How to Live to be 100 free essay sample

If you could live to be one hundred years old, or older, would you? Well there was a study, called the ‘Danish Twin Study†(1), that explained that only ten percent of the average persons lifespan depends on his or her genes. â€Å"The other ninety percent is dictated by our lifestyle. †Right now there are four of these ‘Blue Zones†, which are areas around the world where people, who live this type of lifestyle, and live to the maximum of life has to offer, and a satisfying one at that. Now, if you asked a hundred people, what the secret to longevity was, you would most likely get a hundred different answers. Some think running five miles a day or having sex every day, or you should only eat vegetables, or a high protein diet, the idea being, very few know. A man by the name of Dan Buettner, had teamed up with National Geographic, and the National Institute on Aging, to do a study, and find the â€Å"Blue Zones†. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Live to be 100 or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page After they found these â€Å"demographically confirmed areas that are geographically defined. â€Å"They then brought in teams of experts to meticulously go through and write down exactly, every, little, thing these people did day in and day out. † â€Å"Every human body is made up of thirty-five trillion cells, and these cells turn over something like every eight years. This is why a sixty year old man ages at a rate of one hundred and twenty times faster than a 14 year old. †(3,4) Oh, but people try diets every day, they come up with ideas like if I jog real hard I can live longer, or if I change my diet now I will live longer, if I start or stop drinking I will I will live longer. The fact is you cannot stop, or slow down the aging process no matter what you try to do. â€Å"In these Blue Zones they looked at people who were living up to and greater than age one hundred, at rates of ten percent higher than we were here in the United States, places where they were getting an extra twelve or so good years out of life, areas where mid-life loss is a fraction of what it is here in the America. †People are always trying to define the laws of nature and come up with something that will give them the edge on living a longer life. The first zone is about one hundred and twenty-five miles off the coast of Italy on the Island of Sardinia, the second is in Okinawa, (the main island northern end), third is in southern California Loma Linda, and the last is in the Costa Rica Peninsula. Now this last one is not mentioned in the study except in the video with an indication note. But as far as the other three are considered they all have a few things in common, so it only seems logical that the fourth is no different. One is they all have a true sense of belonging, loved ones play a big part in their lives, and so does their immediate community. The group from â€Å"Loma Linda are part of Seventh-Day Adventists, they celebrate their Sabbath from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday†. They do pretty much everything together, a real sense of self. Second they all have healthy diets, now they may vary by region, but they all do have a strict diet in which they adhere to. Third is activity, they all live very active lives, a lot of walking, for some it’s the only way to get around outside of maybe a bicycle. They do things with their hands, this their entire life, kneeing bread, â€Å"one ninety-seven year old man built a privacy fence because he was told it would have cost him six-thousand dollars to have it built, he felt he could do for that, so for the next couple days he moved cement and wood, when he was done he went to the operating room, but not as a patient, as the surgeon. †(8)†The women in Okinawa get up and down from the floor thirty to forty times a day. †(8)† The Sardinians live in vertical houses,, so they walk up and down stairs a lot†. Now the point being they do not need exercise gyms, private instructors, or to run marathons, their daily life is enough activity. They arrange their life so that they have physical exercise as part of their daily life. They do not hire people to do their yard work, or cleans their homes. To wrap things up there is no pill to take, no diet to go on or program for living you decided to do for maybe a year or so. They live with a purpose for living, most of them do not have a word for retirement. They have plant based diet, they drink a little every day, they stay away from meat for the most part, and eat a lot of beans and nuts. â€Å"Then finally they connect with the people around them. They put family first, raise their children, watch after the elderly. They come from faith based communities, which all together adds about fourteen years on one life, if you do it weekly! Also who you associate with plays a part, if you hang around people who sit around all day eating and drinking, you will probably gain weight, the opposite is also true, if your friends are into bicycling, running, or walking you stand to stay trim. â€Å"There is no diet, never has one in all of history that worked for more than two percent of the population. People who make new year resolutions rarely stick to them. There is no pill as of yet that works. Longevity is a way of life, you are either born in to it, or start living a certain way very early in life and then continue on it for life. Also Demographics plays a part too. So if chose your friends carefully, pay attention to how they live their lives, because if you do, you just might help each other to live longer, fuller lives. It is 2p. m. on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 and I am observing a young mother, Ashley, about twenty-one to twenty-five, accompanied by her eight month old son Sam. There are an additional four mothers with their children ages ranging between Sammy’s’ age and say four years of age. We are at a local mall in the plays-scape area. Sam appears to be the same size and weight as two of the other children the remaining kids are bigger in all categories. The mothers do not seem to know one another but none the less are talking among themselves while the children play. Sam looks to be well feed and taken care of, and his personality shows it. He has what seems to be a very outgoing and cognitive behavior. He is at the moment playing very well with the others. He does not mind sharing, but Sam’s attention span is what appears to be very short, he goes from one toy to another. Sammy is a very active baby and moves around on all fours very well, until now, he has found a latter to assist himself in standing up. He is very pleased with himself and is trying to communicate something, mom seems to know what and is laughing and telling Sam what a good job, what a good boy! Sam loves the attention from mom and shouts out more approval. Children at this stage when taken care of are such a joy. Oops, Sam has decided to move on and plops down on his butt and heads over in mom’s direction, yes, time to go show off to the other mothers with moms help. When he arrives at moms feet he starts pulling on her pants to get up, but oh no, her pants are too tight, nothing to grab! This will not stop him, shouts for mom assistance, in some babble language of course. Mom is not complying very quickly and Sam is letting her know it. Mom thus wants to quite him down so she can talk and picks him up and puts him on her lap. He now looks up at her with his big brown eyes and utters down, down†¦oh he wants down! â€Å"Make up your mind Sammy† mom states. So there he is standing with a little help from moms’ knee, looking at the other mothers with a look of â€Å"why are you not watching me, do you see what I can do†. Oh well no attention here, so I’m off again. Suddenly he stops, sits down and starts to look all around him. What is he looking at, does he see the busy people racing around all about him? Or does he just see the play area that he is in? You can almost see his little mind racing, absorbing all sorts of information and storing it away. He is just sitting there with this blank look on his face, maybe he just cannot decide what to do next. Well time to go back to mom, hey mom here I am. I give mom credit, without missing a word her friends are saying she reaches down in the diaper bag and pulls out a bottle of red stuff, juice or kool-aid I would venture to guess. Oh happy day, you can see it on his face, just a big grin and thanks mom bye. Off he goes to show the other kids which almost immeditately sends the others over to their moms. As Sammy drinks his he notices that they are getting a snack too, well that just will not do. So he heads right over and attempts to steal, well maybe just borrow the snack. This is a classic case of if he/she has it and I want it. It is mine. Tempers are starting to get short. Sam has gone from happy boy to cranky boy. Is Sam getting tired? Quite possibly, I do not know how long Sam and his mother have been here, but by the way mom is acting long enough. As she starts gathering up his stuff he seems to realize â€Å"I am going now† and begins to shout to the highest rafters in disapproval. Mom appears to take it all in stride, his mother seems to be wise beyond her years when it comes to Sam and his wants and needs. This to me, is a sign of a very good mother. I would venture to say that she comes from a very loving family, which is why she can pass this love along to her son.