Living to 90 and Beyond
Discover what promotes healthy aging in seniors with The 90+ Study. Led by Co-Principal Investigators Claudia Kawas, MD and Maria Corrada, ScD, this study examines lifestyle practices, dementia development, and more in elderly participants.
A 60 Minutes Segment You Don’t Want to Miss
The Co-Principal Investigators: Claudia Kawas, MD and Maria Corrada, ScD along with co-investigators Annlia Paganini-Hill, PhD and Dana Greenia, RN, MS study the oldest of old, in the The 90+ Study. The information that started this study is very interesting. In 1981, a retirement community was started in California. It was called. Leisure World and the study that was started was the Leisure World Cohort Study.
The 90+ Study continues to check up on those participants every six months. “The Leisure World Cohort Study was established to study the effect of modifiable lifestyle practices on longevity and successful aging when all residents of a California retirement community (Leisure World Laguna Hills) were mailed a postal health survey in 1981.
New residents who moved into the community after this date were mailed the survey in 1982, 1983, and 1985. Of the 22,910 residents, 13,978 (61%) completed the questionnaire. The population and cohort are mostly Caucasian, well educated, upper-middle class, and elderly.
The baseline survey asked demographic information, brief medical history, medication use, personal habits (including cigarette smoking, activities, alcohol consumption), and select food and beverage frequency intake.” All the participating seniors in the in the The 90+ Study were initially participants of the Leisure World Study.
The The 90+ Study wanted to look at what determines longevity? What lifestyle choices promote living to 90 and beyond? Included in this study, was research on the development of dementia. How many developed a type of dementia? Are there changes in the brain that determine memory loss and dementia?
I think you will be surprised at what the researcher have uncovered. Researchers from The 90+ Study have published many scientific papers in premier journals. Some of the major findings are: “People who drank moderate amounts of alcohol or coffee lived longer than those who abstained. People who were overweight in their 70s lived longer than normal or underweight people did.
About half of people with dementia over age 90 do not have sufficient neuropathology in their brain to explain their cognitive loss. People aged 90 and older with an APOE2 gene are less likely to have clinical Alzheimer’s dementia, but are much more likely to have Alzheimer’s neuropathology in their brains.
People who exercised definitely lived longer than people who didn’t exercise. As little as 15 minutes a day on average made a difference.
Forty-five was the best. Even three hours didn’t beat 45 minutes a day.”
60 Minutes Living into Your 90's And Beyond 90 Part 1
Living to 90 and beyond Part 2
According to a CBS News report, some people live to 90 and beyond. In fact, the average life expectancy in the United States is 78.7 years. But what drives some to reach those advanced ages? To answer this question, Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes took part in an NIH-funded research study that followed 2,000 nonagenarians, aged 90 and older. The researchers discovered that the participants had nine traits in common: social connections, optimism, curiosity, resilience, mental agility, healthy diet, physical activity spirituality and sense of purpose.
Knowing these factors can us understand how to pursue healthier lifestyles and potentially live. Through attitude and proactive behavior change, women who've made it to 90 and beyond have adopted habits such as eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, maintaining a few pounds below their ideal weight, engaging in social activities and using the power of optimism. They also make sure to stay mentally agile by challenging themselves intellectually and staying curious about learning new things throughout their lives.
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