One segment of a recent trip found me on a Peruvian-run riverboat with four cabins, eight passengers, exploring the biodiversity and cultures along the Amazon River. Never having spent time on the Amazon or in the jungle, I felt like a sponge absorbing the experience.
One day we climbed steep mud steps carved into the high riverbank to reach a small indigenous village on the bluff overlooking the river. Only a few of the houses had generators and electricity, none had doors, and usually only partial walls on a raised floor. There was little to no furniture.
We were welcomed warmly. Interactive singing and dialogue were planned with school children, our guide translating. The prime diet was plantains, fish and yuca, the latter a root rich in carbohydrates and vitamins and not to be confused with yucca.
Many dishes were made from these three things and comprised the primary diet of the village. An occasional roasted rodent or skewered grubs added variety. Samples had been made and we were encouraged to taste, which we did.
Daily activities focused on subsistence living; village people appeared healthy with elders living into their 90s. While not a lifestyle I want to emulate, aspects resonated well with varied studies of successful longevity. Through a career in aging, I’ve had the pleasure of reading many articles on longevity. There are common threads.
The hospital industry has long studied Blue Zones; communities around the globe where people naturally thrive to age 100 and beyond. Common traits include diets rich in key nutrients needed for basic health, lifelong exercise and physical exertion, and social interdependence, common purpose and connectivity.
On a parallel, the lead story in a recent issue of National Geographic is devoted to Living Longer and Better, exploring varied scientific efforts to change the way we age.
Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health looking at decades of data, emphasized five habits that may increase life expectancy by 14 years in women and 12 years in men. Included were good diet, regular exercise, healthy weight, not smoking, and not drinking too much.
Of all five, exercise is underscored as predominant. Matt Kaeberlein, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and the director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington comments, “For most people over 50, loss of muscle mass due to a sedentary lifestyle usually is one of the most important predictors of poor health outcomes later on.” Inspiring motivation to get moving.
Becca Levy, professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University points to another controllable factor; one’s own beliefs about aging. For believers in the power of positive thinking, this is good news.
Persons with positive views of aging throughout life were more likely to recover fully from a disabling injury and had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s. Per Levy, “People with the brightest beliefs about aging live an average of seven and a half years longer than those with the gloomiest.”
“Can-do” attitudes fit right into this philosophy. A 98-year-old woman living with vitality was quoted in the article when asked by her daughter if she felt she was too old to do something. Her answer, “No. I’m not too old. I might do it slower, and I might do less of it. But I’m no too old to dance or walk or do anything I like.” Where there’s a will, there’s a way.