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The Real Secret to Longevity

Beyond Supplements and Genetics: The Real Secret to Longevity: Now that I have your attention. What if I told you that the secret was something as simple as surviving - on an ongoing and daily basis - your customary day-to-day habits. We really don't concern ourselves too much about the ongoing dangers of taking our morning shower, walking on an icy driveway, reaching for a high thing while perched on the wobbly stepladder that we have been meaning to replace for weeks now, walking down stairs with both arms full, walking on uneven surfaces in your clogs, being unaware of the big friendly dog running towards you about to knock you off your pins, playing Ping-Pong with your grandson on carpeting in your hiking boots. These are the quotidian events - simple, not complicated - that have either gotten me into an unexpected fall or may very well be the cause of a fall for me. Or you.

Jared Diamond, professor of geography at one of the UC schools, wrote an article in the NY Times (Science, 1/30/13) about just this. He is a 75 year old man and active both mentally and physically. He frequently visits New Guinea as part of his studies and there learned about the concept of Constructive Paranoia or being very aware (especially as you age) of the importance of being attentive to hazards that carry a low risk each time but are encountered frequently, e.g. like showers on a daily basis.

The New Guineans took him on a trip to the forest for an overnight camping expedition. Dr. Diamond found a wonderful tree under which he thought they should pitch their tents for the night. They refused saying "The tree is dead and it may fall on us." He, thinking they were being overly cautious, countered with, but "it is very solid and will be standing for many years." They still refused to camp under the tree and instead camped in the open without a tent. He heard a tree fall close by in the middle of the night - not that particular tree - but it got him to thinking.

It's this hypervigilent attitude - like camping under dead trees in New Guinea - towards repeated low risks that he has called Constructive Paranoia and which Diamond thinks makes perfect sense especially when it involves aging persons. He further contends that most of us are paranoid about the wrong things, about the things which will probably never happen - witness the Doomsday Prepper mentality with their morbid (yet fascinating!) fear of solar flares, an electromagnetic pulse knocking out all computers, food shortages and economic catastrophe - while foolishly avoiding the embracing of a healthy paranoia about the common everyday occurrences of daily life.

I'm not suggesting that you stop doing all of your exciting stuff, like travelling to New Guinea to camp out in a rainforest, but do fix that wobbly stool, maybe get one of those non-slip mats for the shower, don't carry so much in your arms for that one trip down the stairs, make two trips instead, be super careful driving, and for those of us in Colorado, get Yak Trax for winter walking -for taking out the garbage, bringing in the bird feeders from an icy deck or winter walking on the icy streets. And for me, be VERY CAREFUL about the big, mindless, usually friendly dogs who tend to knock me to the ground and injure me forever. And, Bea, don't wear your clingy hiking boots on a clingy rug while playing a fast game of Ping-Pong or you might throw yourself backwards into the wall again.

I like the idea of Constructive Paranoia. I think it's smart and healthy. At a certain age, we all need to, number one, admit to our encroaching frailty. You know, it just is what it is. We can rail and rage and shake our fists at Whoever until the dying of light, but the Theory of Entropy will prevail. We just have to work with it. And, number two, after you have finally admitted that you are aging and aren't the same filly you were even 10 years ago, let's do all we can to support our safety as we age. I want you to go around your house now, and imagine what possible dangers lurk for you in the guise of loose rugs, wobbly stools and dogs that love to lie down silently behind you and just do all you can to protect yourself from the commonplace accidents that happen to all of us. Diamond calculated that the high frequency/low risk accident likelihood during daily showering was 1/1,000, so unless we put in bars, slip mats etc., then, I guess we have to stop showering right now if we want to live to 100!

In order to use supplements to slow down the physical Chaos Theory that occurs in every single aging cell and telomere, here are some recommendations other than the usual ones that I am always mentioning for your brain and energy levels. These are called Branched Chain Amino Acids, and are specifically leucine, isoleucine and valine which are critical for muscle building. Amino acids, in short, are proteins and that is what builds muscle.

Hard to believe, but after age 30, all of us lose about 1/3 of muscle annually with the rate of muscle loss accelerating each decade after age 50. And loss of muscle tone can lead to frailty in seniors, which we want to delay as best we can. Leucine seems to be the most important. In one study, researchers found that leucine supplements at 3 grams daily helped increase muscle syntheses in older men almost to the same level as younger men.

Another study - listen up vegans and vegetarians - found that leucine increased muscle even when combined with a low protein diet. Best to find an amino acid complex with many amino acids in the formula and take about 10 grams daily, and if you are older and think that you are verging on frail and notice marked sarcopenia (dwindling muscle mass), you might also want to get a separate leucine supplement and take enough to total 3 grams daily. I have a great multi amino acid product called Amino Sport.

Plus, don't forget resistance training. Just get yourself some weights - not too light, not too heavy - put them by the TV and do some power lifting during Downton Abbey.

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