason for this western mindset of aging. The first and foremost is a lack of good old family values that have possibly been lost in our quest for bigger, better and much, much more. The second reason could be that because of our poor lifestyle choices, it is unfortunately for the most part true, we have indeed passed our productive use by date well before the manufacturers warranty expires.

Let's tackle these one at a time.

There are a few universal truths that have been noted by researchers when they've examined the reasons why certain society's tend to be so much healthier and longer lived than our own western and often far more modern one. It may surprise you that an extremely positive view on ageing has been identified as one of the chief causes of a long, productive and healthy life. A great example of this is when we compare any of the worlds long lived society's, we can observe a universal reverence for the elderly.

In fact, in most countries, being old is seen as something to look forward to as it is used as a measure of respect and status. Compare that to our youth obsessed culture, where people would rather go under the knife and endure weeks of painful recovery while being fed only baby food or inject their face muscles with paralyzing toxins simply to defy the natural evolution of their existence.

Whether we look at the long lived Abkhasians in the old Soviet Union, the Vilcabambans is South America or the Okinawans in Japan, one thing remains universally enjoyed, and that is growing old. I read recently, (John Robbins: Healthy at 100) that when one researcher tried to explain to a group of Abkhasians that in the West, the aged are often put into retirement villages to be looked after by paid staff rather than kept at home with the family, his comments were met with incredulous disbelief to such an extent that nothing he could say could allow them to grasp such a barbaric practice. (John ro

In the West, our insistence that growing old means that you no longer have a rightful place in a productive society is often bought into by the aged themselves and who can blame them, we are surrounded by representations of the elderly being old, frail and senile. Characters like Grandpa Simpson, of the much loved cartoon series, is often used by the writers to express society's view of the seeming useless and decrepitness of those in their later years. Compare this to the Okinawans who don't even have a word for retirement and one can begin to see that our own concept of ageing is no doubt a self fulfilling view and one that isn't bought into by the longer lived society's of our planet.

Another great difference between our culture and of those who experience wonderful health into their later years is our choices. We are lazy! Perhaps not when it comes to our work ethic or how indeed how many hours in a week we spend aiming to achieve a little bit more than the year before, but next time you and a friend make plans to go to dinner, the pub or a movie, tell them you'd rather walk the 6km there and then back again and ... ? Well I'm sure you'd have no trouble imagining the response.

The problem is we where meant to move, not occasionally or for an hour before or after work but most of the day long. Another important commonality of the longer lived people is their lifelong devotion to movement and daily exertion. Now this may be because, for most of these people, having to toil all day in the field may be a necessity but be that as it may, most of the elderly, well into their 80's and 90's, can normally be found, not at home with the grandchildren, but in the field with their great-great-grandchild slung in a harness across their back while they hoe another patch of soil.

There are many more possible reasons for the lengthy and disease free existence enjoyed by these society's, such as diet and indeed good genetics, but while there is little we can do for now about our gene's, there are certainly better choices to be made when it comes to thinking ourselves into old age. For me, I personally like to emulate those actions that have been adopted by those who enjoy good health, long into their senior years. I have no intention of ever falling into the trap of feeling old because everyone else around me is determined to do so. I have chosen to surround myself with friends who enjoy physical activities and healthy lifestyles and who, most importantly, view family as an important aspect to living, not just a long life, but a rich and complete one too.

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