Aging to 100 is More About Attitude, Adaptation, Physical Activity Than
Health History
Healthy
centenarians described as open and conscientious.
Second UGA study shows decrease in physical activity accelerates decline
in health
Photo by Michael McLaughlin for "Puzzle of the Century,"
Smithsonian magazine, Jan. 2003.
Author Mary
Duenwald wanted to know – “Why do so many hardy 100-year-olds
live in yes, Nova Scotia?”
"Whether
they’ve survived so long because they’re resilient, or they’re
resilient because they’ve survived so long, centenarians are
often possessed of exceptional psychological strength, says
author Duenwald.
"They’re
gregarious and full of good humor," Dr. Thomas Perls,
centenarian researcher at the Boston Medical Center told
Duenwald.
“Their
families and friends genuinely like to be with them, because
they’re basically very happy, optimistic people.” Agenial
attitude makes it easier for people to handle stress, he adds:
“It isn’t that centenarians have never suffered any traumatic
experiences. They’ve been through wars, they’ve seen most of
their friends die, even some of their own children. But they get
through.”
Dec. 1, 2010 –
How we feel about ourselves and our ability to adapt to an accumulation
of challenging life experiences may be as important – or more important
– than health factors in determining if we survive to be 100 years old,
according to research from the University of Georgia.
The research used
data collected as part of the Georgia Centenarian Study, one of only two
centenarian studies in the country, to measure psychological and social
factors in addition to genetics and health of so-called expert
survivors. It is published in the current edition of the journal
Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research.
Obesity, smoking, traffic fatalities and homicide
ruled out as causes of failure of US to keep up with gains in life
expectancy in other countries - Oct. 7, 2010
Two hundred
forty-four people age100 years or older were studied between 2001 and
2009. The research found that critical life events and personal history,
along with how people adapt to stressful situations and cope with them
are crucial to explaining successful aging.
“Understanding
health in these terms has huge implications for quality of life,” said
Leonard Poon, director of the Institute of Gerontology in the UGA
College of Public Health and lead author of the study.
“What is
happening to you matters, but more importantly, it is your perception of
what is happening to you that is really important for your individual
health.”
A majority of
past research on the oldest of the old focused on health factors, but
the researchers found that centenarians’ feelings about their own
health, well-being and support systems, rather than measures such as
blood pressure and blood sugar are stronger predictors of survival, said
Poon.
Personality also
determined how well the centenarians reacted to life stress and change,
and therefore whether they were as happy in their old age as they were
when young. Healthy 100-year-olds had personalities described as open
and conscientious. Neurotic personalities tended to be less healthy, the
study found.
An individual
confronted with a stressful situation can either find a quick emotional
solution or ruminate on the problem, explained Poon. “One is very
destructive in terms of general well-being,” he said, “and the other is
very adaptive.”
Decrease in
Physical Activity Accelerates Health Decline
Other research
drawing from the Georgia Centenarian Study compared physical function of
the elderly living in the community with those living in retirement
facilities and found that physical activity decreased by approximately
one-third when community residents moved to retirement facilities.
A decrease in
physical activity accelerates a decline in health, explained Elaine
Cress, professor in the Institute of Gerontology and lead author of a
related study published in the current issue of the journal
Gerontology.
“By understanding
physical decline in functioning, caregivers can help maintain a high
quality of life for the centenarian with appropriate support,” said
Cress, who also is a faculty member in the department of kinesiology in
the UGA College of Education.
“We developed a
scale to assess physical performance, which has not been done before
with centenarians. This can be used in future research to predict when
people are going to start needing more help. They need to know how to
plan, and society needs to know how to plan, too.
Although still
rare, centenarians are a growing segment of the population. Poon notes
there were an estimated 50,454 in 2000, but the number is expected to
rise to more than 800,000 by 2050, making accurate information about
their well-being increasingly important.
Poon added that
one phenomenon that occurs all over the world is that women live longer
than men. In industrialized countries such as the U.S., France and
Japan, five to six women reach 100 years for every man who does. Only
Sardinia has a one-to-one ratio. At the opposite extreme, 13 South
Korean women live to be 100 for every man.
“Our next phase
is to go to four different countries where there are different gender
survival ratios and see why they are the same, why they are different
and what makes women live longer than men,” said Poon.
The Georgia
Centenarian Study is funded by the National Institute on Aging. Click for more
information about the UGA Institute of Gerontology.
>> Original
report by: Kirk McAlpin, University of Georgia
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