Q: Got any ideas on motivating my Dad to take better care of himself? He just turned seventy and keeps saying, “It’s all down hill from here.”
A: He’s right if he just camps out on the living room couch and does nothing to stay healthy. I’ll grant him that “aging isn’t for sissies” but he can control how fast he’ll go “down hill” and if he gets really serious -- he can remain on the hill for quite a long time.
The results of this brand new study might get him to abandon his, “I’m just along for the ride” view
of aging. According to a study of over 2,300 men, researchers reporting in the Archives of Internal Medicine (February 11, 2008) found that a healthy life style practiced during your early seventies meant you could achieve – and enjoy – a 90 year life span.
The study followed men who were 72 years of age at the beginning of the study for a twenty-five year period. Forty-one percent lived to age 90 or older and among this robust group of guys they found that: they didn’t smoke, paid attention to their weight and exercised regularly. They also kept their blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check. If they had diabetes, they were very careful about controlling it.
The results of this study reinforce what researchers and physicians have been saying for years: living longer and living well isn’t just about being blessed with good genes; it’s about practicing a healthy life style. Studies of twins show that only one-fourth of the variation in life expectancy is actually due to genetics. That means your dad gets to influence a whopping three-fourths of the life-span equation.
Laurel Yates, M.D., M.P.H., the lead researcher in the study warns that a sedentary lifestyle of little exercise reduces a seventy year old man’s chance of making it to ninety by 44 percent; hypertension reduces the chance by 36 percent; obesity by 26 percent and smoking by 22 percent. She’d be the first to tell your father that he’s at the perfect age to stave off the two major culprits for aging poorly -– high blood pressure and diabetes. Those two health conditions alone can make your dad’s “it’s all down hill from here” stance become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even the Surgeon General would warn your dad that “a sedentary life style is as detrimental to your health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.”
