More years in good health: simple principles (part 1)

Architects of modern society assumed young people would always outnumber, and pay for, the elderly. Our pension and health systems (to name a few) were conceived on that assumption. That's no longer true for the majority of the world thanks to people dying later and lower birth rates. Broad, deep social reconfiguration is inescapable.

Governments across the world are not equipped to handle the wave of demand for care from our ageing populations. The shortage of professional caregivers has been widely reported in the UK as Covid-19 ushered in the ‘Care Crisis’. It is, in part, due to this systemic imbalance in demand and supply of professional care that we are seeing unprecedented rates of dependence on family caregivers.

Living in good health in your twilight years is the best solution to boosting independence. It is no exaggeration to say that if people were able to remain independent for even one more year in old age, we would significantly alleviate the global care crisis. The problem is that there are millions of experts and prescriptions, often conflicting, for how we can all boost our health. Don’t worry, the irony is not missed on me… This is of course, another take on healthy living. However, this opinion piece provides directional and reductive guidance on staying disease-free in an attempt cut through the noise and remain applicable to as many people as possible.

I hope you agree the list below narrows the universe of avenues you could pursue in striving for more years in good health.

1) Build habits. When it comes to living healthily, consistency is key. Consistency in our sleep, exercise, and diet is paramount. Of course, the key is to keep good habits consistently. I strongly recommend consuming any literature, podcasts, or advice on techniques for building better habits. This is the single most important thing in your control to help you live more years in good health, in my view.

2) Exercise. Exercise, or physical exertion, is believed by some to be 5x more effective than any known drug when it comes to boosting health. Notwithstanding any pre-existing health complications, everyone benefits from a mixture of resistance (moving something that feels heavy, your body weight counts), endurance (move your body such that your heart rate exceeds its resting rate), and mobility training (work your joints through their full range of motion). Aim to do these things as often as you can in any given week, but no less than twice. Many movements capture all three requirements simultaneously.

3) Eat less rather than more. We live in an abundant society. We have more than we need, at our fingertips, at any time. This is particularly true of food. Food abundance weakens our body by promoting accumulation of fatty tissue and growth of unhealthy cells. We have evolved over 200,000 years without the modern day’s ready access to food. Eating less can be done many ways. Use smaller plates. Eat within restricted time periods in any given day. Of course, what we eat is critical. Nutrition is widely researched, but anybody worth listening to will tell you that there is no single answer for any two people. Spend less time rather than more eating the things you feel you should avoid.?

4) Keep good company more often than not. Interacting with people, especially those we like to interact with, provides a critical stimulation to the way our brains have been wired over thousands of years. A sense of community and belonging gives humans a sense of purpose that enriches the soul. In our ageing world, dementia is the most rapidly rising condition. This is in large part because of an absence of quality social interactions in old age.

?5) Sleep more rather than less. Hyper-productivity is romanticised in today’s society. There are countless articles about the world’s most conventionally successful people getting minimal sleep. Consider that they are successful despite being sleep deprived, not because of it. Sleep is better understood today than it has ever been, and you can find many credible resources on how to enhance your sleep hygiene. There are different stages of sleep, some restore us physically (repairing muscle damage), others restore us mentally (consolidating memories).

Healthcare is a noisy and confusing space. I hope the list above is helpful in guiding further research into each focus area. Above all else, I hope it helps you stay healthy, happy and independent for longer.