The number 10 lifestyle characteristic of centenarians:   Drink less Alcohol.

What about all those research findings we here about on how wine can decrease our chance for heart disease and stroke.  Let's start with the fact that they use the word "moderate" in the amount of alcohol one should drink.  What do you consider moderate.   Moderate was defined as one drink per day for women and one to two for men.  Anything over that showed an increase in heart disease and stroke.

If we go to the Centenarian studies we find that in many studies those that lived to be 100, did not drink alcohol at all.  Other studies like the National Institute of Mental Health found that 80% of centenarians drank less than one alcoholic drink a month.

Will alcohol help you live to be 100, probably not.  However, an occasional drink will probably not prevent you from living to be 100 either.  Should we drink alcohol because a study showed it may help prevent heart disease.  I personally would have to disagree.  Studies have found the same results eating grapes and drinking grape juice.

The number 8th lifestyle characteristic for those living to be 100- Exercise, being active and staying busy.  Dr. S. Jay Olshansky, PhD states, "Exercise is the only real fountain of youth that exists." 

As a physical therapist, I truly believe if you don't use it, you lose it.  Those that I treat that have been lazy, or have done very little activity have a hard time getting healthy.  Getting regular exercise improves the chances of living a longer and healthier life.  Without being fit, bodies are too weak to fight off infections, recover from an illness, or survive a fall.

We do lose muscle mass as we age, but it is mostly from the lack of activity. Research has shown 70 and 80 year olds that have performed resistance training can be in better shape than some college students.  The New England Centenarian study found that all healthy centenarians had full days of activities and many lived on the 2nd or 3rd floor and used the stairs for daily exercise.

The key is doing a "moderate" amount of exercise 3-4 times a week on a regular basis.  What is considered "moderate" depends on the study.  Some call it a brisk walk, while others say the heart rate needs to be 50-85% of the maximum heart rate.  Strength building is also important and can be done with weights or climbing stairs. 

Evidence shows that having a productive life with eager anticipation of waking up each morning and getting things done is a healthy predictor of becoming a centenarian.

I set goals each week to exercise, most weeks I meet those goals, some I even exceed.  If I truly don't have time to exercise, I probably have been busy enough to call it some of type of activity.  I try not to allow myself time in front of the television or computer and say I didn't have time to exercise.   

The fifth lifestyle characteristic to living to be 100:  Eat fewer Calories.  We as Americans eat way (weigh) to much food.  Me, my daughter and youngest son went to lunch after church today.  We don't eat out very often, and for the past few years if we do, I usually share with someone.  Several restaurants will even split the meal and put it on separate plates, which makes it even easier.  My daughter and I split a meal.  First they brought us salad, which 1/2 was plenty big for each of us.  Then they brought out our meal.  My daughter said, "this is half?"  To be honest the whole meal, if I had made it at home would have fed my family of 5 with no problem.  We had salad, bread and a pasta dish with vegetables.  It was an outrageous amount and we left full and with leftovers.  My little one had a kids meal of fettuccine, it wasn't quite as much as in the picture, but way more than a 5 year old can or should be eating.  He may have eaten 1/4 of it if that.  We brought it home also.

I can tell you right now that if I ate the meal as it is usually served, not only would I be full and miserable, but within a short amount of time I would be obese.  Research has shown with animals and as we look at statistics of people less calories equals less weight which equals longer lives.  One problem, today eating the American Standard Diet and eating less calories can mean little to no nutrition.  What we must learn is that every bite we eat needs to be to the nourishment of our body.  We look at food as a way to make us happy and fill empty areas, but that is not the purpose of food.

As we grow older we require less calories.  That can be a hard one.  I think that we get used to eating a certain amount of food and we feel as we get older that we should be able to eat at least that or more.  The truth is for every decade after 20 we need 100 calories less a day.  If you were your perfect weight at 20 and ate 2,000 calories a day, between 20 and 30 you will only need 1,900 a day.  Of course, your activity level at 20 and 25 need to stay the same to eat that 1,900 calories.  By the time you are 70 years of age and keeping up that same activity level you would only need 1400 nutritional calories.

Often we don't want to count calories so we eat until we are full.  Centenarian studies have shown that they typically eat until they are 80% full.  Meaning they don't ever get to the point of feeling full or stuffed.  We often think that as we get older a slower metabolism is the cause of our weight gain and a negative.  Many books that I have read, disagree, a slower metabolism allows you to get more nutrition out of your food and reduces the number of free radicals in our bodies.  In other words, it was God's way of keeping us alive longer. 

What we can learn from those that have lived the longest?  Eat fewer calories with more nutritional foods.  Again it looks like fruits and vegetables will help us live longer.  Each bite should be for the purpose of giving us the nutrition we need to live healthy lives.

The fourth lifestyle characteristic to living to be 100.  Keeping weight low and steady.  They found most centenarians to be lean and fit, and most have never been obese.  So why do thin people live longer?

Obesity has been found to be the biggest killer of Americans.  Being obese or overweight increases your risk factors for more than 30 medical conditions, including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer.

In the New England Centenarian Study 80% of the participants said their weight had changed very little in their adult lives.  One study of centenarians had an average BMI of 18-22.  The average American BMI exceeds 26.

Research continues to show that being overweight or obese is deadly.  Lifestyle changes are a must to keep weight low and steady.  So what is the best way to keep our weight low and
steady?

The National Weight Control Registry has over 5,000 people that have kept their weight down with the following characteristics.

78% eat breakfast each day
75% weigh themselves at least once per week
62% watch less than 10 hours of television per week
90% on average, exercise one hour per day.

The Georgia Centenarian study found these same habits to be true for independent-living centenarians.

It looks to me from these studies that the best way to stay thin is to eat early and stay active.  If we all did this maybe we would have less weight to lose and more time to enjoy living.  That is my goal. 

My personal BMI is higher than the centenarians, yet lower than the average American.  I am not overweight by most charts, but I do tend to weight 20-25 pounds more than I did in my early adulthood.  I feel most comfortable at the weight I was when I got married.  I will be celebrating my 20th Wedding Anniversary this June and am working towards that weight.  Another reason to weigh less is for a healthier lifestyle. 

I currently eat breakfast everyday and weigh every week to 2 weeks.  I watch closer to 14 hours of TV per week and exercise an average of 30-45 minutes per day.  I will be setting my goals to watch less than 10 hours of television per week and that will give me more time to meet my new goal of an hour of exercise a day.