LiveLongAgeWell

About the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, several Berlin universities joined with several U.S. institutions and launched the Berlin Aging Study (BASE), with the goal of closely following, over many years, a group of more than 500 men and women aged 70 to over 100 years old. Over time this group has been put through extensive testing to asses their physical and mental health and their social and economic well-being. While the “subjects” in BASE were Berliners only, most likely the results generalize across cultures. The ultimate purpose of BASE is to find keys to aging better, and the study is ongoing.

Here are some of the results to date…which gives encouragement that when we hit middle age and beyond, our lives should continue to be happy and satisfying:

1. On average, the people in the study felt about 13 years younger than their actual age, and felt that they looked about 10 years younger than they actually were.

2. The men believed they looked younger than the women, by about 4 years. (I wonder if the men in this study might be well, slightly delusional, because in the U.S., it seems like the women take better care of themselves, and look younger. I’m really curious what the LLAW readers think about this. Please leave a comment with your opinion!)

3. Most in the group had a high level of satisfaction with their own aging; they weren’t depressed or discouraged about being older.

4. Some people, seemingly those in the best health, seemed to feel even younger as they got older.

5. Finally, referring back to “self-perceived age” discussed in Monday’s post: when BASE studied various groups of older people of the same age and physical health, the ones who just felt younger had better vitality, health, and longevity than those who felt their “real” age. Thinking and feeling younger seemed to give people more resilience to face the challenges of getting older.

I recently read two examples in the New York Times of older people doing amazing things (and from their pictures, they look pretty good too). First, a 73 year-old who 50 years ago played college basketball. He recently started community college in Tennessee, tried out for the college team again, and yes, he’s on the team and doing well as college basketball’s oldest player.

Second story was the 100th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall for the composer Elliot Carter. Since turning 90, he’s published over 40 compositions; six in the past year alone. James Levine, the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra says about Elliot Carter “He’s still writing at the top of his form…every time he writes a piece he has new ideas he’s trying.”

This concept of “trying new ideas”—always being willing to experiment—not sticking to a rigid self, is one great secret to exceptional aging.

Considering our current economic times, I will continue to regularly blog about research and ideas that hopefully will help us cope better. Previously I’ve addressed topics such as deep breathing, omega-3 supplements, and eating more fish (you are trying to eat more fish, aren’t you?)… as ways of cooling off our body’s stress response. Often we can’t control our outside stresses, but we can control how our body responds to those stresses, and that’s a big help.

This week at the American Heart Association’s meeting in New Orleans, a preventive cardiologist Dr. Michael Miller presented research showing how blood vessels respond differently to music we like, versus music that makes us feel anxious. Dr. Miller previously showed that laughter was good for the heart, since it seemed to relax our blood vessels and thus allow better blood flow. In the current study he found that when a group of volunteers were exposed to music they really liked, even their blood vessels relaxed, resulting in a 26% better blood flow. In contrast, music that made the test subjects feel anxious temporarily dropped their blood flow by 6%.

While Dr. Miller measured blood flow only in the arm, it’s likely that pleasant music would cause increased blood flow throughout the body, an effect that is good for the heart. (The opposite of what occurs in a person with high blood pressure where the vessels tend to be constricted and tight—not a heart-healthy process.) Dr. Miller didn’t discover the mechanism that made music open up vessels, but he suspects it has to do with the release of endorphins, chemicals released from deep in the brain which result in feelings of well-being.

One of the best ways to keep your brain functioning well as you get older is to frequently challenge it with new ideas, new activities….and even new types of music; music you might not initially like, but with a flexible brain, you learn over time to actually enjoy. Dr. Miller’s research suggests to me though that in times of stress—particularly if you already have high blood pressure or heart disease—one healthy way to chill out is to pro-actively seek out music that is most relaxing for you, and allow your blood vessels to open up and relax too.

Remember this for example next time you go to the dentist for some uncomfortable work, or on an airplane if flying stresses you. Be assertive; protect your heart as well as your mind…bring your iPod and put on whatever you most like, from hip-hop or rap to classical or christian contemporary, and let the blood flow. Don’t be shy; the research supports you.

One of the most compelling aspects of my medical practice in California was encountering those older patients who stood out as exceptionally happy and accomplished. I found some of the happiest people were those open to attempting a big new project or even a career change, and they were not constrained by their age.

One of my favorite patients had been one of Walt Disney’s original animators (he had worked on the movie Fantasia), and he seemed to become most alive and animated himself when he talked about his new book project, even though he was in his 70s.

It was clear to me that this ability, or willingness, to be a “late bloomer” was one secret to aging well, so I was very interested to read the article last week in The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) entitled “Late Bloomers”. He starts with the example of a young lawyer, dissatisfied with his career, who quit and took up writing at age 30, then Gladwell dissects the difference between artists who peak early (such as Picasso), and late (like Cézanne, who struggled during his younger years). He notes other “late bloomers” such as Mark Twain, the poet Robert Frost, and Alfred Hitchcock, whose largest run of successes occurred from his mid- 50s to early 60s.

Of course most of us will not become famous artists or authors or singers or furniture makers, but if we regularly test our minds and bodies and try out talents that (might) lie dormant within us, we will age better, both mentally and physically. And if you have a loving partner, encourage him or her in their endeavors also…you will both benefit. If you read the New Yorker article to the end, you will see that stories of successful late bloomers are actually, often love stories.

Click here for a podcast of an interview with the very cerebral Malcolm Gladwell.  Have a great weekend.