The secrets to a long and healthy life

 10 January 

At Riverstone, our goal is to provide exceptional residences that help people to live the life that they want to live, for longer. As well as taking great care over every detail of our apartments, amenities and services, we also prioritise ways in which we can support our residents with their health and wellbeing. For this purpose, we have a dedicated Wellbeing Director, leading geriatrician, Dr Zoe Wyrko.

Following a biopsychosocial approach to wellbeing, it is firmly believed that the mind and body need to be nurtured for physical and mental maintenance - an approach closely mirroring the latest thinking from other leading experts from around the world. Scientists are studying people in their nineties (called nonagenarians) and hundreds (called centenarians, including semi-supercentenarians of ages 105-109 years and supercentenarians, ages 110+) to determine what contributes to their long lives.

Interestingly, scientists speculate that for the first seven or eight decades, lifestyle is a stronger determinant of health and life span, however, after this point, genetics have a stronger role to play. It is estimated that about 25 percent of the variation in human life span is determined by genetics, but we are only just beginning to understand by which genes, and how they contribute to longevity.

According to experts, key lifestyle determinants include activity levels, smoking and alcohol consumption, anxiety and stress, social connections, diet, gender, sleep patterns and economic status.

In 2018, a Harvard research team published a study on data from more than 120,000 Americans who had been profiled for more than thirty years. The researchers considered diet, health, gender, age, ethnicity, and more. Interestingly, the team concluded that women who follow a healthy diet and lifestyle could add fourteen years to their expected lifespan while men could add twelve years.

The Harvard study defined a healthy diet to be full of vegetables, fruit, nuts, whole grains, and fish while restricting red meat, sugar, animal fat, and salt.

The Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California highlights a similar diet with an added factor, periodic fasting. One suggested programme is the 5:2 diet, calling for people to eat normally for five days a week, and then on the two other days, restricting themselves to 500 to 600 calories.

Scientists are also studying a handful of communities in other parts of the world where people often live into their nineties and older; Nicoya (Costa Rica), Loma Linda (America), Okinawa (Japan), Ikaria (Greece), and Sardinia (Italy). It has been found that people from these ‘Blue Zones’ eat primarily plant-based meals with high quantities of beans, do not overeat and drink one or two glasses of wine each day. They also engage in daily physical activities, take time to deal with stress, focus on their loved ones, acknowledge their sense of purpose, and spend time with other people.

Looking to the future, the odds of living past age 110 are becoming more likely. A new study from the University of Washington modelled the probability of people becoming “supercentenarians” in the years 2020 through 2100. It concluded that there is a 68% chance that a person will reach 127 years old and a 13% chance that they will reach 130 years old by 2100.

There is every chance that advancements in ageing biology and genetic medicine will continue to add years to our lives. In the meantime, we should continue to follow the lessons learnt from Blue Zone regions and introduce healthy changes to our lives.

Many of these elements are supported by the lifestyle offering at Riverstone, from the healthy and sustainable food at the on-site restaurant from renowned chef Robin Gill, through to the focus on community, family and friendships and the mood boosting and activity based Forever Curious programme.

Cultivating a better quality of life can not only make every day more exciting but according to science, can even increase the number of those days.