What ‘age club’ are you currently a member of? What club do you think you will be able to join in the future? Do you know anyone who has received a letter from Queen Elizabeth II for joining the 100+ Club?
Not enough of us give much thought to our future years or how long we will live but these clubs are looking for members and we had better start thinking about what we want to include on our membership applications.
This discussion of ‘age clubs’ leads us to the question – what is old age? At what age are we considered old? How do we define old age?
Old age and ‘older people’ have a number of definitions surrounding them. In general, they are chronological numbers we use to set policy and practice agendas. They determine eligibility for pensions at one end of the spectrum to determining entitlements such as voting at the other end. There are many reasons why age classifications need to be set in our societies.
But can we really give a number to determine when we become ‘old’?
It wasn’t so long ago that Britain had the 1875 Friendly Societies Act, that defined old age as “any age after 50”. That sounds horrifying to many of you I’m sure. Now days, most developed nations determine old age to be 60-65 for demographic purposes and social planning. Just recently, there have been changes to when we can access our pensions and other benefits to 67 years of age and further discussions are taking place about further extending the age we can access our entitlements out to 70.
One thing is certain - we can all agree – there is no chronological age where individuals become ‘old’. Some people look or feel ‘old’ while they are still relatively young while others are travelling, actively competing in sports and enjoying life well into their 90’s. Age is not a number but the way we feel.
The biggest shift we have seen over the past 100 years has been in ‘life expectancy’. Back in the 1920’s, when Princess Elizabeth was born, the life expectancy for a baby was 62 years for a girl and 58 years for a boy. That has been extended out to 83 and 79 years respectively thanks to improvements in sanitation and hygiene, lower infant mortality, improvement in food production and supply, and overall lift of living standards worldwide.
In fact, if we use a cohort-based estimate (which includes known or anticipated improvements in mortality rates) then the life expectancies for babies born in 2014 will actually be 92 and 90 years respectively – it’s therefore, not hard to see children being born now, living well over 100 years of age.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over the past two decades, the number of people aged 85 years and over increased by 117.1%. We now have more than half a million people aged 85+ with this number growing every decade. Maybe we need to be looking further ahead for membership into the 100+ Club – wouldn’t it be awesome to get a letter from the Queen (or King by that stage) for becoming a centenarian.
Here are some people you may know that are members of the 90+ Club –
- Queen Elizabeth II – born 1926 (RIP Queen Elizabeth - she made it to 96 and worked right up to 2 days before passing)
- Tony Bennett – born 1926
- Betty White – born 1922 (RIP Betty recently departed – made it to 99)
- Clint Eastwood – born 1930
- Angela Lansbury – born 1925
- Harry Belafonte – born 1927
- Dick Van Dyke – born 1925
- David Attenborough – born 1926
- Jimmy Carter – born 1924
What will it take for you to live long enough to join the 90+ Club? Are you going to just rely on good luck and crossed fingers? Scientists have discovered that it is a combination of good genes, environmental, and dietary factors that will get us membership into this club. Add to this, when we join, we want to be in good health. All three of these factors can be influenced and improved to help us live a long healthy life.
Below is a list of scientifically validated things we can do and change right now to assist us gain membership to the 90+ Club
Protect our genes and improve our epigenetics with targeted nutrients:
- Lengthen our telomeres with astragalus and ashwagandha
- Lower inflammation/activate Nrf2 with curcumin and green tea
- Stimulate our stem cells with marine phytoplankton and broccoli sprouts
- Activate our longevity genes with resveratrol and blue berries
- Strengthen our microbiome with prebiotics and super foods
Simple changes to your lifestyle and your environment:
- Get 10,000 steps a day – move more and sit less
- Practice meditation and relaxation daily - learn to let things go and be more optimistic
- Get 8+hours of good sleep a night
- Connect with family and friends more often and have a laugh with them
- Reduce chemical cleaning and personal care products in your home – buy natural
- Turn off technology after dinner – reduce your EMF and blue light exposure
Food improvements and dietary changes – we are what we eat:
- Eat less – skip a meal each day or fast for one day a week – calorie restriction works
- Eat 70% alkaline foods (plants) and 30% acid forming foods in every meal
- Try to have as many colours of the rainbow on your plate – most of the nutrition and antioxidants are contained in the coloured portion of our veges, salads and fruit
- Eat slowly – chew our food properly and give it time to digest
- Eat fresh – reduce the amount of food we consume that comes from tins/boxes/packets
- Drink 2 litres of filtered water and herbal teas daily
- Reduce your alcohol consumption – enjoy a few drinks a week and try to have 4 or 5 ‘dry days’
Let’s all make the changes required in our lives to join the 90+ Club. Why restrict ourselves to a life of frailty and disease when we can be proactive and drag ourselves kicking and screaming into our 90’s! Who knows - we might even live long enough to become a member of the 110+ Club and be a super centenarian – I know that’s my goal.