Rules for Living Longer

When it comes to age, most everyone desires to hit triple digits — 100 and more. Who wouldn’t want to join the centenarian club? Luckily for seniors living in the 21st century, it’s now easier for you to reach your 100th birthday today than ever before — if you take care of your health and follow experts’ advice.

According to Science magazine, with the currently expanding life spans of modern man, all it would take for the average life span to reach 99 years is the elimination of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Dr. Chris Matsko, coauthor of How to Live to Be 100 Years Old, also offers the following advice: “While no one has yet discovered the fountain of youth, people are living longer than ever before. Many are even doing it in good health. The best way to have the longest life you can and the highest quality of life possible, is to take care of yourself, both physically and psychologically. Protect your well-being so that your body and mind will be healthy enough to sustain you for a long life.”

Reaching the age of 100 is undoubtedly a sign of a life well-lived. Thanks to advances in modern medicine and nutrition, it’s now easy to believe that even our senior citizens today will be able to enjoy longer and healthier lives. Although those 100 years old and older make up a tiny segment of the global population at present, by 2046 when the first Boomers (people born from 1946 to 1964) become centenarians, there’s going to be acceleration, and the number of centenarians globally is seen doubling every five years. This column will offer the ultimate guide to living forever, based on the disruptive books published by experts showing how aging can be slowed down.

In their book, Stopping the Clock, the authors said that contrary to a commonly held misconception, the purpose of anti-aging medicine is not to extend life in order to live a longer period of time as an ‘older’ person, but rather to delay the onset of the aging process and give everyone a greater number of those middle, healthy years.

“Aging is a treatable medical condition,” they said, explaining that “the dreaded deterioration and vulnerability to the ‘diseases of aging’ can be slowed, prevented and, potentially, even reversed: memory loss, fatigue, heart disease, circulatory problems, arthritis, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.”

We will digest the ideas and suggestions in the book so that you too can have: an enhanced immune system; improved memory and cognitive function; enhanced sexual function; and an increased rate of healing.

Too good to be true? The authors — both pioneering scientists of anti-aging medicine –said these goals are well within your reach. “Getting older doesn’t have to mean degenerating health and diminishing energy. You can enjoy prime-of-life vitality and cut years from your age.” In short, you have the power to fight aging.

As our initial offering, here are the Rules for immortality from the book Stopping the Clock, written by Dr. Ronald Klatz and Dr. Robert Goldman, co-founders of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.

Rules for immortality

The first and most important rule of anti-aging medicine is “don’t die”!

The second rule is “don’t get sick.”

The third rule is “don’t get old.” Every day you stay healthy and alive is another day medical science comes closer to finding the ultimate cure to aging.

• Avoid stress and depression — they are major causes for premature aging.
• Exercise daily — it is your number one defense against the infirmities of aging.
• Limit fat in your diet —it is directly associated with an increased risk of both heart disease and cancer.
• Sleep seven to eight hours a night—quality sleep is essential for rejuvenation and repair. If you suffer from insomnia or other sleeping problems, get help.
• Consume little or no alcohol– it is neurotoxic.
• Don’t smoke — with every minute you smoke, a minute of your life is taken away.
• Try to keep your ideal weight, or even five percent below ideal body weight. Mortality increases significantly at 20 percent or more above IBW, and 10 percent or more below IBW.
• Maintain optimum antioxidant vitamin blood levels — animal studies indicate a 20 percent increase in longevity with optimum supplementation.
• Early detection is the key to a cure for both heart disease and cancer — get blood tests and comprehensive anti-aging physical exams yearly.
• Drink adequate purified water.
• Think young — aging is as much a state of mind as it is a state of physiology. Keep young friends around to remind yourself what ‘youth’ feels and thinks like.
• Last, do not accept “just getting old” — fight tooth and nail to remain youthful and vigorous.

As Woody Allen has said, “Some people want to achieve immortality through their works or their descendants. I prefer to achieve immortality by not dying!” That’s a good mindset we should adopt.