02 Feb Secrets to Longevity & the Start of 2022

I will start by wishing everyone a “Happy New Year”. Ok, I am outside of January and I am just in time for Chinese New Year …. and it is 2-2-22!

January just flew by for me. I spent my month catching up and contemplating what I would like my 2022 and beyond to look like.

A good friend sent a link to a Ted Talk by Dan Buettner  about how to live to be 100+. I started to wonder, do I want to live to 100? Is it “sustainable” to live to 100… or beyond?

Just before the December holidays two close family friends had their parents pass away rather suddenly. In the moment it is quite a shock and quite emotional. Thinking about it a little after the fact I began to think that perhaps this is the best option for us all. To leave this earth when we are still mobile and healthy. With our children fully grown and with children of their own. I am fortunate to live in a place, and have financial stability to even contemplate this. Many people in the world do not have this luxury.

“I started to wonder, do I want to live to 100?”

 

Some of the key elements those that live to be 100+ in Buettner’s research were that they were in good shape and seemingly in good mental and social health. I say social health here as one of the elements was having regular contact with groups of people that they have known for years, people they could trust and confide in. These people were an integral part of their extended family and community, being called upon for their innate wisdom. They were not being condemned or left behind for not knowing how to use a cell phone! I wonder if the technology and digital sprint will end our ability to live to 100 happily?

The towns where people lived longer were places where people have “physical movement” built into their daily routine. Waling to the local shops daily or walking to meet friends is part of daily life. These people were not running marathons or pushing themselves to extremes, rather they integrated those 10,000 daily steps without effort.

They also ate smaller portions and consumed freshly made healthy food. Good support for the growing trend out only eat over the course of 8 hours per day, or to fast, twice weekly by limiting calorie intake to around 800 calories.

Most of these people also did some form of regular meditation, prayer or form of slow meditative movements that kept them flexible, functionally strong and in harmony; body, mind and spirit.

“It’s worth looking at what behaviours you might like to alter”

 

Thus the contemplation of what to put on this year’s vision board began. It’s worth taking some time at the beginning of the year or perhaps when your birthday comes around, to assess what habits or aspects of the way you move, eat, socialize, meditate and spend your free time would you like to enhance or discard?

I am suggesting to take a step back, thinking perhaps a little more long term. What do you the end of your life to look like? What steps do you want to, or can take, today to positively impact what the end of your life could be like? And where do you want to put the emphasis on your personal wellbeing now to give you the best opportunities when you reach your golden years? 

And is living to 100 something you would want to do? Or do you prefer to live life without thinking about it too much? Taking it as it comes and accepting what comes? 

Enjoy the contemplation and perhaps the lively conversations with friends.

Balance on my Friends …