We are an ageing population. In Australia, Since 1922, the percentage of people aged over 65 has gone from 4%, to roughly 16% in 2021, and it is climbing, projected to increase to 20% by 2066. We are living longer, and reproducing less.
Of utmost importance with an ageing population, is that we want to live well. We want to stay active and independent, we want to have good cognition, we want to contribute to our society. We do not want to end up living the last few decades of life with morbidity.
More and more, as a doctor, caring for my patient's and thinking about ageing every single day, I find myself delving into the science behind healthy ageing.
I find myself pondering question'c such as, what can I do to reduce my patient's burden of disease, what can I offer?
Now, the nuances of this is actually very complicated, there is studies looking at Blood Pressure control to reduce cardiovascular disease and stroke, there are studies looking at cholesterol and lots of other biochemical marker's- I am not going to get into the nitty gritty.
Suffice to say, there are a few reasonably simple concepts that we can all do, to ensure that we live a healthy life.
Here is my take home:
1. Feed your gut
- This means having a varied diet, with plants based foods such as fruit and vegetables, legumes, unprocessed grains and fermented foods. Try new things. Recently I bought some kimchi which I will try with some of my meals. Avoid or reduce your intake of processed foods. Studies have found that having a diet with at least 30 different plant based foods per week, will improve the gut microbiome, and in turn reduce the risk of developing chronic disease. I really cannot put more emphasis on this. I am not asking you to stave yourself. I am not asking you to go on a lettuce only diet. Your diet must be sustainable. It must not cause you to yo-yo your weight.
2. Move more
- We live sedentary lives. Our ancestors would forage, would hunt, would constantly move. We are made to move. Most musculoskeletal ailments that I see are from lack of movement, hunching over a desk, allowing our blood sugar to rise after a meal because we go back to a desk or a couch and we don't burn off the sugar that our ancestor's would have. There is good evidence to show that if you are fit, no matter your weight, you will reduce you risk of cardiovascular disease to lower levels than a skinny person who doesn't exercise.
3. Sleep
- When I was a medical school, some students would come in at the lead up to exam time and boast about how they stayed up studying until all hours of the night. I guarantee that at best, this was ineffective, and at worse, may cause long term consequences if this sleep deprivation continued as a long term cloak of martyrdom. Long term sleep deprivation has been linked with hypertension, weight gain, heart attacks, diabetes, depression and stroke.
4. Have purpose
- Time and time again, I see that lack of purpose can lead to poorer health outcomes. Whether it be a teen who has lost direction, a 50 year old who hates her job, or an elderly person in a nursing home who has nothing to do. We need purpose. There is a famous study which I learnt about at University which examined nursing home residents. Half of the participants were given a plant to water and care for, the other half of the residents did not have a plant to care for. Amazingly, the participant's with the plant had on average, a longer life expectancy that the control group! We need purpose.
The nuances of ageing well continue to be borne out in the literature and research. There have been studies looking at certain foods and reducing the risk of diabetes, or memory tests reducing the risk of dementia. However these nuances need bespoke discussion and planning based on risk stratification for you and your life and family history.
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