• Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Balance by Deborah Hutton

Inspiring Women Daily

  • Home Page
    • About
    • Deborah’s Story
    • Our Goals
    • Our Programs
    • Our coaches
    • PODCAST
  • Body
    • Body image
    • Exercise
    • Nutrition
    • Health
    • Menopause remedies
    • Style
  • Relationships
    • Giving back
    • Children
    • Couples
    • Pets
  • Home
    • Renovation Rookie
    • Decorating
    • Food & wine
    • Books
  • Work
    • Careers
    • Small business advice
    • Working mums
  • Money
    • Financial planning
    • Saving money
    • Superannuation
    • Travel
    • Retirement
  • Mind
    • Goal setting
    • Alzheimer’s
    • Mental health
    • Maintaining balance
    • Belief & spirituality
  • Emotions
    • Motivation
    • A recipe for balance
    • Menopause
    • Daily Word Vitamin
  • BUY NOW
    • Reinvention Course
    • Small Business Course
    • Menopause Course
    • Motivation Course
    • Wellness Course
    • Life Coaching
    • Simplify Your Life
    • Over 40s Beauty Course

How to become a centenarian – 9 lessons from the people who’ve lived the longest.

March 3, 2018 by Sarah McKay

This post was originally published on this site

 

Late last year in my Meet the Neuroscientists interview series, I spoke to Charlene Levitan who studies centenarians for the Sydney Centenarian Study.  Her research has revealed that only about 30% of longevity is determined by our genes. As Dr Levitan pointed out:

We can’t choose our parents, but we can choose our lifestyle.

In another longevity project, National Geographic writer Dan Buettner has uncovered the places around the globe where the residents have the greatest life expectancy and where more people reach age 100 than anywhere else.  In his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Buettner describes five ‘blue zones’ of of longevity:

  • Barbagia region of Sardinia – Mountainous highlands of inner Sardinia with the world’s highest concentration of male centenarians.
  • Ikaria, Greece – Aegean Island with one of the world’s lowest rates of middle age mortality and the lowest rates of dementia.
  • Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica – World’s lowest rates of middle age mortality, second highest concentration of male centenarians.
  • Seventh Day Adventists – Highest concentration is around Loma Linda, California. They live 10 years longer than their North American counterparts
  • Okinawa, Japan – Females over 70 are the longest-lived population in the world.

Dan Buettner and his team of Blue Zones researchers spent time in each of these zones, and  have identified nine secrets to longevity.  Mind you, I’d say they’re more common sense than secret!

1. Move Naturally: 
The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron, run marathons or join gyms. Instead, they live in environments that constantly nudge them into moving without thinking about it. They grow gardens and don’t have mechanical conveniences for house and yard work.

2. Purpose: The Okinawans call it “Ikigai” and the Nicoyans call it “plan de vida;” for both it translates to “why I wake up in the morning.” Knowing your sense of purpose is worth up to seven years of extra life expectancy

3. Down Shift
 : Even people in the Blue Zones experience stress. Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. What the world’s longest-lived people have that we don’t are routines to shed that stress. Okinawans take a few moments each day to remember their ancestors, Adventists pray, Ikarians take a nap and Sardinians do happy hour.

4. 80% Rule
:  “Hara hachi bu”  – the Okinawan, 2500-year old Confucian mantra said before meals reminds them to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. The 20% gap between not being hungry and feeling full could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it. People in the Blue Zones eat their smallest meal in the late afternoon or early evening and then they don’t eat any more the rest of the day.

5. Eat plants: Beans, including fava, black, soy and lentils, are the cornerstone of most centenarian diets. Meat—mostly pork—is eaten on average only five times per month.  Serving sizes about the size of deck or cards.

6. Drink Wine: People in all Blue Zones (except Adventists) drink alcohol moderately and regularly.  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers. The trick is to drink one to two glasses per day, with friends and/or with food. And no, you can’t save up all weekend and have 14 drinks on Saturday!!

7. Belong
: All but five of the 263 centenarians we interviewed belonged to some faith-based community.  Denomination doesn’t seem to matter. Research shows that attending faith-based services four times per month will add 4-14 years of life expectancy.

8. Loved Ones First: 
Successful centenarians in the Blue Zones put their families first. This means keeping aging parents and grandparents nearby or in the home (It lowers disease and mortality rates of children in the home too.). They commit to a life partner (which can add up to 3 years of life expectancy) and invest in their children with time and love (They’ll be more likely to care for you when the time comes).

9. Right Tribe:  
The world’s longest lived people chose–or were born into–social circles that supported healthy behaviors, Okinawans created ”moais”–groups of five friends that committed to each other for life. Research from the Framingham Studies shows that smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness are contagious. So the social networks of long-lived people have favourably shaped their health behaviours.

 

The post How to become a centenarian – 9 lessons from the people who’ve lived the longest. appeared first on Your Brain Health.

Filed Under: Alzheimer’s, Health, Mind Tagged With: brain health, Dr Sarah McKay, health, health-tips, mental health

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

Follow by Email
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Follow
YouTube
Instagram

Recent Posts

  • Need some inspiration to tackle your Spring cleaning?
  • Aquarius Blood Moon Ritual with kindness
  • Diabetes and diet: why low-GI foods are important
  • A life of greatness – How Sarah found her balance podcasting
  • The Heart Breaking Memory and Impact of Dementia

A word from Deb

Confidence

This article originally appeared in Virgin Voyeur Magazine. I believe we all have capabilities beyond what we give ourselves credit, so why do we often mark ourselves down in the company of others who we perceive as being smarter and more successful than us? Perhaps it’s just human nature but where does our self-doubt stem […]

What’s your future hold?

This article originally appeared in Virgin Voyeur Magazine. I love the speed of digital communication! You don’t know how good it feels to be able to write on a subject, post a few candid interviews and then receive an immediate response from you as a topic that hits a hot button. One such hot button […]

Topics

Archives

Tags

Age-defying beauty Amanda Gore Balance Balanced Style beauty tips brain health Brave careers Confidence courage Deb's blog Deborah Hutton Dr Sarah McKay empowerment Esma Versace fashion food Gerald Quigley Guest blogs health inspiration joy Joy of Business Katrina Cavanough Lee Holmes LifeShape Clinic Lyndall Mitchell makeup tips Margie Warrell Megan Dalla-Camina menopause mental health Michelle Hamer recipe Recipe for Balance recipes Relationships Spirituality style super charged food super foods travel Weight loss wellness women

Footer

Balance by Deborah Hutton
Balance by Deborah Hutton is created and edited by Australian media personality and brand ambassador Deborah Hutton. Deborah is one of the most recognisable and best-known personalities of modern Australia. Balance by Deborah Hutton is a program that brings together a team of expert coaches to help us unlock the key to a successful and happier life. Using new media, Balance by Deborah Hutton can easily be experienced in your own time. Followers will be able to join the online forums and connect and share with others on similar journeys.

Copyright © 2019 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in