What is better aging?
You can label better aging in several ways, such as successful aging, healthy aging, and slower rate of aging. As you might expect, different people include different factors to measure better aging. Specific factors include, physical and mental health, physical and mental limitations, and life satisfaction.
Develop a positive mental attitude
Attitude can be defined as beliefs that possess an evaluative element. Attitudes are important because they affect behaviors and, consequently, health outcomes. Researchers recruited 421 rural Australians with an average age of 72 years to determine if attitudes toward one’s aging affected life satisfaction and physical and mental health. Cross-sectional results showed that more positive attitudes predicted higher levels of life satisfaction and physical and mental health as well as lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, after accounting for confounding factors including physical health. Participants who lived with partners reported more positive attitudes toward aging in the domains of potential losses (such as losing friends) and gaining wisdom. These aging Australians may have regulated their emotions to favor positive rather than negative ones. This finding echoes noted psychologist Barbara Fredrickson’s emphasis on positivity’s beneficial effects on aging. Thus, elders who embrace the healthy lifestyle choice of Develop a Positive Mental Attitude may age better by improving their satisfaction with life and their physical and mental health.
Eat your way to healthy aging
Could eating a healthy diet promote healthy aging? Researchers in Israel answered this question with data from 1,770 participants with an average baseline age of 75 years in the Israel National Health and Nutrition Survey of Older Adults. Successful aging was evaluated according to four domains: 1) preserved physical function, 2) preserved cognitive function, 3) favorable self-rated health, and 4) mental well-being. Diet was evaluated according the to the Healthy Eating Index-2015 criteria. Scores ranged from 0-100 with higher scores denoting a healthier diet. The nine components of a healthy diet included 1) total fruits, 2) whole fruits, 3) total vegetables, 4) greens and beans, 5) whole grains, 6) dairy, 7) total protein foods, 8) seafood and plant proteins, and 9) fatty acids. After adjusting for confounding factors and compared with participants in the lowest one-third of HEI-2015 scores, participants in the highest one-third had significant 73 percent higher odds of achieving healthy aging and a significant 15 percent lower odds of dying prematurely. Thus, eating a healthy diet may help older people age successfully.
Live with purpose
Recent research suggests that psychosocial risk factors may accelerate biological aging. Might seniors who possess psychosocial resilience factors, such a greater purpose in life, slow the pace of biological aging? DNA methylation (in which a methyl group attaches to a DNA molecule) may promote biological aging. Researchers used data from 1,572 participants with an average chronological age of 70 years in the Health and Retirement Study to determine if purpose in life would predict the rate of biological aging using 13 “clocks” based on DNA methylation in blood samples. These clocks were created using artificial intelligence computer algorithms. Nine of the biological aging clocks (all first-generation clocks) failed to predict biological age acceleration in relation to purpose in life. However, four of the biological clocks (all second generation clocks) showed that high purpose in life predicted significantly lower biological age of about two years. However, the statistical significance disappeared after controlling for health-related behaviors, such as smoking, physical activity, and alcohol intake. Thus, purpose in life may reduce the rate of biological aging indirectly by promoting healthy behaviors. Seniors who embrace the healthy lifestyle choice of Live with Purpose may age more slowly than seniors who don’t.
Positive self-perceptions of aging
Self-perceptions of aging refers to the beliefs and expectations that older people have about their own aging. A new systematic review that included 32 observational studies strongly confirmed earlier studies that self-perceptions of aging predict subsequent quality of life of older persons in 15 mostly higher income countries. Specifically, older people with positive self-perceptions of aging have higher odds of better general quality of life, physical health and functioning, psychological health, mental health, and general well-being. On the other hand, older people with negative self-perceptions of aging have greater odds of worse general quality of life, physical health and functioning, psychological health, and greater odds of depression and loneliness. Developing positive self-perceptions of aging may improve your quality of life and help you age better.
Eat less to slow aging
The newly developed discipline of geroscience seeks to extend both health span and lifespan. A key idea is that slowing or reversing molecular-level processes linked to aging can delay or prevent many chronic diseases and extend Quality of Lifespan (aka health span). DNA methylation (chemically adding a methyl group to a DNA molecule) is a key adverse molecular process linked to faster aging. Researchers used data from the CALERIE study to determine if two years of caloric restriction (12 percent below normal on average) slowed the rate of aging as measured with three different approaches based on DNA methylation: 1) DunedinPACE, 2) PheoAge, and 3) GrimAge. DunedinPACE employs data from multiple points over time, while PheoAge and GrimAge rely on data from a single point in time. Dunedin PACE, but not PheoAge and GrimAge, predicted slower rates of aging over 24 months for people in the caloric restriction group compared to those in the control group. While caloric reduction produced a small decline in the rate of aging (2-3 percent), this modest decline could have major effects over large populations.
Eat better per the alternative Mediterranean diet
In the past several decades, researchers have developed ways to measure aging according to the degree and location of DNA methylation in chromosomes. Epigenetic age can be determined from patterns of DNA methylation. Researchers used one such epigenetic clock, GrimAge2, to determine if healthy diets predicted slower epigenetic aging. Cross-sectional data came from 342 women participants with an average of 39 years in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Growth and Health Study. GrimAge2 values were determined from blood samples. Healthy diets included the alternative Mediterranean diet, the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, and the Epigenetic Nutrient Index. As expected, better healthy diet scores, especially for the alternative Mediterranean diet, predicted lower epigenetic age. In addition, higher consumption of added sugar predicted higher epigenetic age. The healthy lifestyle choice of Eat Better may help you age better and live longer.
Keep moving – watch less TV
Most of us aspire to healthy aging, which is especially relevant given that seniors may comprise 20 percent of the world’s population by 2050. Researchers at Harvard studied whether various sedentary behaviors and light-intensity physical activities would affect the odds of achieving healthy aging for 45,176 female participants with an average baseline age of 59 years over a 20-year follow-up period. Healthy aging was defined as surviving to age 70, being free of 11 chronic diseases, and having no impairment of physical function, memory, or mental health.
The most detrimental sedentary behavior was watching television. As TV viewing increased from 0-1 to over 41 hours per week, the odds of achieving healthy aging declined by 39 percent in a step-wise manner. Each 2-hour increase in daily TV watching reduced the odds of healthy aging by 12 percent. On the other hand, as the weekly amount of weekly light physical activity in the form of standing or walking around at work increased from 0-1 to over 41 hours per week, the odds of achieving healthy aging increased by 42 percent in a step-wise manner. Here’s a simple way to boost your odds of healthy aging: Replace 1 hour of daily TV watching with 1 hour of light physical activity, such as after-meal walks. Once you’ve habituated that change, replace another hour of daily TV with an hour of physical activity.
Eat better to avoid dementia
Older age is the strongest predictor of dementia. People who adhere to the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet have lower risk of developing dementia. Perhaps the MIND diet reduces the rate of biological aging, thereby reducing risk of dementia. Researchers at Columbia University tested this idea with data from 1,644 participants with a median baseline age of 70 years in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort. Prior to and at baseline in 2005, participants provided dietary data up to four times that enabled researchers to determine adherence to the MIND diet. At baseline, participants provided blood samples that were analyzed for DNA methylation, a process linked to biological aging. The DunedinPACE algorithm calculated biological age from the DNA methylation data.
Participants with a healthier diet (that is, higher MIND diet scores) prior to baseline had significantly lower risk of developing dementia during a median follow-up of 7 years. The MIND diet scores accounted for 27 percent of the risk of dementia attributable to DunedinPACE and faster biological aging. In addition, participants with faster biological aging at baseline had increased risk of all-cause mortality during a median follow-up of 12 years. Healthier diet predicted lower risk of dying during follow-up. Finally, the MIND diet scores accounted for 57 percent of the mortality risk attributable to the DunedinPACE (faster biological aging). A better diet appeared to reduce the rate of biological aging, the risk of dementia, and the risk of all-cause mortality.
Optimal diet for healthy aging
The aging of the global population and the potential increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases motivated scientists to identify validated dietary patterns that predict healthy aging. Researchers at Harvard and elsewhere used data from two large cohorts (Nurses’ Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study) with follow-ups of up to 30 years to determine if 8 healthy dietary patterns predicted healthy aging. Healthy aging was defined as reaching age 70 (or 75) without any of 11 chronic diseases and without cognitive, physical function, or mental health impairments.
At the end of follow-up, 9.3 percent of the women in the Nurses’ Health Study and 6.3 percent of the men in the Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study achieved healthy aging. All 8 healthy dietary patters predicted significantly higher odds of achieving healthy aging. Compared to the lowest quintile of adherence to the respective healthy dietary patters, participants in the highest quintile had higher odds of healthy aging that ranged from 45 percent (healthful plant-based diet) to 86 percent (Alternative Healthy Eating Index). When the age threshold shifted to age 75, the highest versus the lowest quintile of the Alternative Healthy Eating Index again predicted the highest odds (124 percent) of achieving healthy aging. The results suggest that you’ll maximize your odds of achieving healthy aging if you eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products, and limit trans-fats, sodium (as in salt), sugary drinks, and red and processed meat. In other words, Eat Better.
What to do
The best healthy lifestyle choice that you can embrace to age better is the one that you truly believe will improve your health and that you willingly adopt. If you watch a lot of TV, how about shifting one hour of TV to three, 20-minute after-meal walks each day? If you eat a lot of junk food, how about replacing one of those items with a piece of fruit? Start small and be kind to yourself when you’re not perfect.
