It’s getting darker outside, the drizzle is gently permeating our daily lives and our thoughts often return to those summer afternoons in the sunshine; feeling fitter, healthier and having a can-do attitude to life.
There are two books I’d like to recommend to fortify for the months ahead. Each provides food for thought, not a million miles from our ethos here at LWC.
The first: The Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer: Lessons From the Healthiest Places on Earth by Dan Buettner.
Twelve years ago, this became an instant bestseller. Not so much for discovering a miracle diet (although we have been endeavouring to match the food we serve at LWC to some of these goals – the chips get a free pass though, as they taste great). It also wasn’t promising a pill for longevity. But instead, it suggested that living longer was aided by a sense of purpose, connection and daily rituals to help us unwind. For those of you who have been here at LWC for a while, you will have heard me mention these before.
So how are we doing in these stakes? Well, here in the Hart District, it turns out that we have the highest life expectancy in the UK for men at 83.7 years (Blackpool has the lowest, at 73.4). For women, Kensington and Chelsea tops the charts (86.3 years) and Blaenau Gwent is bringing up the rear, with 78.9.
In terms of the world order, I’ll let you see where we rank for yourself here. It seems we have something to learn from the Far East….life expectancies are higher than I thought.
My second choice is Marta Zaraska’s new book; Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism, and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100. This one dives into these so-called ‘soft drivers’ of health. It explores why a long life probably has as much, if not more to do with your purpose in life, rather than the number of steps you’ve reached.
Zaraska’s journey began from her dual role as a science journalist and a parent. Initially, she focused obsessively on diet and exercise, ensuring her family ate the healthiest foods possible. But, through her work, she stumbled upon research suggesting that she might be missing out on other factors vital for health and longevity. These were namely friendship, optimism, kindness and conscientiousness.
The most surprising revelation from her research, was just how much these factors can change things. Building a strong support network of family and friends can lower mortality risk by around 45 per cent (which is more effective than exercise).
Similarly, volunteering can reduce mortality risk by 22 to 44 per cent, a figure comparable to reaping the rewards of a healthy diet and in some cases, outperforming it. So, let’s raise a glass to all those Parkrun volunteers.
Of course, living longer often goes hand-in-hand with living healthily. A typical person who lives to be 80 spends 18 per cent of their time on Earth dealing with disease. For those who reach the heady heights of 110 and more, this falls to five per cent according to Zaraska. She suggests that a longer life doesn’t necessarily mean years of poor health.
So what can you do to live a longer, healthier life? Zaraska identifies three things:
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A happy, committed romantic relationship (49% mortality risk reduction)
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Social connectedness (45% reduction)
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Kindness and volunteering (35% lowering of mortality risk)
She points out that diet and exercise are vital for longevity, but sometimes we put too much emphasis on miracle diets at the expense of other factors. Caring lowers stress hormone levels which boosts our overall health. Caring doesn’t only mean caring for children, but also volunteering, making donations, and carrying out random acts of kindness. Making a positive difference is all good news.
Of course, all of these things work best together. So why am I telling you this?
Well, because in a perfect scenario, we’d all be eating healthily, exercising regularly, being kind, social, optimistic and conscientious.
That seems like something we can all sign up to doesn’t it? …In fact, at LWC, we already have.
Yours,
Adam
