India Post News Service
LOS ANGELES: My aunt, Beulah Souri who is 96, and lives in Seattle has the sharpest of minds, high intelligence, reads the newspaper, watches TV, sings for half an hour every day, and was cooking a pilaf when I called her this morning.
The number of people living beyond 100 is growing rapidly. In Japan, a Japanese woman gave birth at age 60 and a 71 year old man climbed Mt Everest. Surprised? Longevity depends on genes, but also on lifestyles and today, more and more people are bypassing serious illness and leading productive lives in their nineties.
According to the New England Centenarian Study report, 40,000 Americans are 100 years old and eighty five percent of them are women. The study also found that a few of them were overweight, most did not smoke and they were quite healthy.
An interesting fact. Women who gave birth in their forties were likely to live longer than women who gave birth earlier. The study found that people on the East Coast were centenarians, and those who did not smoke, drink or eat meat were the ones topping the 100 age level.
On the West Coast, Loma Linda was the place for centenarians, with the community of Seventh Day Adventists having a high concentration of people living beyond 100. This group did not smoke, drink and were vegetarians.
Dr Robert Butler in his book "Why Survive: Being Old in America" tells us, "You do not want to spend your life morbidly thinking about your old age and death. But you want some sort of balance between that and blind faith." And again, "modify your diet.
Take the stairs." So it is not merely genes, but attitude, diet, exercise routines, which may make the shell look old but inside mind and spirit are young. Studies, the world over indicate that a positive life style results in a healthy longer life.
If you find yourself, reacting a tad slowly, forgetting a phone number, a face, a name mental fitness programs are just for you. Playing video games is becoming popular with the senior age group. Programs vary and seniors use special touch screens which are designed for attention deficit problems.
Software programs are being sold to the elderly, and retirement communities are signing up for brain gyms, to sharpen their mental skills. At UCLA, University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, a Memory Boot camp is conducted for five weeks. Members are taught strategies for short term and long term memory and to keep the mind alert. Cognitive fitness is the key word here.
No longer do you have to accuse aging, and wear and tear of the brain cells for your slow response and forgetfulness. A new revolutionary kind of thinking is in vogue.
At any age you can stimulate the brain and develop new connections between diverse regions of the brain appears to be the message. Modern diets of processed foods and TV dinners have been linked to a worrying rise in the number of mental health cases.
Over the past 50 years the average diet has changed dramatically and so has the way in which food is grown and produced. Diet has a lasting effect as it is directly correlated to mood, behavior and intelligence. Experts believe that dietary changes may solve the problem of depression, Alzheimer's disease.
The latest Harvard study finds five to six servings of vegetable reduces your risk of stroke by more than 30 percent. Cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, sprouts collards, cauliflower and green leafy veggies, citrus fruits are the key to good health.
In another study, neuron scientist Michael Kilsey found that older people recover from negativity more quickly than younger people. Older people are more emotionally healthy than younger people who are inundated with stress and are prone to intense emotion.
Older people can control their emotions better and are less likely to be stressed out if their car breaks down or the plumbing falls apart.
The happiest people in the advancing years are those who keep busy and have a sense of purpose and make life meaningful every day. They see life as a gift and tend to be grateful each day for it. Of course, the elderly worry about getting sick and dying but they tend to focus on something positive and appreciate a sunny day, their family, friends, and a summer day and count their blessings.
Aging well is tricky but it helps if you do not trivialize things, and if one is able, the best way to stay happy is to be of service to others. Volunteer work and service to others will make them feel useful and everyday becomes a new experience.
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