Many of us will now live to be 100 years old. But what will that look like?
Will we be in a wheel chair with our head bobbed backward. Babbling?
Or will we be vital? Still making new memories while remembering older ones?
What keeps us on the best trajectory?
Part of it may be how I move through airport terminals… read on…
Researchers analyzed data from 195 participants in the ilSIRENTE study, a prospective cohort study in L'Aquila, Italy, that included men and women born before 1924.
The analysis focused on participants aged < 85 years at the time of enrollment (mean age, 82 years).
Physical performance was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), which tests balance, gait speed, and leg strength based on the ability to stand from a seated position in a chair.
Based on SPPB scores, participants were classified as having severe, moderate, mild, or no functional impairment.
Results:
About 21% of the participants lived to 95 years of age.
Higher scores on the SPPB and faster gait speed were linked to a lower risk for mortality before that age.
The average gait speed was 0.88 m/s among participants who lived to 95 years of age and 0.78 m/s for those who died at younger ages.
How to stay longer, stronger.
Speed of walking: How fast we walk makes a huge difference.
There are many papers written on this and now this prospective study puts more fuel on this fast walking fire.
When I land in an airport, I walk as fast as I can. Up and down the terminals. Weaving in and out of the others, walking less rapidly.
Leg walking translates into brain stimulation.
Push your legs. You push your brain.
In an extraordinary way.
Leg strength:
We learned recently that in the Blue Zones, the areas with the most healthy centenarians, had the steepest hills. Leading to the strongest legs. Leg strength is longevity protective. Keep up exercise, walking stairs, lower toilet seats, and vitamin D levels, which promote stronger lower limbs.
Balance:
Better balance leads to better brain and body longevity. Move. Don’t act older. Push it a bit. Get yourself going up and down stairs as fast as you can without being dangerous. Do balance exercises at a gym. Dance.
How you move through your world inside your very own body-suit, holds many tools to keep you stronger, longer. Making your older age still productive and enjoyable. Rather than tortuous. To be endured.
"Physical performance is…a reliable metric for assessing mortality risk in octogenarians," the authors of the study wrote.
"Our findings, together with available evidence, support the view that physical performance is a primary target for interventions to enhance longevity and extend health span."
Knowledge is power.
Movement is king.
Push yourself in a sane but consistent way.
You are not a China cup. Unless you start to act like one.
Don’t let one injury get you down. Get it in your rear view mirror however rapidly you can.
When I get a joint injury, I see the local wizard physiatrist. I go back to the gym and stretch. Work other areas so one injury doesn’t get the rest of me “down”.
Have strategies.
Don’t let injuries pile up, which gets you down.
Move forward knowing that you are your best coach, egging yourself onward to move a tad faster, take more stairs, park your car further away from where you are going.
How you choose to take that step, makes a difference for all your later steps.
When I walk through the corridors of hotels, I move as fast as I can. Realizing I am cementing in more youth than aging.
We have more power over our aging than we realize.
When you get up from chairs, try not holding on. Get those thighs recruiting.
Use what you got.
Strengthen what you got.
Remind your muscles you are still kicking.
You have to have successful habits.
Then live them.
Dr. B.
Reference:
Physical performance is associated with long-term survival in adults 80 years and older: Results from the ilSIRENTE study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 May 2
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