Longevity Bloomington Newsletter # 14 - Ten Determinants of Healthy Aging
Plus lifespan vs. "healthspan" and how to prepare for the Centenarian Decathlon
Research Roundup
Lifespan vs. “Healthspan”
Modern medicine has increased our lifespan - the total number of years alive - to an incredible degree. Since 1900, the average global life expectancy has more than doubled! Unfortunately, our “healthspan” - years lived free from serious disease - has not increased at the same rate. People are living longer, but many of those years are burdened by chronic disease.
The obvious goal for most people would be to maximize the number of years free of disease. If that’s your goal, what can you do to improve your “healthspan”?
Ten Determinants of Healthy Aging
A 2022 research paper reviewed the existing literature to determine which factors most influence healthy aging. The researchers found ten areas that most impact how well you age:
Physical activity
Diet
Self-awareness
Outlook/attitude
Life-long learning
Faith
Social support
Financial security
Community engagement
Independence
We have discussed the importance of physical activity, diet and maintaining independence in previous newsletters (you can read those here). In addition to these more well-known factors, there are many social and intellectual pursuits that can improve your “healthspan”. Social relationships, community engagement, and life-long learning are just a few examples that have support in the research.
The Centenarian Decathlon
Centenarian = a person who is 100 years old
Decathlon = an athletic contest consisting of ten events
The idea of a “Centenarian Decathlon” was put forward by Peter Attia, MD on his great podcast The Drive.
Peter came up with the concept when thinking about how he could design his exercise routine to maximize his function later in life. He asked himself a simple question, “what do I want to be able to do when I am 100 (or 90, 80, etc.) years old”? He came up with a list of activities that he hopes to be able to do when he gets older and he worked backwards from there to design an exercise program to allow himself to accomplish those tasks.
For example, one of your goals at age 80 may be to have the ability to play with your grandchildren on the floor. In order to do that, of course, you must be able to get up and down off of the ground. Therefore, you would want to work on improving (or maintaining) your ability to do that at age 65 to ensure you could get up and down at 80.
Start with the end goal in mind (getting up and down from the ground), and work backwards from there to determine what you need to do now (burpees) to put yourself in a position to have that capacity in the future.
An example goal list for your future 80 year-old self might look something like this:
Be able to get up and down from the floor to play with your grandkids (burpee or this burpee modification)
Carry 20 pounds of groceries into your house (farmer’s carry)
Pick up your grandchild from the floor (deadlift, squat)
Place a suitcase in the overhead storage compartment of an airplane (overhead press)
Walk up and down three flights of stairs (step-ups)
Endurance to garden, keep up with the grandkids, golf or walk your dog (walking, riding a bike, rowing machine etc.)
Lift a bag of garden soil and carry it (deadlift, squat)
The exercise next to the goal is an exercise that might be helpful in allowing you to achieve that goal. Click on the exercise name next to the goal for a video of how to perform the exercise. Modify the exercise as you need to initially and then gradually increase the challenge as you get stronger.
Longevity Members In Action
The Longevity members working on their balance and agility, upper body strength and core strength last week!
New Longevity Members
We have added eight new members since our last newsletter:
Kerri
Shea
Pam
Donna
Ellen
Georgia
Pauline
Jan
Welcome to the Longevity family. It has been great having you!
Longevity Bloomington Social Media
Here are a few posts from our social media accounts this month:
Are you exhausted after the grandkids leave? Do you need some exercises to perform to prepare you for their next visit?
Here are some exercises that will strengthen the muscles you need to have strong to pick them up from the ground and play with them! The exercises you perform in the gym should make life easier outside of it.
Not a grandparent? These exercises are still great for general strength and will benefit you in many other areas of life!
