Living to 100...

[lederr]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_he_me/living_longer

Reaching 100 is easier than suspected By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Tue Feb 12, 4:34 AM ET



Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.

"It has been generally assumed that living to 100 years of age was limited to those who had not developed chronic illness," said Dr. William Hall of the University of Rochester.

Hall has a theory for how these people could live to that age. In an editorial in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, he writes that it might be thanks to doctors who aggressively treat these older folks' health problems, rather than taking an "ageist" approach that assumes they wouldn't benefit.

For the study, Boston University researchers did phone interviews and health assessments of more than 500 women and 200 men who had reached 100. They found that roughly two-thirds of them had avoided significant age-related ailments.

But the rest, dubbed "survivors," had developed an age-related disease before reaching 85, including high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. Yet many functioned remarkably well — nearly as well as their disease-free peers.

Overall, the men were functioning better than the women. Nearly three-fourths of the male survivors could bathe and dress themselves, while only about one-third of the women could.

The researchers think that may be because the men had to be in exceptional condition to reach 100. "Women, on the other hand, may be better physically and socially adept at living with chronic and often disabling conditions," wrote lead author Dr. Dellara Terry and her colleagues.

Rosa McGee is one of the healthy women in the study who managed to avoid chronic disease. Now 104, the retired cook and seamstress is also strikingly lucid.

"My living habits are beautiful," McGee said in an interview at her daughter's Chicago apartment. "I don't take any medicines. I don't smoke and I don't drink. Never did anything like that."

Until late 2006, when she fell in her St. Louis home, McGee lived alone and took care of herself. Now in Chicago, she is less mobile but still takes walks a few times weekly down the apartment building hallways, with her daughter's help.

McGee credits her faith in God for her good health. She also gets lots of medical attention — a doctor and nurse make home visits regularly.

Genes surely contributed — McGee's maternal grandparents lived to age 100 and 107.

But while genes are important, scientists don't think they tell the whole story about longevity.

A second, larger study of men in their 70s found that those who avoided smoking, obesity, inactivity, diabetes and high blood pressure greatly improved their chances of living into their 90s. In fact, they had a 54 percent chance of living that long.

Their survival decreased with each risk factor, and those with all five had only a 4 percent chance of living into their 90s, according to Harvard University researchers.

Those who managed to avoid lifestyle-related ailments also increased their chances of functioning well physically and mentally two decades later.

The study followed 2,357 men for about 25 years or until death, starting in their early 70s. About 40 percent survived to at least age 90. Among survivors, 24 percent had none of the five risk factors.

"It's not just luck, it's not just genetics. ... It's lifestyle" that seems to make a big difference, said lead author Dr. Laurel Yates of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"It's get your shoes on, get out there, and do some exercise," she said. "These are some things you can do" to increase the chances of a long life.

Yates said it's never too late to adopt a healthier lifestyle, though the findings don't address whether waiting until age 70 to stop smoking, lose weight and exercise will increase longevity.

Hall noted that the United States has more than 55,000 centenarians, and that Americans 85 and older are the country's fastest-growing group of older adults.

He said the new research underscores how important it is for doctors to become adept at treating the oldest of the old, who are "becoming the bread and butter of the clinical practice of internal medicine."

___

On the Net:

Archives of Internal Medicine:

http://www.archinternmed.com

 

[Gayle]

I wanna have an obituary like this guy's. NPR did a story on him when he died in 2004. Hearing about a guy who climbed the Matterhorn at 90 makes me feel like a yutz for ever using an elevator. ;-)


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Ulrich Inderbinen, Guide in the Alps for Seven Decades, Dies at 103
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 17, 2004

GENEVA, June 16 - Ulrich Inderbinen, a Swiss mountain guide who made his last ascent of the Matterhorn at 90, died on Monday in Zermatt. He was 103.

Called King of the Alps by admiring foreign tourists, Mr. Inderbinen died in his sleep at home, according to a family announcement in the daily newspaper Walliser Bote of Brig.

Mr. Inderbinen stopped work only at the age of 95. Even in his 90's, he regularly climbed peaks of more than 13,200 feet, and estimated that he had stood on the summit of the Matterhorn, which he called "the most beautiful mountain in the world," at least 370 times. "I have never felt bored," he once said in an interview with The Associated Press. "That is, unless my clients walk too slowly."

Mr. Inderbinen was born into a family of nine children on Dec. 3, 1900, and spent most of his childhood tending animals in the mountains above Zermatt, which was still an impoverished farming community rather than a top international resort.

He made his first ascent of the 14,700-foot Matterhorn in September 1921 with his younger sister, who wore the traditional long skirt and nailed boots. He got his first job as a mountain guide four years later.

"Mr. Inderbinen showed himself thoroughly safe and reliable, so I hope to climb with him more frequently," wrote his first customer, a German doctor, in comments that were subsequently echoed by hundreds of other climbers.

In his 70-year career Mr. Inderbinen took time off only once, when he was grounded for 10 days with a shoulder injury after slipping on an icy path. He had his first dental appointment when he was 74. He never needed glasses.

Mr. Inderbinen once said that one of the best periods of his life came after his 80th birthday, when he started competing in skiing races for fun. He always won, as he was the only competitor in his age category.

He was given a pair of skis for his 90th birthday, a gift he put to regular use, and a mountain-climbing ice ax when he turned 95.

Despite his international reputation, Mr. Inderbinen remained modest. Foreign television crews wanting to interview him found he was a man of few words. He rarely took vacations and never saw the sea. He never owned a car or bicycle.

"I am the only person in Zermatt without a telephone," he would say, proudly. Clients wanting to make contact with him knew they could meet him in Zermatt's church square in the early evening.

He remained under the spell of the Matterhorn, Switzerland's most famous landmark.

"It's simply a fascinating mountain," he said, "which was as appealing to me on my last climb as it was on my first."

If anyone asked him of any regrets, he would reply that his family vetoed his plans to visit Tanzania and climb Kilimanjaro at 92. "I've really no idea why they were all against it," he said.

He was once asked by a journalist if he was afraid of dying. "Not really," he replied. "When I look at the death notices in the paper I scarcely see anyone of my own age."

 

[lioness]

Wow...what a remarkable guy! Thanks for sharing.

 

[andtckrtoo]

My aunt who is in her late 70's skis with an "Over 70 club" 4 of whose members are in their 90's. I think the truth of the matter is, "If you don't use it, you lose it".

Gayle - that guy reminds me of a local hero - the Dispea Demon - Jack Kirk.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/01/BAGB8NSRSD1.DTL

Here is his obituary:
The legend of Jack Kirk began one day in 1933 or 1934 on a steep slope called Steep Ravine in Marin County during the famous Dipsea Trail race.

The runners were tired as they headed toward Stinson Beach when suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere tearing down the slope, sliding and leaping over brush, passing other runners like they were standing still.

"Boy," one runner said, "that guy runs like a demon."

From that day forth, Jack Kirk was known as the "Dipsea Demon," and he lived up to the nickname, running the arduous 7.1-mile trail race out of Mill Valley 67 consecutive times. He didn't quit until he collapsed at the top of the grueling 1,362-foot elevation Cardiac Hill -- at age 96.

The man who once beat John Muir's grandson in a race died Monday night of old age at a hospital in Clovis (Fresno County). He was 100.

Kirk, who lived almost his entire life in the Sierra foothills town of Mariposa, was a bit of an odd duck, living for years without running water or electricity, driving old junky cars and fighting with his neighbors.

He might have died a complete unknown if not for his running prowess, which turned him into one of Marin County's most fabled characters, so popular that he had to carry a sign asking spectators at races not to pat him on the back.

Born in 1906, he grew up poor in Mariposa County with three brothers and a sister. His father, an Irish immigrant, died when he was relatively young, forcing him to work on a farm to help support the family.

He was a small child and, according to legend, he began running, often barefoot, to get away from his brothers and bullies. It later became a kind of escape from life's difficulties.

He studied math and biology at Pacific Union College, where he eventually got a degree in biology. He worked for a time at the Shell oil refinery in Martinez.

A 5-foot-5, 135-pound, lifelong vegetarian, Kirk first heard about the Dipsea race in 1930. The race, founded in 1905 by a group of Olympians calling themselves the "Dipsea Indians," was already renowned. Curious, Kirk took a ferry and train to Mill Valley and perusaded an old-timer to take him on the trail.

That same year, he ran his first Dipsea and he was hooked, according to Drow Millar, a San Anselmo filmmaker who produced the award-winning documentary, "The Dipsea Demon."

Kirk was recognizable even then for his footwear -- inexpensive flat sneakers like those popular among schoolgirls. He explained to those who wondered that he was accustomed to running barefoot and preferred minimal covering on his feet.

He was competitive every year, but the Dipsea's complicated handicapping system -- which gives head starts to old, very young and female runners -- foiled him early on. Mr. Kirk came in second and had the best time in the race when he was 36. He finally won the event in 1951. Sixteen years later, when he was 60, he won it again, becoming the oldest runner at that time to win.

Kirk, who never married, worked as a garbage collector in Yosemite for several years in the 1940s, where he trained by running to the top of Yosemite Falls. He bought a 400-acre ranch in Mariposa in 1941 and lived there alone for 60 years with nothing but a couple of shacks and the old cars he fixed up. Millar said Kirk mostly slept in the cars after he filled up the cabins with debris.

"John Steinbeck used to call us scroungers," he told Millar, explaining his penchant for collecting junk.

He was cantankerous, often confronting neighbors and children who strayed onto his property. He had the dubious distinction, according to Millar, of spending time in all three jails in Mariposa County at one time or another, usually for firing his gun to scare off trespassers or mouthing off to a cop.

He never had a telephone, bathed in a nearby creek where he also got his drinking water, and lost his electrical power during a dispute with PG&E in the early 1960s, never again having electricity.

Kirk was famous for barely making it in time for the race, often driving all night in Volkswagens held together with duct tape and baling wire. A strict Seventh-day Adventist, he would not leave for the Sunday race until after nightfall on the Sabbath, the night before the race.

He was always quick with a quip. Asked why he was so good running downhill, he would answer, "They haven't repealed the law of gravity yet, have they?"

As he got older he would often say, "Old runners never die, they just reach the 676th step," referring to the 675 Dipsea stairs that start the race out of Mill Valley.

Part of his legend was the fact that he would not eat or drink on the day of the race because he didn't want to upset his stomach. He would run right past the watering stop at the top of Cardiac Hill, even on blazing hot days. When someone offered him something, he'd bark, "I don't want anything."

In 1997, at age 90, Kirk broke the record for competing in consecutive foot races held by Boston Marathon legend Johnny Kelley. He was so beloved by then that runners would accompany him holding signs that said "Don't Touch The Dipsea Demon" to discourage fans from patting him on the back.

When the streak ended in 2003, organizers arranged for him to walk across the finish line one last time.

"He crossed the finish line with hundreds and hundreds of people cheering him," Millar said. "It was a very powerful, moving experience for everybody."

He is survived by his brother Earl Kirk of Clovis.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

 

[JMFRANE]

"I think the truth of the matter is, "If you don't use it, you lose it".

I agree. My Mom, who is 82, and still dances, plays bridge and is very active, has this posted on her bulletin board in her kitchen:

"If you rest, you rust"

Joanne

 

[lederr]

i love that this thread has turned into one with such motivating stories!!! keep sharing!!!