Be happy
As they concluded in the Journal of Hapiness Studies after analyzing 30 scientific studies on happiness, this state not only prolongs people’s lives but also prevents them from contracting diseases. Ruut Veenhoven, from Erasmus University in Rotterdam (Netherlands), attributes this to the fact that chronic unhappiness causes stress, which in turn reduces the response capacity of the immune system when something attacks us. Without forgetting that unhappy people are less likely to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
Mediterranean diet
One aspect of aging that few know is that the composition of the microbes that live in our digestive system when we reach old age changes. This was demonstrated in 2011 by the Irish geneticist Paul O’Toole within the ELDERMET project, based on the analysis of the digestive microbiome of 161 elderly people. Studying the bacteria in the gastrointestinal flora, O’Toole and his colleagues found that older people with fragile health tend to have less microbe diversity than those who remain healthy as a pear at the same age. And that there is a direct relationship between what we eat, the bacteria that make up the microbiome, health, and how we age. The immunologist Claudio Franceschi agrees with them and maintains that if there are many more centenarians among Italians on the island of Sardinia than in other parts of Europe, it is because they maintain a strict Mediterranean diet in which olive oil is abundant, above all. nuts and fresh vegetables and fruits .
Put your elbows on
As can be seen from research published in PNAS , when we acquire new skills and knowledge, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is produced in our brain, which encourages the growth of the connections (synapses) that allow communication between neurons. keeping the brain in tip-top shape. Especially if we learn languages since, according to a study carried out by the University of Lund (Sweden), this promotes the growth of the hippocampus, a brain area linked to memory. Not surprisingly, previous studies show that the onset of Alzheimer’s is delayed in bilingual and multilingual people.
Visit your doctor
That the Japanese go to the doctor 13.4 times a year and the British 5 could explain the greater longevity of the former, according to a recent health analysis by the prestigious journal The Lancet .
Pursue success
Based on data from more than 15,000 athletes, a study published in the British Medical Journal concluded that Olympic medal winners live on average 2.8 years longer than their peers, regardless of whether the metal around their necks is gold. silver or bronze. Other work published in The Journal of Neuroscience indicated that the most active and daring individuals, who are motivated to participate in all kinds of physical and social activities , including extreme sports, have a variant of the dopamine receptor gene -The pleasure hormone- that usually makes them reach nonagenarians.
