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Healthy Ageing@Dr Gys
online at www.probeauty.co.za
Keeping healthy Could a long healthy life be the norm in modern life? Dr Gys du Plessis elaborates.
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here are actually only four broad categories of causes that can make us unwell, ill or land us in a bed. These are: hereditary conditions, trauma, infections and chronic degenerative diseases. Of these four conditions, the degenerative (ageing) diseases make up 90% of all patients in hospital beds today. Examples of such chronic conditions are heart and vascular disease, dementia and Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis and cancer. Cancer has recently become the number one disease on the planet from which people suffer and die. According to a just-published study in the British medical journal, the Lancet, the number of world cancer cases will rise by nearly 75% in 2030. Cancer is likely to be the “major cause of morbidity and mortality in the coming decades in every region of the world. What’s more, 90% of the increase in cases of cancer will be in developing countries”. A ‘westernised’ diet – containing red and processed meats, refined grains, fats and sugars – has been connected to colon cancer; habits such as smoking and inactivity have also been connected to higher rates of cancer. If this is the case in a society getting 40 years older than 100 years ago, what then helps to age us healthily and pass away at an advanced age? Before we get into the finer details in future articles on how to extend your healthspan, I think it is appropriate to look at the proven broad, commonly shared reasons present in those who live, and have lived, long healthy lives. These grassroots factors all share the same general effect on our bodies. They prevent or reduce the amount and severity of stress hormone increases and the negative health effects they have on our human physiological system. All the people who live long, regardless of sex or race, have one thing in common: none of them are overweight. A body mass index above 30 definitely has many serious consequences, preventing wellness in the long run.
Across the board, studies have confirmed that moderate aerobic exercise of an average of 150 minutes per week increases our chances for healthy longevity. A diet high in refined sugars and carbohydrates, as well as trans fats, despite often being associated with obesity, in itself leads to accelerated ageing. An amazing, yet common-sense reason for wellness and long living is that energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping well.
All the people who live long, regardless of sex or race, have one thing in common: none of them are overweight. Studies that have been done in the so-called blue zones on the planet, where many people aged 100 years plus (centagenarians) are leading good healthy active lives, proves that it does not lie in our genes, but very much in the way we live our lives. In Okinawa near Japan much has been made of their tofu and fish-rich eating plan and ‘Hara Hachi bu’ – ‘eat until you are 80% full’. In Sardinia, near Italy, it has been thought to be the Mediterranean diet, red wine, coffee and siestas. The Costa Ricans in Nicoya are thought to live extra-long healthy lives through hard water, minerals and bone strength. On the Greek island of Ikaria, scientists have tried again to identify diet, work ethic and marriage status, community living as well as clean air and water as the reason for healthy longevity, without impressive proof.
Again and again the most common outstanding thread in all centenarian communities studied seems to be having a reason to get up every morning and to live life with a purpose and with natural joy. We cannot fake happiness, and our mind and our bodies respond positively to an inner sense of purpose, direction and meaning. When we have a ‘why’ in our lives and in our thoughts, the hormonal stress system and all the cells of our bodies, will respond favourably, with an extended healthspan and beauty span, most often the case. The golden thread at the end of the day leading us to healthy ageing remains that of reducing our stress on all levels and increasing our awareness, leading lives with meaning, purpose and a sense of direction. It is a life that we experience as making a positive difference in the big scheme of things. When the Dalai Lama was asked: “What thing about humanity surprises you the most?” he responded: “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money; then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health.” PB
If you would like to ask Dr Gys du Plessis a question, please email the editor at sally@probeauty.co.za Two questions and answers will be published in the following issue of the magazine.
Dr Gys du Plessis has a keen interest in Holistic, Integrative and Aesthetic Medicine. He has founded and led two Holistic Centres in South Africa and is the medical director for Nimue Bioscience International. To touch base with Dr Gys visit: www.facebook.com/drgys1
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Professional Beauty March/April 2013