Centenarians: Beyond Ageism and Beyond Horizons

She wakes every morning on the small island of Okinawa, Japan at 6 A.M. to make her breakfast vegetable miso soup: steaming aromas of revitalization, hardiness, and soy. Taking a stroll or working for a couple of hours in her garden, she spends her early mornings with habitual vitality. At noon, she greets her family with arms waving over her head as she shouts, “Genki, genki deska?” (happy, are you happy?). She has lunch with her daughter and she dances to Japanese folk music with her granddaughters in her navy blue kimono. Sometimes she works at a local market selling oranges to tourists. Other times she gossips and drinks tea with her friends and family. By nightfall, she prepares a vegetarian dinner complemented with a fine cup of mugwort sake before going to bed. This is Ushi Okushima’s daily routine at 107 years of age.

We have all heard the phrase, “life is short, so make the most of it” but does life really have to be as short as people expect it to be? In Ushi Okushima’s situation, life is the least bit short or boring. Throughout history, people’s fear of the vulnerability of life marked the endless search for the fountain of youth. However, today, the search has shifted to the search for longevity. Since the 1970s researchers, journalists, and doctors worldwide have mused on the longevity of the Okinawan centenarians. Through studies and interviews, researchers have connected centenarian longevity to healthy diet, daily exercise, positive attitude, and cultural roots to the land. When the mystery of the centenarian secrets to longevity finally had been uncovered, popular media, such as BBC, Time Magazine and the New York Times took great interest in sharing to the public the possibilities of living to 100 years. Article headlines such as “Forever Young,” “Secrets of the Wellderly,” and “The Okinawan Way,” and images of Okinawan centenarians engaged in unexpected activities for the elderly—farming in their rice fields, running, dancing, and singing karaoke— have captured the concept of aging and old age in an unprecedented, over-idealized way.

The images, articles, and stories of the extremely old challenge our preconceived stereotypes of the elderly population. The American people in particular have developed an ageist culture where the youth population views elderly people as functionally and cognitively incompetent, dependent, and depressed. Although these negative stereotypes about the elderly population still abound among America’s youth, the publicity of centenarian longevity has begun to break down these ageist barriers. Based off of centenarian studies, journalists apply the success stories of centenarian longevity, through images of health, landscape, and youth, to counterbalance the negative stereotypes of aging. Although popular media romanticizes the aging process of the centenarians, it has commenced a new discussion surrounding the larger importance of longevity versus our negative views and biases of old age. Seen through the Okinawan centenarian model, aging now holds potential for an actual future rather than a timer counting down to one’s death.

No More Food-coma on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up, so I thought in the spirit of health and aging...here are some key ingredients and tips to eat like a centenarian even for a Thanksgiving feast.

Eat foods with rich vitamins, exercise a bit after eating, and a sip of wine!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Centenarian marries a 17 year old

"Married life is about love and passion rather than age and beauty" says the Somali centenarian. The centenarian claims he is 112 years old and is marrying his 6th wife. His most recent wife who is still alive is 90 years old but "ailing."

Although in Somalia, marriage traditions are quite different from that of Western culture, I don't know how I feel about a 112 year old man marrying a teenager. My western views I'm sure is playing a role in my concern and discomfort of this news; however I wonder on what level can these two individuals truly connect. The man has lived over a century, gone through various wars, cultural changes, and life experiences in general. The girl or woman is roughly 1/6 of her husbands age. To what extent does age gaps account to true, authentic love? Is there an age where a man or woman crosses the line marrying someone over 80 or 90 years younger than them?

Centenarian Offsprings continue: Peronality matters

So in one of my previous blogs I mentioned that centenarian offsprings inherit a higher health benefit but they also inherit personality traits that are closely connected to longevity. Researchers from Boston University have acquired data that links Big Five personality traits: neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, with longevity. They results showed that centenarian offspring ranked low in neuroticism and very high in extroversion. They infer that centenarians with high extroversion characteristics are more able to control their stress levels in life and have an easier time forming relationships with people as well as living independently.

I find this study fascinating because this realm of psychogerontology is relatively recent. There's many holes and gaps in this study that researchers are in the midst of filling and discovering. People constantly believe longevity is a result of a healthy way of life, which is true; however, to attain a healthy way of life first starts with one's mentality and attitude towards life and oneself.

Ancient, Active, and Alive

Who said life as an old person was boring and miserable? Running, dancing, karate, and lifting? If they want to, they can.

During my first week researching, I ran across some of these images of centenarians engaging in quite physically demanding activities. There is one Okinawan centenarian working her field of purple yams, another centenarian man running on the track, and another Japanese woman lifting weights with a group of other elderly women. These images defy our preconceived notions of what elderly people can and cannot do. When I first think of 80 or 90 year old people, I imagine them to be hunched over on their walking aides taking trembling strides every 10 seconds. Centenarians, on the other hand, stay active and carry themselves with confidence and power.

Take a second and see what pops into your head first when you think of the elderly.

Centenarians are a special group of people and they maintain this youthful lifestyle of staying active through also keeping a youthful personality. They are extroverts, optimists, and conscientious as Margaret Kern and Howard Friedman explain in their study about the relationship between conscientious individuals and longevity. Kern and Fiedman conclude that personality does in fact affect individual's longevity as for those who stay positive and upbeat exert themselves into social and physical activities which in turn keep their mental stability positive.

Centenarian offsprings stay just as healthy

In the JAGS journal for Geriatrics, Emily Adams and her colleagues assessed incidences centenarian offsprings had with age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. In other words, are the offsprings of centenarians prone to live shorter lives due to age-related disease or does their "pre-disposal" to healthy aging allow them to avoid diseases? This longitudinal study surveyed 440 centenarian offspring participants and 192 control participants (72 year old people who are not offspring of centenarians). This study spanned 9 years from 1997-2006. The results followed as so:

The offsprings had a 78% lower chance of cardiovascular problems; 83% lower risk of a stroke; 86% lower risk of developing diabetes; and 81% higher probability to live longer than the control group.

Thus this study concluded that centenarian offsprings have an natural advantage from their parents to live a longer, healthier life than that of 'normal' elderly people.

This academic journal demonstrates that centenarians possess some type of gene that transfers over to their offspring; thus the offspring has a high probability of longevity just as their parents. What I wonder now though, is do the 2nd generation of offsprings have the same likelihood to live a longer life?

Living to 101

Living to 101- BBC Horizon

In Okinawa, you might see an old women outside of her house sweeping her front door steps. You'll guess that she's only....65 years old. In reality, she's probably well into her 80's or even 90's. Every morning you'll see the lively, elderly town congregate to a local produce market buying the freshest vegetables and native purple yam to cook for the night's meal. You'll even meet Mr. Miyagi, 92 years of age, teaching his fellow friends how to Karaoke. Now travel to Sardinia and you'll meet the Vacca family who has a rare lineage of longevity. They love to eat meat and cheese, drink wine and sing. The eldest woman in the Vacca family is determined to live to 123 to become the oldest women in Sardinia. Let's go down to So-cal in Loma Linda where Margaret, a 101 year old women cycles 6 miles a day and lifts weight all before her morning breakfast. Each of these individuals live on opposite sides of the world from one another and live completely different lifestyles, but they all are over 90 years of age. You are probably wondering: How is that possible?

The people who live in these small towns/cities live and maintain a unique lifestyle apart from the globalized and homogeneous world we live in. Although there are genetic factors that effect their aging process, their specific cultural customs and daily routines allow them to prosper and preserve a healthy, rich quality of life. However, places such as Glasgow, UK and Honolulu, HI are facing a shortened life expectancy rates than that of Okinawa and the rest of the world due to immigration, poor dieting, generational thinking, and genetic factors. How can there be such communities where people are able to live for so long while others are fighting to live past 65 years of age? What environmental, temporal factors contribute to such contrasting aging patterns? And where did these factors arise?

This is only part 1 of 5 10 min clips of this BBC special. I really encourage you all to check out at least 2-3 of the segments. The individual stories of each elderly persons in the documentary are truly fascinating because the documentary explores the mysteries of living to 100 years through multiple lenses: historical, medical, dietary, and spiritual. The rich and complex stories opens your mind to new meanings about age and aging.