Longevity

[newguy]

I have had benefit of knowing (of) several long aged folk (100+) as well as the hurt of knowing several folk who deteriorated before should (70- ). This plus working with old peeps who have aged well and young peeps who have fallen apart. Many years of thought on this have led me to a few non-scientific ideas on aging and my own path for a long, active, life:
1. Have purpose - you need a reason to wake up. Social work. Charity. purpose. Whatever. Work the farm. Feed the poor. Take care of pets. Whatever. You need a reason beyond yourself to keep getting up and doing your business. A group of women I know (all 90+) live to clean the altar linens of the church. It doesn't matter. You need to believe there is a reason to wake up and work.
2. Stay present - don't fall behind. Don't fall into the trap of the past. This is how you get old. Focus on what going on now. Read now. Watch now. Listen to now. Talk now. Being old is losing touch with what is happening now.
3. Active mind - always have something new to learn. (Think #1). New language. New poet. New skill.
4. Active social life - be engaged with people. Classes, groups, lunches, dinners, book clubs.
5. Active body - use it or lose it. Train! Focus on moving well, being strong, having endurance. Balance and skipping. Dance. Fight. Run. Those altar linen ladies are going to degrade and die because they are not training.
6. Be wild - you are going to die. That will not change. Surf. Fight. Hike. Speak. Climb. Crawl. Nothing will change dying. If you are going to die, at least live fully first.
7. Resist - this is the hardest I think. The longer you live.....spouses die. Friends die. Children die. In the end, you want to die. Unless you fight it.

[Mickey O'neil]

Yes, it certainly helps!

I usually have a bounce or lightness in my step

I usually have a bounce or lightness in my step, whenever I see that pic in your sig. Good gawd.

[Shafpocalypse Now]

Solid bits newguy

[dead man walking]

I have had benefit of knowing (of) several long aged folk (100+) as well as the hurt of knowing several folk who deteriorated before should (70- ). This plus working with old peeps who have aged well and young peeps who have fallen apart. Many years of thought on this have led me to a few non-scientific ideas on aging and my own path for a long, active, life:
1. Have purpose - you need a reason to wake up. Social work. Charity. purpose. Whatever. Work the farm. Feed the poor. Take care of pets. Whatever. You need a reason beyond yourself to keep getting up and doing your business. A group of women I know (all 90+) live to clean the altar linens of the church. It doesn't matter. You need to believe there is a reason to wake up and work.
2. Stay present - don't fall behind. Don't fall into the trap of the past. This is how you get old. Focus on what going on now. Read now. Watch now. Listen to now. Talk now. Being old is losing touch with what is happening now.
3. Active mind - always have something new to learn. (Think #1). New language. New poet. New skill.
4. Active social life - be engaged with people. Classes, groups, lunches, dinners, book clubs.
5. Active body - use it or lose it. Train! Focus on moving well, being strong, having endurance. Balance and skipping. Dance. Fight. Run. Those altar linen ladies are going to degrade and die because they are not training.
6. Be wild - you are going to die. That will not change. Surf. Fight. Hike. Speak. Climb. Crawl. Nothing will change dying. If you are going to die, at least live fully first.
7. Resist - this is the hardest I think. The longer you live.....spouses die. Friends die. Children die. In the end, you want to die. Unless you fight it.

this is good, despite its failure to mention sex

[Sangoma]

Not being busy is one of the factors that I have seen to break a few people. Everybody heard stories about people who retire and they die within the next six months. Usually it's those who thrive on stress and chaos. This is where meditation comes in: you learn to just be there, without the need of having a goal.

Constant need of of entertainment is another topic that deserves a separate thread. I am at the airport waiting for my flight; guess how many people around are not playing with their phones (said the guy who is typing away on his laptop)? Long ago in South Africa I used to scorn at the sight of security guards just sitting and doing nothing else - reading a book, listening to the radio etc. I thought, how dumb these guys are. Later I realised that not needing stimulation is a wisdom on its own.

[climber511]

I did a lot of reading/research when I was getting ready to retire. One statistic that seemed relevant was this - if you retire "from" your job (just to get away from it) life expectancy was 2 years. If you retire "to" something (golf - fishing - lifting etc) life expectancy was 20 years! That's kind of a big deal to me - a factor of 10 times longer - this was based on an age 65 retirement. Seems like what everyone has been saying just in different words. Find something you enjoy doing in retirement - keep busy doing it - and live longer. You'll probably enjoy those years a lot more as well.

[SubClaw]

I did a lot of reading/research when I was getting ready to retire. One statistic that seemed relevant was this - if you retire "from" your job (just to get away from it) life expectancy was 2 years. If you retire "to" something (golf - fishing - lifting etc) life expectancy was 20 years! That's kind of a big deal to me - a factor of 10 times longer - this was based on an age 65 retirement. Seems like what everyone has been saying just in different words. Find something you enjoy doing in retirement - keep busy doing it - and live longer. You'll probably enjoy those years a lot more as well.

Da fuq?

[Boris]

My grandmother is in her 90s. Tough old lady. Big family.

Wife's grandmother recently passed away. She was 105 years old. In her 60s she took up the tea ceremony and in her 80s she was qualified to teach it.

[JimZipCode]

In her 60s she took up the tea ceremony and in her 80s she was qualified to teach it.

That's fucking awesome.

[Sangoma]

More on longevity.

Research Confirms a Link between Intelligence and Life Expectancy

A more surprising discovery is that there is a strong link between mortality and IQ: higher intelligence means, on average, a longer life. This relationship has been extensively documented by Ian Deary and his colleagues at the University of Edinburgh using data from the Scottish Mental Surveys. In 1932, the Scottish government administered an IQ test to nearly all 11-year old children attending school on a single day. More than sixty years later, focusing on the city of Aberdeen, Deary and colleague Lawrence Whalley set out to identify who from the cohort was still alive, at age 76. The results were striking: a 15-point IQ advantage translated into a 21% greater chance of survival. For example, a person with an IQ of 115 was 21% more likely to be alive at age 76 than a person with an IQ of 100 (the average for the general population).

I am striving for the IQ above my BMI.

[bennyonesix]

Yeah but IQs over about 130 are in the aggregate dysgenic.

[Blaidd Drwg]

My grandmother is in her 90s. Tough old lady. Big family.

Wife's grandmother recently passed away. She was 105 years old. In her 60s she took up the tea ceremony and in her 80s she was qualified to teach it.

Much Respect.

[Sangoma]

My grandmother is in her 90s. Tough old lady. Big family.

Wife's grandmother recently passed away. She was 105 years old. In her 60s she took up the tea ceremony and in her 80s she was qualified to teach it.

That's cool. I have a lot respect for people in their advanced age who take up something new. From time to time there are stories of 60 year olds graduating from medical school. Some snigger at it, but I admire them.

[JimZipCode]

That's cool.

That Hunter S Thompson quote block in your sig, it reminds me of how Desmond Llewelyn died. Llewelyn was the actor who played Q in the older James Bond movies. At age 85, he smashed his Renault sports car, was airlifted to the hospital, and died from his injuries. Same year the last Bond movie with him in it came out.

[Boris]

My grandmother is in her 90s. Tough old lady. Big family.

Wife's grandmother recently passed away. She was 105 years old. In her 60s she took up the tea ceremony and in her 80s she was qualified to teach it.

That's cool. I have a lot respect for people in their advanced age who take up something new. From time to time there are stories of 60 year olds graduating from medical school. Some snigger at it, but I admire them.

Continued learning of new skills (and refinement of old skills) into old age is a HUGE boost to mental health and quality of life. Probably not just all from the learning itself, but the social interaction and sense of community you get from the process.

[Sangoma]

It's a bit the horse and the cart thing: are they sharp and lively because they learned a new skill - or do they learn new skill because of the thirst for doing things? Some folks lose interest in life at the age of twenty (some never have it). In any case, doing something new is always better than "safely arriving to the grave", as per HT.

Desmond Llewelyn's story is remarkable.