As longevity planners, our aim is to bring clarity and guidance to the complexities associated with retirement and aging. By leveraging the collective experiences of our clients, Hatch Retirement Services is uniquely positioned to share ideas and perspectives relating to longevity…a bird’s eye view.
The Stuff of Life
Today, the possibilities for people to lead longer, healthier and more productive lives abound. Yet, following through and making informed choices to this end are easier said than done.
Common perception has it that both genes and lifestyle are equal factors in how long a person is generally capable of living. Yet, more information is coming available suggesting that this might not be the case. It may be good news for some that genetic makeup could only account for 25% of your longevity prospects. For others, there is work to do in taking care of body and mind.
A good diet and regular exercise are the two lifestyle factors that seem to count the most when it comes to outliving your peers. So, here we want to cite some of the other factors that have become rising attributes for longevity. It may all sound like common sense, but the facts and figures do tell a powerful story all taken together. The challenge lies in how you integrate these practices into your daily life.
Having a strong sense of purpose
Simply put, if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed behavior, you are likely to live longer. However, the goals need not be noble or grand to be effective.
A study done in Hungary about five years ago followed 12,640 middle-aged Hungarians and found that those who felt their lives were meaningful had significantly lower rates of cancer and heart disease than did those who didn’t feel this way.
Another study of some of the world’s most long-lived people, the Blue Zones project, discovered that having a sense of purpose—or “having a reason to get out of bed”—was a common trait in many of the world’s centenarians.
Frequently engaging in positive social interaction…even work
Based on records drawn from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, limited social networks and little social engagement were major risk factors for self-neglect.
It’s no surprise that lending a hand can make you feel good about yourself and your life. But research now suggests that older people who give back have better physical and mental health and a lower mortality risk. One study published in the Journal of Urban Health found that volunteers ages 60 through 86 who helped in Baltimore public elementary schools outscored their nonparticipating counterparts in both physical and cognitive ability.
The Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, CA, also found a strong benefit to volunteerism, and after controlling for a number of variables, showed that elderly people who volunteered for more than four hours a week were 44 percent less likely to die during the study period.
The practice of “giving back” and doing something meaningful is catching on as organizations have sprung up to facilitate the transition from one stage of work to another. San Francisco’s Civic Ventures helps talented people shift from midlife careers to encore careers by bringing their experience from the corporate world to the nonprofit sector. Another of their programs has set up coalitions across the country delivering life planning programs and peer and community connections beyond the workplace.
Having a strong spiritual or religious belief
There have been dozens of studies that over the years have discovered a positive relationship between religious faith and longevity.
Going to church, temple, mosque, synagogue or other religious services has been shown to add 2 to 3 years onto your life expectancy in a study by a University of Pittsburgh researcher. Added years of life were similar to those associated with regular exercise or taking statin-type drugs that lower cholesterol. The study also suggested that regular church attendance could be more cost-effective, in terms of added years of life, than taking those drugs.
Also from the Blue Zones project is mounting evidence that the simple act of regularly attending a religious service or ceremony seems to be a common thread among cultures with the longest life spans. It doesn’t matter what your faith practice is, attending a religious service (even once a month) seems to have positive effects on overall health and happiness.
The positivity effect
The wide scale memory loss effecting our senior population has become a major issue. But there is another side to the aging story. The headline is that older people tend to be happier. While seniors might not remember facts, figures or names as well as younger people, new research into cognitive functioning shows a serendipitous ability to focus on the positive in life.
Aging experts at the Stanford Center for Longevity have found that as older people contemplate their mortality, they change their goals and become more concerned about short-term emotional well-being. They put more importance on relationships and the rates of depression actually decline. This work is debunking the general belief that as they age, seniors become disengaged and their emotions become dampened. It has had a huge impact in psychology fields as diverse as the neuroscience of aging to personality and social relationships.
We want our clients to lead long, healthy lives. This all starts with seeing the positive in the future and setting attainable goals. Who you surround yourself with and your daily interactions are vital, literally. We have surrounded ourselves with like-minded professionals who believe that longevity planning is more than simple financial planning and long-term success is rooted in the coordination of an extended personal and professional network.
Contact Us:
1650 Borel Place, Suite 227
San Mateo, CA 94402
T-650.573.9960
F-650.573.9930
info@hatchplan.com
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