The Secret Of Super Healthy Old People

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
Listened to some of this in bed last night, interesting enough to post here, podcast in link if interested.

Our genes don’t really determine how well we’ll age in later life — and that’s good news. Dr. Eric Topol is executive vice president and a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, the largest nonprofit biomedical institute in the United States.
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He’s also a practicing cardiologist, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the study of what he calls the “wellderly” – those people who age to 80 without chronic disease – and the findings that he says can help us all reach that milestone. His book is “Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity.”
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https://www.npr.org/podcasts/478859728/think
 

dilettante said:
I clicked and got a podcast directory listing some of the worst drivel I have heard in ages.
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Good, you can move on then instead of hijacking an informative Health topic for seniors.

You didn't even read about it or listen to the podcast in five minutes. Many normal intelligent seniors here may be interested.
 

MACKTEXAS said:
I confess I didn't listen to the entire podcast, but I thought there were some very good points in the part I heard. I have not acquired any of the diseases my parents had.
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I just listened to it because I couldn't fall asleep right away. It did mention that supplements had little value except for perhaps a multi. I take a lot of supplements, but winding those down in the last ten years or so.

Also talked about the value of remaining social, and not staying inside without speaking to others on a daily basis, I think that's great advice too for mental health.

Also, how a simple walk several times a week is a good thing, and upper body strength in old age is important, even just using resistance like a flex band. After 65, although I was strong and worked physical jobs all my life, my upper body strength quickly diminished where I could no longer push up the roof of our small popup camper.

Thanks for your input Mack, appreciated. Unless I happen to hear something on the radio, I don't really listen to podcasts at all.
 
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SeaBreeze said:
I just listened to it because I couldn't fall asleep right away. I did mention that supplements had little value except for perhaps a multi. I take a lot of supplements, but winding those down in the last ten years or so.

Also talked about the value of remain social, and not staying inside without speaking to others on a daily basis, I think that's great advice too for mental health.

Also, how a simple walk several times a week is a good thing, and upper body strength in old age is important, even just using resistance like a flex band. After 65, although I was strong and worked physical jobs all my life, my upper body strength quickly diminished where I could no longer push up the roof of our small popup camper.

Thanks for your input Mack, appreciated. Unless I happen to hear something on the radio, I don't really listen to podcasts at all.
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Hi, I bolded the parts I especially relate to.

1) I've also cut back on supplements, but my doctor wants me to take magnesium and folate, so I've kept those in my regimen.

3) Many of my friends and most relatives have passed on, and I live in a small community, so I don't have the social contacts I used to, but I average eating out once a week on Sundays with several other people. I would miss that if I stopped.

4) I walk a mile a day and do certain stand-in-place exercises. If I get careless and don't do that, it's not long before I notice negative changes.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Hi, I bolded the parts I especially relate to.

1) I've also cut back on supplements, but my doctor wants me to take magnesium and folate, so I've kept those in my regimen.

3) Many of my friends and most relatives have passed on, and I live in a small community, so I don't have the social contacts I used to, but I average eating out once a week on Sundays with several other people. I would miss that if I stopped.

4) I walk a mile a day and do certain stand-in-place exercises. If I get careless and don't do that, it's not long before I notice negative changes.
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I think magnesium is important, I use the citrate powder most days. I think there's folate in my multi. I always took my dog out for a walk around an hour per day, around a mile. Since I got the high energy Smooth Fox Terrier, I've been doing two walks with him, just to burn up some of his energy.

I was never that social, except for with my husband. Now that I can no longer drive due to vision issues, I find myself talking almost daily to numerous neighbors who like to pet my dog and have some small talk. So for me, that's a good thing, lol. Every grey cloud has a silver lining. :)

Thanks for sharing some of your routine.
 
Dr. Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research.

Was good to hear numbers of factors I've thought helped reduce aging are now being shown to actually do so. Interviewer asked an excellent list of questions.

I plan to contact Dr. Topol, although I don't fit the minimal age or health criteria of his research study but rather will help complement his knowledge since I match much of his advice. Of note, I did have cardiovascular issues from damage at age 21 that over decades has been somewhat reversed. Commenting on some of his specific inputs:

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Those like this person that have gotten the Shingles vaccine, studies have shown have a 20>25% reduction in likelihood of developing dementia.

Over my adult lifetime have eaten little red meat except for a 5 year period when I worked for a company with many on campus lunch cafeterias. And during that time developed finger arthritis that stopped getting worse as soon as I left that employment. Otherwise I also eat less fish/bird meat and as he recommends, the vegetable oriented Mediterranean Diet.

Said up to 4 cups of coffee per day has been shown to be more healthy. (I'm no coffee.)

He did not recommend any specific supplements as vitamins. I've never regularly taken vitamins.

I have had caloric restrictions during earlier adult decades due to a medical issue that later became a habit of only eating one or two meals per day, usually not breakfast. Also my portion sizes tend to be significantly smaller.

He especially emphasized cardiovascular exercise and balance training. He was surprised about resistance training and upper body strength training. Although I've never been a member of a gym nor weight trained, I have wilderness backpacked a few times each summer for decades typically carrying 40% to 50% of my body weight that has made my upper body torso especially strong. Average backpackers only carry about 25%, so what I've done is brutal. Have also winter snow skied, rambled over awkward terrain as a landscape photographer, and freestyle danced, all my adult life.

"Weekend warrior" style of physical activity is being shown to indeed be effective that counters the former narrative of exercise more frequently during a week. This person has been a WW most of my adult life. The only time I try to exercise most week days is when I have a backpacking trip starting in a couple weeks.

Emphasized the benefits of circadian rhythm regularity for activity and eating.
 
Yay! I'm among the wellderly. I take a couple of supplements but only because my doc told me to. I'd always believed they merely go in one end and out the other, which used to be true back when most of us ate balanced meals. I rarely do anymore so when she recommended the supplements, I was on board.
 
I dont take supplements unless there is a proven medical need - eg low Vitamin D or iron levels on blood tests.

some things are in our control - eg weight, exercise, smoking, eating well, keeping socially and mentally active

We can give ourselves the best chance with those - but genetics is beyond our control and sometimes our best efforts are in vain.
 
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