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How Long Will I live?
By Dr. Hemant Paudel
June 1, 2009
After the middle age, our skin starts to wrinkle, our hair becomes thinner and grayer, and our energy metabolism decreases.
Our body increasingly accumulates fat and our muscle mass decreases. A not so attractive body replaces our once youthful look.
Aging takes makes us weak, and vulnerable to various age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, brain
disorders and arthritis. What is aging? Why do we age? Can we slow aging?
Several genes have been discovered that control our aging. Manipulating these genes has changed life span between 50 to 100% in laboratory animals. It is thought that we are genetically programmed to age. No matter what we do, we will progressively become older and our bodies will display aging characteristics. Scientists have put our life span up to 120 years. But we know not everyone lives for 120 years. In fact very few will reach to that age. What makes some individuals live longer than others? What can we do to live longer? Our 120 years life expectancy is influenced by at least two factors: our family background and our lifestyle. Diabetes, arthritis, some type of cancers, and heart disease run in the family and an individual with a family history of any of these diseases will be more susceptible to that disease. Healthy lifestyle on the other hand, can slow the aging process. We cannot change our family history, but we can adopt a healthier lifestyle. Geriatricians have suggested the following guidelines for healthy aging:
Eat less: The only intervention ever shown to extend maximum lifespan reliably – at least in laboratory animals – is calorie restriction. Animals that are limited in food intake to one-third the amount of calories than normal increase their life expectancy by more than 40%. Animals on calorie restriction not only live longer, they look and act younger. So eat low calorie, healthy food.
Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables: Our body constantly burns oxygen to generate energy for our day to day needs. Oxygen burning also produces harmful molecules called free radicals, which damage our cells and accelerate aging. While enzymes convert free radicals to nontoxic compounds, our food also contains compounds called "antioxidants". Antioxidants neutralize the toxic nature of free radical. Fruits such as mangoes, cherries, kiwi fruits, oranges, raisins and red grapes are high in antioxidants. Vegetables like broccoli, corn, egg plant, onions, spinach and pumpkins, to mention few, are high in antioxidants. As we become older, our enzymes become slower and a diet rich in antioxidants is very important to compensate for this decline. So, include lots of fruits and vegetables in your menu.
Be optimistic: Optimistic people decrease their risk of early death by 50 percent compared with their pessimistic counterparts.
Learn to relax: Try a relaxation technique such as yoga or meditation, both of which are proven to help alleviate stress. Relaxation reduces blood pressure and helps reduce stress-related conditions such as depression.
Worship: Going to church or temple increases life expectancy. It's particularly good at helping stress and emotional problems, and seems to protect against diseases such as heart, respiratory or digestive problems
Watch your weight: Obesity contributes to a slew of medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and various cancers. Maintain your weight within the recommended range.
Don’t smoke: The earlier you give up the better. The damage caused by smoking is cumulative. The longer you smoke, the greater the risks are of developing a smoking-related disease, such as lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Some 120,000 deaths each year are attributable to smoking.
Exercise regularly: Individuals who exercise regularly are 40% less likely to develop coronary heart disease than those who don't. People in the lower 20% of fitness are three times more likely to die prematurely than the fittest group.
Laugh: 100 to 200 laughs are equivalent to ten minutes of jogging or rowing. Research also shows that it lowers levels of stress hormones, and heightens the activity of the body's natural defensive killer cells and antibodies.
Drink in moderation: Alcoholic beverages are high in calories. Heavy drinking impairs judgment and causes weight gain. If you drink, do so in moderation.
See your doctor regularly and follow his or her advice.
(Dr. Paudel is an associate Professor at the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University and Project Director at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, SMBD Jewish General Hospital. He resides in Montreal Canada and participates actively in Community Activities through Association of Nepalese in Quebec.)