Tag: longevity

Secret no.6 Good food

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Actually, this way to live to 100 is a bit of cheat.

Ruby Byford – better known as Peggy – celebrated her 103rd birthday on 23rd June 2015 in the Colchester care home where she has lived for the past couple of years. According to local media reports Peggy still enjoys walks in the garden. Her family also says she ‘eats for England’ and until recently she had a glass of sherry every day, with champagne at celebrations.

And these comments have, with a little journalistic licence, become the possible secrets for her longevity in the local newspaper report. Peggy appears never to have said them or to have claimed them as the keys to her long life.

So just as reasonably it could have said that a strong family was the key: Ruby has two children, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Or an active working life: Ruby and her late husband Edward ran a small bakery and she worked in a pharmacy after the death of Edward 40 years ago.

Feasibility: n/a. Ruby herself doesn’t seem to have attributed her long life to any one factor, which may be very wise of her. If she had, eating well would certainly be a factor in longevity (assuming ‘well’ doesn’t mean ‘too much’) and there is variable evidence about the importance of a small amount of alcohol. Good walks could certainly help. But without Peggy’s blessing, we’ll let this one slide.

http://eadt.co.uk/1.4123844

Secret no.5 Sleep

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5582704539_0e7a834910_bSusannah Mushatt Jones is due to celebrate her 116th birthday on July 6th 2015 – she is officially the world’s oldest person. Her secret, she told the New York Daily News, is sleep. Susannah even offered the reporter a demonstration, laying back in her recliner and pulling a blanket over her head as if for an afternoon nap.

Susannah – known as ‘Miss Susie’ – has sight and hearing problems but is still active and takes just two medications a day.

Though she never married and has no children, Susannah has a remarkable 100 nieces and nephews, to whom she is known simply as T (‘auntie’).

She is a fan of Barack Obama and the New York Daily News suggested that a phone call from the President would make her birthday.

Plausibility rating: 6 out of 10. Susannah’s faith in the longevity powers of sleep is quite well placed. Studies often shown a link between low levels of sleep and incidence of major, life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease. ‘It’s now clear that a solid night’s sleep is essential for a long and healthy life,’ says NHS Choices. The Daily Mirror neatly reported a 2010 study – suggesting a 12% increased risk of death if you get less than six hours sleep – with the headline ‘Not enough sleep leads to a wake’.

However, that study also suggested a link between too much sleep (nine hours or more) and an even higher risk of premature death so it is possible to get too much of a good thing.
photo credit: Sleep via photopin (license)