Episode 8 - Longevity and Vitality, Part 2

Longevity & Vitality Part 2

We mentioned palliative care in our last episode, but many people are unfamiliar with palliative care. So, I want to briefly define palliative care vs hospice care. 

Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness, such as cancer or heart failure. Patients in palliative care may receive medical care for their symptoms, or palliative care, along with treatment intended to cure their serious illness. Palliative care is meant to enhance a person's current care by focusing on quality of life for them and their family.

Hospice care focuses on comfort care when approaching the end of life.

 

March 25, 2020

 

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a massive study of the impact of health habits on life expectancy, using data from the well-known Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). This means that they had data on a huge number of people over a very long period of time. The NHS included over 78,000 women and followed them from 1980 to 2014. The HPFS included over 40,000 men and followed them from 1986 to 2014. This is over 120,000 participants, 34 years of data for women, and 28 years of data for men.

The researchers looked at NHS and HPFS data on diet, physical activity, body weight, smoking, and alcohol consumption that had been collected from regularly administered, validated questionnaires.

These five areas were chosen because prior studies have shown them to have a large impact on risk of premature death. Here is how these healthy habits were defined and measured:

1.   Healthy diet, which was calculated and rated based on the reported intake of healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and unhealthy foods like red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium.
2. Healthy physical activity level, which was measured as at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity daily.
3. Healthy body weight, defined as a normal body mass index (BMI), which is between 18.5 and 24.9.
4.   Smoking, well, there is no healthy amount of smoking. "Healthy" here meant never having smoked.
5.   Moderate alcohol intake, which was measured as between 5 and 15 grams per day for women, and 5 to 30 grams per day for men. Generally, one drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That's 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

 

As it turns out, healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met criteria for all five habits enjoyed significantly, impressively longer lives than those who had none: 14 years for women and 12 years for men (if they had these habits at age 50). People who had none of these habits were far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Study investigators also calculated life expectancy by how many of these five healthy habits people had. Just one healthy habit (and it didn't matter which one) … just one… extended life expectancy by two years in men and women. Not surprisingly, the more healthy habits people had, the longer their lifespan. 

 

Habits to longevity:

• Proper nutrients

•  - especially protein The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a modest 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 grams per pound

• • • Carbs - The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of carbohydrates for children and adults is 130 grams per day. This is the average minimum amount the brain requires to function properly.
    • Fats is the rest
    • Lots of plants - one of the biggest takeaways from the world’s largest microbiome study is that eating more than 30 different plants per week yields optimal gut diversity for better health.
    • Eat the rainbow -  phytonutrients. 
    • Chew your food an estimated 32 times before swallowing. It takes fewer chews to break down soft and water-filled food. The goal of chewing is to break down your food so it loses texture. Chewing 32 times appears to be an average number applied to most bites of food.

• Strength training

• Cardiovascular training

• Sleep

• • • A recent study reports that longevity is likely linked to regular sleeping patterns, such as going to bed and waking up around the same time each day. (circadian rhythm) 
    • Sleep duration also seems to be a factor, with both too little and too much being harmful.
    • For instance, sleeping less than 5–7 hours per night is linked to a 12% greater risk of early death, while sleeping more than 8–9 hours per night could also decrease your lifespan by up to 38% 

• Meditation 

• Gratitude 

• Spiritual - The Joy of the Lord!

• Happiness - happy healthy relationships - Community

• No smoking
• Moderate to no ETOH

• Regular screenings - be proactive
• Avoid chronic stress & anxiety 

Senescent cells

These no longer function as healthy cells, yet they don’t die, which is why they’re nicknamed zombie cells.

They’re called zombie cells, because they are damaged and refuse to die. As we age, these damaged cells start to accumulate and cause sterile inflammation (sterile inflammation occurs in the absence of microorganisms and is typically associated from damaged and necrotic cells) which can alter metabolism and stem cell function, promoting aging and the conditions that are often associated with it, like Alzheimer's disease.

Autophagy -  is a natural process by which a cell recycles old or damaged components to create new ones and provide energy.  Autophagy is important as these "junk" components take up a lot of room in a cell and can prevent it from working properly. 

 It is triggered by starvation, exercise, fasting, or keto diet,

• Fasting: Depriving the body of nutrition forces cells to repurpose cell components into ATP for fuel.6
• Exercise: Exercise quickly burns glucose (the body's main source of energy), triggering autophagy to keep cells functioning.7
• Restricting calories: Autophagy compensates for the loss of nutrients due to consuming too few calories.8
• Switching to a keto diet: Embarking on a high-fat, low-carb triggers autophagy when your body burns fat instead of glucose.

Finding the root cause of inflammation which is the root of most diseases. - High processed foods, sugar

Inflammaging

One study: 63% of all covid deaths and hospitalizations could have been avoided by better diet

 

 

For more information about the hosts, please visit their websites and follow them on social media:

Dr. Glenda Shepard - Doctor of Nursing Practice/Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner/Certified Nutrition Coach/Certified Personal Trainer/Certified Intrinsic Coach

https://www.triumphantwomancoaching.com/

FB - https://www.facebook.com/glenda.shepard1

 

Robin McCoy - Certified McIntyre Seal Team Six Coach and John Maxwell Team Trainer/Speaker/Coach

https://www.thewellnessfactor.coach/

IG - https://www.instagram.com/RobinRMcCoy

FB - https://www.facebook.com/robin.mccoy1

 

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