Photo by Steve Giralt
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Never Get Sick!
By Sid Kirchheimer, May & June 2007
These six simple habits can boost your immunity and safeguard your precious health
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Hank Lang turned 94 in April and hasn’t been sick since 1992, when he had a passing virus. This retired New York City firefighter—my father-in-law—occasionally splits wood to heat his cottage in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains but otherwise doesn’t engage in regular aerobic exercise. He eats healthfully, though he still enjoys his share of desserts. And for most of his adult life he enjoyed a regular dinnertime “cocktail hour.”
Yet aside from nightly 2 a.m. bathroom breaks and two knee-replacement surgeries—at ages 89 and 90, respectively—Hank is the picture of health: he has no signs of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, or even high cholesterol.
The secret to his long and healthy life? Hank thinks it’s in the birdseed he always keeps on hand.
“The birds and squirrels I feed each day keep me entertained,” he explains. “I have my periods of stress just like everyone else, but feeding the animals takes my mind off of it. It’s a nice diversion.”
Don’t laugh. While the cornerstones of staying healthy are loudly preached (and, still, often ignored)—don’t smoke, exercise regularly, manage weight, eat right—evidence is mounting that additional secrets to staying healthy may lie in simple strategies that likely play a big role in preventing disease, especially after age 50. And busting stress, as Hank does, is at the top of the list. Some insights from the latest research:
1. Smile when you say that! Bob Hope made it to his 100th birthday, and so did George Burns. Coincidence? Maybe not. Laughter releases endorphins, those “feel good” hormones suspected of boosting immunity, and that might make you more resistant to disease, says Michael Irwin, M.D., of UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and a former adviser for the federally funded National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. “At the very least, laughter reduces stress hormones, which we know have a bad effect on immunity,” Irwin adds.
If you’re the strong, silent type, a good belly laugh now and then may be especially important. Doctors used to think hard-charging Type A’s were at heightened risk for heart disease, but “we’ve moved on from that,” says David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., a preventive-medicine specialist at the Yale School of Public Health and coauthor of Stealth Health: How to Sneak Age-Defying, Disease-Fighting Habits Into Your Life Without Really Trying (Reader’s Digest Books, 2005). “We know now it’s having a so-called Type D personality—someone who bottles up emotions—that really causes an increased risk of heart disease and possibly cancer,” Katz says.
Along with its stress-busting properties, hearty laughter provides an aerobic workout similar to (if briefer than) that of more intense exercise such as jogging, notes Michael Miller, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. As little as 15 minutes of laughter daily may help prevent a heart attack by expanding the lining of blood vessels to improve blood flow, Miller’s research suggests.
2. Bring up Bowser Dog owners 50 and older see their doctors less often, have fewer illnesses, and recover more quickly when they are sick than is the case with their critterless counterparts. And the benefits go beyond what you’d expect from the added exercise of regular walks.
“The simple act of petting an animal has been shown to lower blood pressure by inducing an instant relaxation response,” says Alan Beck, Sc.D., director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in West Lafayette, Indiana. “And animal owners have a higher one-year survival rate following a heart attack, and have lower cholesterol levels, than those without pets—even when they have the same levels of exercise. Even watching fish has been found to help slow Alzheimer’s deterioration in some patients.” So don’t sweat those vet bills; consider them an investment in your own good health.
3. You snooze…you win As if insomniacs didn’t have enough to worry about: in a 20-year study, older people who tossed and turned for 30 minutes or more at night were twice as likely to die during the study as those who fell asleep soon after hitting the pillow.
“Sleep is a marker of a person’s overall well-being,” notes study lead Mary Amanda Dew, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Poor sleep also increases hunger and impairs metabolism, which by themselves increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.
But restless sleep is very common among older people. After age 55 two out of three adults have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at least a few nights a week, the National Sleep Foundation reports. So how do you cope?
“Try sprinkling your just-washed pillowcases and bedding sheets with lavender water,” suggests Katz. “It’s one of several aromas that might promote sleep.” Other sleep-inducing scents include vanilla and green apple. Another option, says Alan R. Hirsch, M.D., director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, is a pre-bedtime snack of walnuts, milk, or yogurt, which are rich in the amino acid tryptophan, a natural sleep inducer. (Choose vanilla-flavored yogurt and you get the added advantage of its scent.)
To maximize your shuteye, consider going to bed 30 minutes later than usual. “If you make yourself stay up a little longer, it increases your body’s need for sleep and you could fall asleep easier,” Dew says.
4. Read a book The more education you have, the healthier you are likely to be, studies show. And it’s not just because people with college degrees tend to have more money, which means more access to doctors and medicine. Higher education is also linked to an ability to delay gratification, which means a reduced involvement with smoking and other risky behaviors.
Do you have to head to college to reap the health rewards of education? Not necessarily, according to health economist Michael Grossman, Ph.D., of the City University of New York. “It’s also a matter of acting and thinking like an educated person,” he says. “Read more. Follow current events. Do other things to keep your mind as sharp as possible.”
5. Read a label To manage your weight—and avoid scores of diseases caused by or worsened by obesity—pay attention to the ingredients in the prepared foods you eat. The fewer ingredients, experts say, the better. “Many processed foods actually use salt to conceal sugar and artificial flavors, and use sugar to conceal salt and other flavors,” says Katz, who also wrote The Flavor Point Diet: The Delicious, Breakthrough Plan to Turn Off Your Hunger and Lose the Weight for Good (Rodale, 2005). “This explains why many popular pasta sauces found in any supermarket have more sugar calorie-for-calorie than ice-cream topping and why many cereals have more salt than potato chips.”
Different flavor categories stimulate different brain cells: sweet flavors will stimulate cells in one portion of the brain; salty flavors, in another; and sour flavors, in yet another. The more cell areas in the brain stimulated in the same meal, the more food you need to eat to feel full. (That’s why you can be full of meat and potatoes but somehow still have room for dessert.) But healthy doesn’t mean bland. Filling your belly with “whole” foods such as unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and grains instead of overly processed foods tricks appetite-controlling brain cells into feeling fuller faster on less food, Katz says.
6. Gaze at your navel Older adults who regularly practice tai chi, a “soft style” Chinese martial art best known for improving flexibility and mood, are more resistant than their peers are to shingles, a painful reactivation of the chickenpox virus, according to a study headed by Irwin. “Other studies find that practicing meditation can improve immunity against influenza,” he adds. Influenza, along with pneumonia, is the eighth-leading cause of death. Researchers are exploring yoga, too, as a way to prevent fatigue and specific diseases.
The reason: These practices strengthen memory T cells, the white blood cells that fight recurrences of previously experienced infections, including some that can lie dormant for decades. You lose memory T cells as you age, but boosting their function can spare you a nasty return visit from an old foe.
“How I Stay Healthy”
Clyantha Glover, 106
St. Louis, Missouri
Born: January 16, 1901
“I haven’t really been sick since 1936. Maybe a few sniffles now and then but nothing worse than that.”
Her secrets “A lifetime of hard work. I started picking cotton at age ten, and that made me strong. I also always ate well, staying away from processed and junk foods. And I was always involved in my church.”
Hank Lang, 94
Millrift, Pennsylvania
Born: April 15, 1913
“My knees sometimes are stiff, but I still manage to stay pretty healthy—even avoiding minor infections.”
His secrets “I take vitamins each morning and have a cup of yogurt every day. But mostly I think it’s because I keep busy.”
Helen Klein, 84
Rancho Cordova, California
Born: November 27, 1922
“I have seasonal allergies in the spring and fall, but that’s it. I take no medication, and I haven’t even had a cold for as long as I can remember.”
Her secrets “In addition to eating a well-balanced diet, I run about 50 miles per week.”
Shirley Dawson, 75
Rockingham, Vermont
Born: April 28, 1932
“Besides getting maybe one cold a year, I can’t complain. My knees are still in great shape, and I fall asleep the minute I hit the pillow.”
Her secrets “In my family we’re all upbeat, optimistic people, and I believe being happy people has helped us be healthy people. When you’re laughing, it’s hard to feel bad.”
Sid Kirchheimer wrote about quick ways to improve your health in the January-February 2007 issue.
Hair by Sarah Montiel for Aveda; Makeup by Sarah Montiel for Nars; Styled by Jessica Zindren.
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