Seniors today are aging differently. Death from heart disease and many cancers have dipped significantly while life expectancy has inched upward and disability has declined.
Why then is the United States slipping downward in longevity rankings compared to many other countries? Infectious disease and acute illnesses, once the leading cause of death, have given way to chronic ailments and degenerative illnesses.
How long are you likely to live?
The Harvard Medical School has some answers beginning with your lifestyle. More than a third of the deaths in America are tied to smoking, poor dietary choices, and inactivity.
Another essential for healthy aging is full engagement with life. Those who are curious, open, and eager to connect with the world are the ones who most enjoy the last decades of life. Even those faced with disabilities thrive despite their challenges.
According to the last census, there are almost half a million peopler 95 and over in the United States. No magic pill or secret potion can extend life, but embracing age with good humor, grace, vigor, and flexibility can add happiness to the later years. How well you age helps dictate how happy you are in aging. Whether or not your family is long lived, the answer lies more in your actions than in your genes.
No matter what your age or stage in life, you have the power to change many of the variables that influence disability and longevity. That’s why doctors at Harvard Medical School offer ten steps toward living a longer and healthier life.
1. Do not smoke.
2. Build physical and mental activities into your life every day.
3. Eat a healthy diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits; substitute healthier monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats for unhealthy saturated fats and trans fats.
4. Take a multivitamin daily and be sure to get enough calcium and vitamin D.
5. Maintain a healthy weight.
6. Challenge your mind.
7. Build a strong social network.
8. Protect your sight, hearing, and general health by following preventive care guidelines.
9. Floss, brush, and see a dentist regularly. Poor oral health may have many repercussions including poor nutrition, unnecessary pain, and possibly, a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.
10. Discuss with your doctor whether you need any medication (to control high blood pressure, treat osteoporosis, or lower cholesterol) to help you stay healthy.
It’s obvious that healthy people live longer than sick people so if optimism actually improves health, it should also boost longevity. And it does, according to two US studies and two in the Netherlands.
The first American study evaluated 839 people in the 1960s, performing a psychological test for optimism-pessimism along with a complete medical evaluation. When rechecked 30 years later, optimism was linked to longevity; for every 10-point increase in pessimism on the test, the mortality rate rose 19 percent.
Another US study looked at 6,959 students who took a comprehensive personality test when entering UNC-Chapel Hill in the mid-1960s. Over the next 40 years, 476 of them died from various causes. (Cancer was the most common.) However, the most pessimistic individuals had a 42 percent higher rate of death than the most optimistic.
More study is under way to clarify the link between optimism and good health.