A Doctor’s Guide to a Healthy and Happy lifestyle, a holistic approach that says the process to start planning your life does not begin when you have reached old age; start as early as you can, at least say, when you are 40 plus. So, enjoy the read, and live on happily till you cross 100!
Ageing is a gradual deterioration of biological and physiological integrity and stability, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death. It is not defined as a disease, but I believed it maybe one, as how we decide to live our lives, is what matters.
Age can be chronological or your life span based on when you were born, with age related biological or health span, referred to by your epigenetics i.e. YOUR GENE LOADS THE GUN, BUT EPIGENETICS PULLS THE TRIGGER.
So, without your knowing, your epigenetics is a sort of a member, already being written by your epigenetics V12 life style, environment, nutrition, mental attitudes, which creates the epigenome, which is a narrative written by your personal experiences, which are inherited and in a modifiable risk, a prediction, a tendency, but not a death sentence, depending on how much your epigenome is triggered.
Washington University of Medicine still maintains that the elderly brain is more practical then commonly believed – as the coordination and interaction of the left and right hemispheres becomes more harmonious and hence expands our creative possibilities. Some don’t know or realize this can happen and I have found many older personalities who have started their creative activities now.
Non withstanding the older brain is not that fast, but gains in flexibility, so likely to make right decisions and exposed to less negative emotions – and this occurs around the age to 70, when it works at full force, but within limits.
Due to this, due to intellectual abilities, they can post 70 years, use both hemispheres at the same time. This happens by the brain choosing the path which consumes the last energy and eliminates the unnecessary ones. Comparable to younger people, who got confused while making the same tests as compared to the 60-70 plus people.
Honor our ancestral past (as the genetic code has not changed for 100 plus years)
So, if we super impose our body clock on it, we can understand this better. We must exploit the body’s inherent capacity to regenerate, taking into account our inner/outer environment, our mental attitudes and conditions echoing our ancestral past, only then we will be in tune with our ancestral past.
That way we can “Reverse” ageing and bank on our body clock, the circadian, rhythm, which means that every mechanism, every cell and microbes, have a peak performance time and a peak resting time, will disrupt the body clock, so can make one age quicker with clockwork precision.
Life & health span are not independent variables
They are tightly intervened, so when we improve our cardiorespiratory fitness, we can also improve our cognition and emotional health. Our tactics drive to improved health, and life span follows – Tactics mean exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, drugs and supplements used judiciously for maximum benefit, otherwise why should we want to live longer if we are unhappy and suffering.
Hence, we must analyse the hallmarks of ageing, So we can get an insight into what’s happening inside our bodies, so when we can apply that knowledge to make educated decision about our heath and future intervention & therapeutic studies.
What should be our healthy body
- A coherent brain
- Exceptional Memory Processing
- Optimal Immune System
- Strong muscles and steady bones
- A well-defined organ system.
The main driver of ageing is inflammation
Inflammation is the common thread between ageing and all health problems, one link which binds all these atrocities and every health issue has a background of inflammation. We are familiar with inflammation; a sore throat, an allergic reaction with hives, an infected cut which is swollen, red hot and tender; but the inflammation that drives ageing, along with DM, CAD, AI, ND diseases, cancer etc, is a hidden smouldering fire, invisible to start with, created by our immune system, to anything in our environment, nutrition, lifestyle & our mental attitudes.
So, when inflammation goes out of control or doesn’t go away even after the problem is solved or an invader conquered, the body activates a response mistakenly, and continues to become chronic, the immune system gets unnaturally oversensitive and releases cytokines, which are inflammatory molecules, & finally our biological house burns down.
Inflammation
Initially will present as any of the following: Chronic headache, Joint pains, Anxiety, Bloating, Migraines, Palpitations, Itching, Headache, Rashes, Inability to lose weight, Irritable bowel, Runny or Stuffy nose, Reduced sense of smell, Brain fog.
So, one treats the presenting symptoms, without looking at the cause.
What are the main drivers for ageing – inflammation
- Dietary sugars, refined flours & carbs, transfats
- Refined liquid oils, margarine, shortening
- Overdose of omega 6 foods, artificial sweeteners
- Overdoing dairy – in any form
- Allergens, sensitivities, intolerance
- Chronic low grade hidden smouldering infections
- Gut microbiome imbalances
- Toxins & heavy metals
- Chronic stress
- Sedentary lifestyles
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Processed, packaged, pesticides, preservation and Transported foods
- Emf, tv, wifi, cell phones, computers, blue tooth, smart devices, 5g/4g, cell towers etc
- Lifestyle & nutrition
- Diet in a nutshell
- Rich in good fats, moderate in proteins, low in net carbs
- No packaged, processed & transported foods
- Multicolored veggies, fibre, veggies
- Reduced meats, more with fish & chicken
- Fermented foods, nut & seeds
- Less or no dairy
- Controlled low fructose fruits
- No gluten, and delectinised beans & legumes
- Inflammatory foods & attitudes dietary sugars, refined carbs & flour, transfat margarine, shortenings, omega foods & liquid oils, food allergies, sensitivities, intolerances gut microbiome issues, low grade infections, toxins/ heavy metals, chronic stress, sedentary life-style, nutritional deficiency packaged, processed, pesticide, preserved, plastic, transported foods, emf, tv, wifi, cell phones, blue tooth, smart devices, computers, 5g/3g, cell towers.
The blue zones
A few places in the world, with different cultures, religion and nutritional preferences, where most of the people live upto and beyond 100 years, mostly healthy, more women. Called the OKINAWA Principle, it appeared to have been genetically determined, but that was not so, as it was seen in other places with the same life style :- IKARIA in Greece, OGLIASTRA in Sardinia, LOMALINDA in California, NICOYA in Costa Rica.
So, what did they do
Woke up with a deep sense of purpose with enjoyment and reason for living – IKIGAI, a sense of purpose, motivated and resilient, and which challenges you to strive to master, and it’s your choice and not thrust on you; involves your full commitment.
MOAI – means a group of lifelong friendship, a support system group providing social, financial, health and spiritual benefits; with mentoring and generativity being an essential component. Walked often, did manual work, no dependency, self-service.
Some important points to remember.
So, the work and then retire protocol does not work, as those who live the longest happily, are those who have not left their work; seeking happiness puts unnecessary pressure and can be harmful to mental health; instead of looking to the future, live in the present and invest less in the idea of wisdom and more in creativity. So, without any rigidity, keep doing all the tenets discussed in a cyclical manner, so our metabolism adapts to all the vagaries of life.
So, what’s the secret, for living till 100 or more? There is no secret, no magic pill or elixir – make gradual subtle changes in your daily life, that gives your body & mind, the best chance to age well – There may not be one secret to living till 100 years, but there are small incremental changes you can make throughout life which will impact your long-term health?
Living to 100 is to celebrate, so start to looking forwards to it
Genetic make-up accounts for 20-30% of longevity, so we still have 70-80% of lifestyle choices, so rejoice with this information.
Secrets of longevity does not involve any quick fixes to your health, small changes, consistent healthy practices over the years help you live longer.
Remember there are no major pills or vitamins, apart from some necessary supplements, which one may need.
Healthy practices over the course of years will help you to live longer.
Eat a healthy diet: No Processed – mostly veggies, watch your weight – Okinawa Hara Hachi by 80 % Full – Eat slow with purpose. No indulging.
Exercise regularly: Aerobic walking, stationary biking, swimming, hiking, dancing, – it’s not just for physical exercise, but it also impacts on cognition and brain health and one doesn’t need to hit the neighbourhood gym or train for a marathon. Will also help one to maintain a healthy weight and heart, while managing stress. Clearly it will have an outsized impact on cognitive mind function and wellbeing. Remember that part of living to 100, is to break some sweat at least initial, consider a simple aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes, a great place to start for at least 5 days a week.
Manage stress: Keeping calm under difficult circumstances is a life lengthening lesson. Stressing over how to live longer can create havoc to your mind and cause irritability.
Of course, some stress is unavoidable & can be even beneficial as a part of Life, but overdoing can take its toll. So, meditation, Yoga, Breathing Exercises, Book reading and casual walking, All can be incorporated in your everyday life; but make that time to be a soothing activity.
Keep your mind active: Wrinkles are not necessarily signs of aging – it often looks nice to have a weather-beaten look; seems good to your old girl friends and buddies. They may be even envious of you, remember John Wayne. Mental & Cognitive decline is gradually inevitable, but if you watch your symptoms, it will slow its process down and lots of which can be fun too. Memory loss can be improved by doing a host of mental exercises, like crosswords, puzzles, watching a game, connect with buddies over the phone with simulating conversations, Sudoku, Wardle, connections – all to keep your brain busy and active.
Don’t smoke: If you smoke, stop it as you are reading this, sooner than later, but best to stop suddenly. What happens is that you start borrowing cigarettes and/or hiding it from family/friends; better to suffer a withdrawal than continuing smoking. Believe me stopping smoking is like over drinking.
As the withdrawal of smoking is psychological and never drawn to persons or friends who still smoke, so as you think deeply about it, you will realize how quickly you feel better. Not only does smoking cause heart and lung disease but also accelerates downwards cognition including a sagging skin.
Quitting before the age of 40 may help living as long as one never smoked and even quitting say by the age of 60, still reduces your chances of dying prematurely by at least two thirds.
Plus, you maybe polluting your bones with dangerous smoke as it is that one is suffering from pollution and risk of cancers, making your spouses and children to quit as well, from this “EVIL” habit – also avoid, at least initially to not visit friends & family who are chain smoking.
Sleep: To live beyond 100, your body needs plenty of rest to maintain and repair itself like food, rest for elders is essential for giving energy that your body needs. Sleeping less than 6 hours can lead to numerous health hazards including high BP, Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cancer & Obesity. So, 7-8 hours of sleep is a must. Most elders get into the habit of early waking and late sleeping, due to watching their old movies, plays or other political issues on tv. It is not bad either as it forms a good part of early sleeping happily; but watch out for overdoing this.
Further tips for a good night rest
Start with adding healthy sleep habits throughout the day, to relax and unwind. You toss & turn, flipping once or more times, in the hope of finding that sweet spot to help you to drift to sleep, but despite your efforts, nothing seems to work – so over time several nights later or with a chronic health issue, can worsen your wellbeing. So, make some easy but necessary changes throughout the day and even just before bedtime, to help sleep to turn into regular occurrence and break the pattern.
TV, seeing movies is a great time with spouses and kids (if interested) to feel happy ( make sure you don’t see horror movies and movies with violence or even soft porn) to slowly lull one to fall into a neat comfortable slumber. Make sure that the temperature of the room is a bit cooler, as a colder room is conducive to sleep.
Think “CAVE LIKE” when slowing the temperature and light in your room.
Try to block light sources from outside (Blackout curtains work great)
Keep time for something like monotonous noise machines, a droning fan or an app play as a background noise or calming music to help you tune out of the world for a better happy sleep. And remember a hot bath and a colder room. The hot bath expels the heat, cools the inner body for sleep, so “Chill Out” as studies suggest a temperature of lower degrees of Celsius is ideal for sleep. Find the best type of pillows, something one has to decide what works better, as some may cause some neck or shoulder problems, including the beddings as well, not too hard or too soft.
Keep a “Grounding Mat” under your sheet which mimics barefoot grounding on wet muddy grass, which draws one down to “as if there is a gravity pull to ‘Sink Down’ to sleep”.
Avoid caffeine late in the day: Remember that coffee isn’t the only source of caffeine – a piece of chocolate or over the counter medications can derail your plans to be caffeine free. Early morning coffee can be nutrition, wakes you up to face the day (Green Tea, Black Tea, Herbal teas etc. an also do this job) and remember teas also have caffeine. Also note that the half-life of caffeine is 10 hours, so coffee taken in the afternoon still hangs around till mid night, definitely disturbing sleep, without your knowledge. Please make sure one has a great coffee maker, with coffee not later than noon, to get a good night sleep.
Skip the night cap: Having a drink before bed to relax usually does more harm than good. After your body metabolizes alcohol as you sleep, a rebound alertness often happens – effects your second half of sleep, when you get the most restorative REM (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep). So, try trading your night cap for a warm cup of herbal tea or decaf coffee.
Remember our sleep has about 7-9 packets of sleep patterns: starting with the initial sleep, which leads to light sleep (Short Period), further to deep sleep (for rest, rejuvenation and repair) to REM Sleep (when you dream and as mentioned the most restorative aspect of your sleep. This pattern, with the exception of the initial and light sleep continues through the night, ending more often with REM sleep, when one is woken up after a nice or a horrible dream, but wanes off immediately and one never remembers what happened – this is good sleep, regardless of whatever anyone thinks.
So, work out this pattern over time, so this makes sure a perfect sleep pattern for times to come. This is very crucial for your elders as younger people often rough ride over these sleep patterns.
Keep your bed sacred: After all the TV movies or snacking in bed during the day, the only thing one can bring to the bed, if it helps you to wind down, in a printed book (not exciting or a-not-put downable book) or a routine magazine.
Keep the dogs & cats out: Some love to cuddle with fluffy or tommy or whatever cute names they have, may sound nice or comfy, but pets in bed can and will disrupt sleep. They may wake you up (as their sleep patterns are not like yours), will wake you up for food or attention and as dog lovers one is obliged to oblige. Keeping them out in their own space is good training, they will be happier when you wake rested and ready for playtime or a nice walk or run.
Be consistent: Consistency is the key for bedtime routine, sleep and wake at the same time as much as you can – If you lose track of time keep a reminder or an alarm to start the winding down routine. Washing your face, brushing your teeth helps the body to get ready to sleep or wake up at the right time. Wake up at the same time, even if it is tempting to sleep at weekends, if you are not “Old Enough” to not do this. So, waking at the same time gets you used to a familiar pattern.
Nap if you must: If you must nap, which is good at times for sure, delay your bedtime by a small equivalent of time. Do this instead of trying to compensate for a bad night’s sleep – that is don’t sleep later than normal or go to bed early the next night. Also do not spend too much excessive time in bed if you are awake – don’t keep hanging around in bed or scroll on your phone or turning and shifting TV news – Your body is trying to tell you that it’s time to get up and start the day, however good or bad it is.
How to deal with your older / married children: This is a relatively ticklish matter, make sure you back up with loving care, what they want as a career.
- Supplement / give a decent amount of money for their work, don’t interfere but lovingly give your hard earned “gyan” to them, to help them make better decisions. Definitely treat their spouses as one of your own children, an important must, hence to maintain perfect loving and caring harmony.
- Do not over impose your mind on them; remember you are old and may not be conversant with the plans and needs of the family.
- Grandchildren are the little flowers of life, ensure that you will do that best for them.
- Make sure that they respect and enjoy the company of near and dear relatives/friends.
- Treat the children’s friends with kid gloves and do not impose your thoughts on them.
- Definitely keep a corpus of money for the rest of your life – do not let the kids, “Walk Over You” in situation of homes and career, so you are not left in the lurch; If they want to live separately, please do not push them by saying who will look after us.
- Trust me, the quicker and better you handle this with “kid gloves” you will receive huge care from the children for the rest of your life.
- Do not ever say “I know better, my hair has not gone grey for no reason”
Friends – old/new, school/college/friends: They will be the best time of your later life. These friends are “it’s no hold bars” forever!
- Make efforts to find them, talk to them often, create meetings, call them over for meals, create situations where you can meet most of them together, visit your old colleges, remember and meet teachers (if alive), introduce your friends to your children, and bask in the glory of never-ending friendship.
- Make sure you are ready to help a friend in need of any sort. Do not be hesitant to talk & meet friends who you haven’t met for a while.
Entertainment: Do not miss seeing movies, preferably in a theatre than always at home, as it becomes an outing of sorts as well, visit malls, which have long walking areas, so one can even consider doing collectively some exercise and beat the heat or cold or rain, and compensate for not being able to.
- Do some necessary and not so necessary buying, just for fun, do not say I don’t need any more.
- Travel within the limits of what is possible is a “BIG MUST.”
- Try to go to places which are easily accessible, bask in the glory of the sun in the cooler places and mildly cold ones.
- Do this with family or with a bunch of friends, go to the beaches by just walking with only “Feet Deep”, make sandcastles in the sand with grandchildren, compensate for lack of children with the little ones, and a good time to teach them things happily.
- Money – please make sure you have to have a happy old life, by keeping a reasonable amount of money in the bank, use it judiciously, make some investments (very carefully ) by hiring a professional, but preferably a colleague or friends of children who can guide you and keep a steady flow of money.
Sex: Please do something, which may not be your preferred way of sex; some form of intimacy and closeness, eating together, comforting and caressing etc.
- Do not foul up on this, there is no shame in this; take some advice or share thoughts about sex with friends, doctors or colleagues.
Last & the least: Visit a doctor twice a year with a check list of vital inflammation include ECG.
- Maybe a CT Angiogram, typical parameters to be checked.
- Also do not hesitate to see doctors – find someone who can do home visits.
And the very last
Please take my suggestion will and make sure you do all or at least most of the methods to live till 100 ++. My colleagues and I, all of us in this profession, can always be there for your well-being. Do not be shy of admitting your minutest needs.
Living condition: A rural life style may help you to live longer compared to urban settings, which was shown to significantly enhance health & longevity.
So larger green spaces, tree canopies and public parks with entertainment, boosts life expectancy and postpones epigenetic ageing.
Here people who lead and feel a more philanthropy way of life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Alok Chopra holds an MBBS and MD (medical) degree from Maulana Azad Medical College, an MRCP from the Royal College of Physicians, London. He has been Founder-Director and Consultant Cardiologist at Delhi’s prestigious Aashlok Hospital since 1985. Dr Chopra’s medical practice has always involved a focus on the psychological and metaphysical aspects of a patient’s life along with the physical and biological aspects of treatment. He is currently focused on cardio-metabolic disease reversal, longevity and holistic living.
