COSMETIC surgery may create the impression of extended youth but the key to longer life lies instead in participating in religious communities, volunteering and mowing the lawn.
A new report states that keeping up social connections as people get older helps maintain thinking skills and slows cognitive decline.
Scientists, health professionals and academics operating under the banner Global Council on Brain Health developed 12 evidence-based recommendations for adults 50 and older to help them stay socially engaged.
The importance of maintaining social bonds and having a sense of purpose has long been identified as a key factor in longer life. The Blue Zones Project, which has identified communities across the globe that not only have the longest life expectancy, but also the highest population of people over 100, has recognised its importance.
The study revealed Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, and Loma Linda in California are the longest-living cities in the world.
Some of the common themes are obvious: walking, cycling and mowing the lawn, de-stressing and reducing chronic inflammation which is tied to most age-related diseases, drinking red wine, eating less and more of the right thing. But also linking the Blue Zone hotspots was that every person had a sense of purpose.
Ranking the recommendations about staying socially active, the list begins by advising people to focus on relationships and activities that they enjoy the most. It states if adults do not have anyone readily available to engage with they should make the effort to attend community or drop-in centres or engage with faith groups.
For those still socially connected, it advises them to broaden their social spectrums to people of different age groups, like grandchildren, or volunteering and getting involved in organised activities.
Research from the Blue Zones found evidence those in Costa Rica with strong social ties had better immune system strength which was not present in socially isolated individuals. Accompanying research found elderly Sardinians scored very low for depressive symptoms and described “how connected and involved communities are. People chat in the bakery, over coffee in the morning or over beer or wine in the evening,” and stated this “meaningful social contact” is strongly connected to well-being.
Even social media, almost a byword for a new form of intolerant behaviour, presents opportunities for older adults to be engaged and broaden their world to others, the brain health report claims.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here