Photo by Richard Corman
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10 Secrets of a Good, Long Life
By Sarah Mahoney, July & August 2005
Sure, great genes give you a head start. But to get as far as these folks have, you need to say "so long" to stress
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It's official: stress makes you old.
While researchers have long been piecing together all the ways chronic
stress undermines our health, a new study from the University of California at
San Francisco (UCSF) confirmed what we suspected all along: stress really does
age you.
What happens, researchers learned, is that constant stress causes the
telomeres—tiny caps on cells' chromosomes that govern cell
regeneration—to get smaller. When a cell's telomeres get too short,
the cell stops dividing and eventually dies.
Researchers discovered that the telomeres (pronounced teal-o-meers) of women
with chronically ill children were much shorter than those of women the same
age who weren't caregivers. Moreover, the greater the women perceived their
stress levels, the shorter their telomeres—and the "older"
their cells. "These telomeres are one of the few biological markers of
aging we have," says Judy Moskowitz, Ph.D., a psychologist at UCSF who
worked on the research.
But wait, you're probably saying: what happened to the women who
didn't perceive their lives as stressful? Stress didn't age them nearly
as much. "For them, stress is like water off a duck's back," says
Thomas Perls, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at Boston University and
the director of the New England Centenarian Project, a nationwide study of
1,500 people over the age of 100 and their children. "It isn't the
amount of stress that matters but how you manage it."
In fact, a number of the centenarians Perls has studied have endured plenty
of stress. After all, they lived through the Great Depression and World Wars I
and II, not to mention the usual array of divorces, deaths of loved ones, and
even job losses. "Yet they don't seem to internalize it," Perls
says. "They just let it go."
AARP decided to ask a few stress veterans—chosen from the 4 million
lucky Americans who have sailed past their 85th birthday—for their
secrets to staying young, both mentally and, as it turns out, physically as
well.
"Just deal the cards, okay?"
Pauline "Dully" Kirn
Age: 90
City: Lancaster, Ohio
Stress-reducing secret: Playing bridge
"Will this take long?" says Pauline "Dully" Kirn when
asked about stress. "I'm in the middle of a game." While the
Lancaster, Ohio, woman has plenty of interests, such as collecting antiques,
what keeps her going is the steady swirl of her bridge calendar. She has been
playing two regular bridge games for decades. "One is a little more
cutthroat, and one tends to be a little more chatty," she says. While she
thinks missing out on those outings—both the games and the
gabfests—might make her cranky, she can't say for sure. "We
don't skip games, so we don't have a chance to get grouchy."
Games zap stress Ever since psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
pioneered the study of mental "flow" back in the 1970s, researchers
have studied the best ways to achieve this elusive state, in which people are
so fully focused on what they are doing that time seems to stand still. In
fact, when Harvard University researchers followed people over the age of 65
for 13 years, those, like Kirn, who enjoyed games found almost as much stress
relief and prolonged life expectancy as did those who exercised regularly.
"I keep laughing"
Ernest "Brownie" Brown
Age: 88
City: Chicago
Stress-reducing secret: Having a sense of humor
Ask Brownie Brown if he has stress and he deadpans, "Not yet." But
the Chicago native still has plenty of hoofing left in him: he teaches
occasionally at the Chicago Rhythm Project and is part of a two-man tap-dancing
act that performs around the country. Humor comes naturally to Brown, and he
decided to rely on it professionally early in his vaudeville career. (He was
best known as half of the duo Cook & Brown and later danced with the
Copasetics, a famous tap-dancing troupe.) "Telling jokes on stage gave us
a break, so we could save our legs," he says. "I was the funny one,
and Cookie was the straight man." Recently, recalls Reggio McLaughlin,
Brown's current partner, the pair were performing, and "Brownie starts
a bit. 'Reggio, did you know I used to be a boxer named Horizontal
Brown?' So I say, 'No, I didn't know that,' and he says,
'Yes—when I come in the ring, everyone is screaming. The men are
screaming, the women are screaming.' So I say, 'Why are they screaming,
Brownie?' and he says, 'Because I forgot to put my trunks on!'
He's just a natural."
Humor zaps stress Studies have shown that people who can appreciate
humor are less stressed and anxious. But those, like Brown, who have the
ability to make jokes too have an added advantage. According to research from
Western Illinois University, they tend to be more secure and confident in their
interactions, less lonely, and more likely to see the stress in their lives as
lower than that of people who aren't able to joke.
"I don't feel my age. I just feel
happy"
Agnes Dill
Age: 91
City: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Stress-reducing secret: Being optimistic
Agnes Dill (right) often feels she was born 50 years too soon. She was the
first American Indian woman to go to New Mexico Highlands University "at a
time when most Indians were doing menial jobs. Today we're doctors and
lawyers." Although Dill became a schoolteacher in Oklahoma after
graduation, she never stopped trying to expand educational opportunities for
other American Indians, especially women. Her stress-fighting secret is simple:
even though macular degeneration prevents her from doing many of the things she
used to enjoy, "I'm very optimistic about life," she says.
"I accept things as they happen and make them better if I can. Most days,
I don't feel my age. I just feel pretty happy."
Optimism zaps stress Researchers from the National Institutes of
Health have learned that optimism is a protective trait, but there's still
a lot of work to be done in the burgeoning field of positive psychology.
"While we know optimists live longer," says UCSF's Moskowitz,
"it's not as simple as saying, 'Be happy, damn it.' People may
be optimistic because they're healthy, not the other way around."
Still, the numbers are impressive: Dutch investigators followed 1,000 people
between the ages of 65 and 85 for nine years, and the optimists had a 55
percent lower risk of death.
"I'm passionate about my work"
Bob Brown
Age: 95
City: Big Bear City, California
Stress-reducing secret: Having a sense of purpose
Master leather carver Bob Brown (left) knows more about Hollywood cowboys
than almost anyone alive: he crafted the holsters worn by Hopalong Cassidy,
Montgomery Clift, and John Wayne. He also befriended many of the actors he
worked with. His work is on display in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage
Museum, and over the years, he's taught leather carving to hundreds of
artisans. And though he thinks some of his longevity might come from clean
living ("I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't carouse"),
he believes it's his work that keeps him happy and strong. Long retired, he
still keeps regular hours on whatever project he's pursuing. "Right
now, it's watercolors. I get up, and I start to work. And if it interests
me, I stay up working until midnight."
Work zaps stress In some ways, work and stress have gotten a bum
rap—everyone has read studies linking type A workaholism with an
increased risk for heart disease, depression, and other health problems. But
researchers have found that work people are passionate about—so
meaningful that it becomes a calling rather than a nine-to-five—helps
reduce stress as well as the risk of depression, according to the Journal of
Humanistic Psychology. What's more, work that is flexible, such as that
done by Brown, can negate the stressful effects of long hours, according to
research from the University of Arkansas.
"Keep your friends close by"
Lilly and Marie Clifford
Ages: 100
City: Grand Forks, North Dakota
Stress-reducing secrets: Maintaining close friendships, talking through
troubles
Marie and Lilly Clifford have always been extremely close. The twins, raised
in northern North Dakota, both earned teaching certificates, taught for many
years (while they lived apart from each other), and then traveled together in
retirement. Today they live in an assisted living facility and still rely on
each other: Marie doesn't see very well, so Lilly helps her out;
Lilly's ears aren't the greatest, so Marie is often the spokesperson,
say the nurses who help care for them. Among the oldest surviving twins in the
world, neither ever married ("Well, not yet, anyway!"). And they
still enjoy each other's company, whether they are attending weekly Mass or
watching Bonanza reruns.
Close friendships zap stress Though loneliness has been linked to
making all people more susceptible to stress, depression, loss of cognitive
ability, and other ills, friendships seem especially protective for women.
Shelley Taylor, a re-searcher at the University of California at Los Angeles
(UCLA), has found that most women deal with stress exactly as Marie and Lilly
do—they rely on long chats with one another. While men are more likely to
go into "fight or flight" mode, women are more likely to "tend
and befriend." It works like this: though males and females produce the
soothing hormone oxytocin under stress, estrogen tends to enhance the hormone,
while testosterone inhibits it. When oxytocin levels are high, people are
calmer, more social, and less anxious. These friendships not only help fight
stress but may partially explain why women tend to outlive men.
"I try and make the world a better
place"
George Gless
Age: 88
City: Boulder, Colorado
Stress-reducing secret: Finding meaning
Electrical engineer George Gless retired from teaching at the University of
Colorado back in 1982, but he didn't give up the passion he developed
during his tenure there—electric cars. For 25 years while at the
university, he edited a newsletter on electric vehicles, and after retirement,
he continued to be involved in the experimental-vehicle community.
"I'm a scientist, basically, and the universe intrigues me," says
the Boulder, Colorado, man. "I feel that we ought to honor the
environment. The Lord gives it to us, so we should take good care of it."
(And yes, besides advocating for electric vehicles, he drives a Prius, the
Toyota hybrid. "We're actually on our second," he says.)
Altruism zaps stress Adaptive social behaviors, such as Gless's
concern for the environment, contribute to stress resiliency, according to
research from the National Institute of Mental Health. The research focused on
measuring hormones and neurochemicals among the U.S. Army Special Forces and
U.S. Navy SEALs and found that people with "a set of core beliefs that are
not easily shattered, who exhibit strong faith or spiritual beliefs," are
more resilient. What's more, when people look for meaning in their lives,
they seem to get a boost in immune function that may keep them healthier,
according to research from UCLA.
"I've got the music in me"
Thais Crowell
Age: 91
City: Mill Valley, California
Stress-reducing secret: Playing the drums
Thais Crowell has always appreciated music: she studied piano and voice in
college and loved the beautiful feeling of "knowing your tone was
improving, of letting the music come from not just your hand on the keys but
your whole body." But after college, Crowell's life got tough. Her
husband was killed by a land mine in 1945, leaving her with four small children
to raise. "It was a difficult time," she says, "but the children
got me through it." Crowell soon remarried, and rhythm came back into her
life. She and her second husband loved to dance—and even got their kids
involved. After moving into a retirement community 10 years ago, she signed up
for drumming lessons and was immediately hooked. "I feel myself relaxing
right away when I start drumming," she says. She currently belongs to two
drumming groups and performs in concerts in the area; the groups have gained
enough notoriety that filmmaker David N. Brown included them in a recent
documentary. "Drumming gives me the same inspiration I used to get from
the piano," Crowell says.
Music zaps stress While learning anything new has been proven to beat
stress, music has a special ability to calm people. Decades of research have
shown that listening to music can lower blood pressure and heart rate. A new
study at the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Pennsylvania also found that playing
music can significantly reduce stress.
"I don't worry about anything, and I pray
about everything"
Grace Nunery
Age: 86
City: Indianapolis
Stress-reducing secret: Praying
Although Grace Nunery has been a minister's wife since graduating from
college, it wasn't until she was 50 that she found her true calling. A deaf
person came to see her husband about a family funeral, and Nunery recalls how
awkward she felt having to write a note for something as simple as "Would
you like a piece of cake?" The woman taught her to sign the word
"milk" (which looks like milking a cow), and Nunery was hooked.
Before she knew it, she had embarked on a ministry to the deaf that would
eventually expand to a summer-camp program for deaf kids, drawing participants
from all over the world. There were doubts and mishaps—like the time she
accidentally translated "man's decay" as "someone here has
B.O." in front of the entire congregation—but she got over it.
"God put the deaf ministry in my path, I'm quite sure of it. And when
it got tough, I prayed," she says. "My favorite Bible verse is
'Don't worry about anything, pray about everything, and always be
thankful.'"
Prayer zaps stress Despite decades of research, there is still a
great deal of conflicting evidence about the health benefits of prayer. But
researchers do know that among older people, spirituality—which covers
not only faith and prayer but also the close-knit support of religious
communities—significantly lowers stress and improves the chances of
recovering from serious illness, according to the Journal of Health
Psychology.
"I exercise every single day"
Clarence Custer
Age: 90
City: Palm Coast, Florida
Stress-reducing secret: Playing tennis
Every morning, Clarence Custer hits the courts for a game of tennis. On good
days, he plays for an hour and a half. On better days, he plays for three
hours. And three times a week, he hikes over to the local health club and lifts
weights. In fact, he's so active that he was asked to carry the torch for
the Winter 2002 Olympics. The energy is nothing new. Custer began playing
tennis and squash as a young man back in Youngstown, Ohio, and the familiar
routine sustained him through the ups and downs of starting and selling several
businesses, as well as the death of his first wife. "I love tennis, and I
really look forward to playing with the same group of guys each
morning—they're great fun, all in their 80s," says Custer. Best
of all, there's the satisfying knowledge he can still finesse anything that
comes over the net. "I can't beat him, and I'm 20 years
younger," admits his wife, Joanne.
Exercise zaps stress While everyone knows exercise promotes a healthy
heart, researchers are constantly learning more about how it minimizes stress.
Multiple studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder have shown that
physiological responses to stress from the brain, hormonal system, and immune
system are all moderated by regular exercise. And while all exercise is
healthy, moderately intense exercise, like tennis, significantly reduces
anxiety too, according to research from the University of Missouri.
Sarah Mahoney last wrote for AARP The Magazine about becoming fit later in
life ("Real
Fitness," May-June 2005).
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