YES, to a New & Healthy Senior Age

The pace of population ageing is so fast that in 2020, the number of people over the age of 60 surpassed the number of children under the age of 5. This is why the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2021-2030 as the Decade for Healthy Ageing and has asked the WHO to take the lead in implementing a global collaborative project to promote longer and healthier lives.

Despite the increase in life expectancy, evidence shows that the fraction of life enjoyed in good health has remained virtually constant, implying that the additional years are marked by poor health. A fact that is of serious concern to all nations because of health and social implications. 

A reality that poses both challenges and opportunities for all. Among other things, it will increase the demand for primary health care, require more and better trained staff, and lead to a new need for more pleasant physical and social environments for older people in which they can continue to develop their concerns.

Taking care of ourselves today in order to live well tomorrow is undoubtedly the best investment and preventive measure we can give ourselves. But taking care of ourselves can be a very ambiguous term if we do not first understand how we age and what are the right decisions to make in order to slow down this process individually, so that we can enjoy a maximum quality of life.

According to numerous epigenetic studies and the WHO, although some of the variations in the health of older people are due to our genetic inheritance, the most influential factors have to do with the physical and social environment, in particular housing, neighborhood and community, as well as personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity or socio-economic status. The environment in which one lives during childhood, or even in the embryonic phase, in combination with personal characteristics and lifestyle, has long-term effects on ageing.

Similarly, environmental pollution, ultraviolet radiation, smoking, stress, lack of rest and an unbalanced diet, poor in antioxidants, are determining factors in the process.

It is known that as we age the loss of stem cells is increasing, over 50% loss by the age of 35 and over 90% loss by the age of 60, something that is further accelerated by exposure to all the electronic devices in our lives. 

As ageing is a progressive and irreversible process, linked to the human condition, and influenced by multiple factors, knowing how it naturally affects our organs and systems brings us to a much more conscious level of actions that can contribute positively to taking better care of ourselves.

For example, the heart increases in size and the surrounding muscle fibres stiffen, decreasing heart rate and contractile capacity. Blood vessels narrow and lose elasticity, carrying less properly oxygenated blood, which can increase blood pressure; oxygen consumption and maximal breathing capacity decrease, increasing the risk of respiratory infections; joints become stiffer and more worn out, especially affecting women due to hormonal factors; there is loss of muscle mass and atrophy of fibres; and bones are more fragile due to decreased bone density.

Nerve impulses slow down, reducing agility and balance. And on a psychological level, self-esteem and the concept of self-efficiency may be diminished.

With all these considerations on the table, we can get an idea of all the levers we need to attend to in order to reach the third (or we could talk about the fourth age) in an ideal state of health. We are complex beings, but with the capacity to manage ourselves through simple guidelines, whose long-term effect largely conditions our health, as both science and our own experimentation are telling us.

Besides air, diet and mobility are two fundamental pillars of lifelong health. And these are precisely the scourges of modern societies, so we are not doing something right. We are malnourishing ourselves and becoming increasingly sedentary, so a social action plan is urgently needed to properly educate us in the use of these two great preventive tools, before resorting to expensive drugs that try to alleviate what is already damaged by a lack of basics. 

Moving has short-term benefits, from regulating blood glucose and blood pressure levels, to stimulating the activation of catecholamine levels (adrenaline and noradrenaline), to improving sleep quality. But, in the long term, it also increases longevity, optimises age-related changes in body composition, improves cardiorespiratory capacity and muscle strength, reduces the risk of falls and the speed of reaction and movement. It generates positive emotional states, increases autonomy, mitigates states of loneliness and fatigue in daily activities, and contributes to psycho-affective balance.

In terms of diet, we can counteract the effects of oxidative stress to which our tissues and organs are subjected by providing foods rich in vitamins C, D and E, provitamin A and the minerals zinc and selenium, precursors of collagen formation, thereby recovering the values of the Mediterranean diet, in which virgin olive oil, black grapes, red fruits, green leafy vegetables with pre- and probiotic properties, walnuts and oily fish, among others, predominate. In addition to the goodness of natural seasonal products, cooked in simple ways, we can add fresh turmeric and ginger roots, as well as pure green tea, as great slower of ageing.

Only societies and organisations that know how to adapt to this change and invest in healthy ageing will enable people to live longer and healthier lives, to the benefit of all. Benefits that are our reason for being as health brokers and as fans of preventive and pro-healthy-longevity medicine. 

We can help you reach your anniversaries in the best possible state of well-being: maria.kindelan@benefitbrokers.es

María Kindelán