In a few weeks I will be 67 years old, more than two-thirds of the way to my goal of living to 100 and hopefully getting a birthday card from the monarch. But how likely is it that I – or any of us – will reach this milestone?
Although average life expectancy in Britain has risen dramatically over the past century – from just 46 in 1900 to an average of 81 today (79 for men; 83 for women) – it has recently leveled off and is starting to decline. That’s the average: many of us can expect to do better – and of course many will do much worse.
An obvious step is to look at your parents: my father died at age 74 from heart failure, while my grandfather died at age 66 from the same condition. My mother, on the other hand, who is about to celebrate her 94th birthday, is still going strong.
As I recently discovered while making my TV series Secrets Of The Superagers, what determines your lifespan is a combination of genes and lifestyle, but your genes become more important as you get older.
As part of my research, I went to Okinawa, an island off the coast of Japan. It is also called ‘the land of the immortals’ because it has the highest percentage of centenarians in the world.
Dr. Max Mosley is looking forward to his birthday
I met Craig Wilcox, a professor of public health and gerontology at Okinawa International University, who leads a research program that has studied more than a thousand centenarians in the region. He told me that twin studies have shown that whether or not you are in good shape until the age of 80 is 75 percent about lifestyle and 25 percent about genes.
But if you hope to reach 100, it’s the genes that really matter – and one gene in particular, FoxO3, which he described as ‘the anti-aging gene’.
We all have this gene, but there is a special version for longer life, which seems to be particularly beneficial: if you inherit one copy from a parent, it doubles your chance of living to 100, while if you inherit two copies (one from each parent), it triples your chances.
Professor Wilcox has been tested and found to have one copy. I’ve been tested too. I do not have any. That’s a small blow. (Tests for such genes are privately available.) Professor Wilcox thinks the variant works mainly by reducing chronic inflammation, which is the cause of many aging diseases, including heart disease and dementia.
He tried to cheer me up by explaining that even if you only inherit the regular FoxO3 genes, there are ways to activate them so they behave more like the protective version. These include intermittent fasting (such as with my 5:2 diet), regular exercise, stress reduction – and, even more surprisingly, consuming lots of red and purple foods, such as red-purple sweet potatoes and shrimp and salmon.
These brightly colored foods contain powerful antioxidants that help protect us against heart disease and stroke.
Numerous animal studies have shown that calorie restriction, if done while eating a nutrient-dense diet, is linked to increased longevity, and recent research has suggested that this applies to humans as well. The idea that it might work, at least in part, by activating your FoxO3 genes is relatively new, but this has recently been shown in animal studies.
It could also explain why Okinawa has so many centenarians: when the generation of Okinawans, now in their nineties and hundreds, grew up after World War II, they lived on a very low-calorie diet (less than 1,700 calories per day), but one packed with vegetables (like sweet potatoes) and seafood, with very little meat or rice, which doesn’t grow easily there.
Professor Wilcox thinks that following a low-calorie diet rich in vegetables and foods containing antioxidants helps activate genes such as FoxO3 that play a role in healthy aging.
A 2017 University of Hawaii study found that giving mice a supplement of astaxanthin (an antioxidant found in reddish foods like salmon) increased the activation of the FoxO3 gene by 90 percent.
Unfortunately, younger Okinawans have largely abandoned the traditional Okinawan diet in favor of a more Western diet, and as a result do not live nearly as long as their parents. The average life expectancy on the island is now 83, compared to 86 in the 1980s – and lower than that of the average Japanese person (85).
A final lesson I learned from the Okinawans was the value of something they call Moai, a gathering of friends who meet regularly to gossip or share advice and financial assistance when needed. These groups often start in childhood and can last a lifetime. Sometimes they form just to help a friend who is going through a hard time.
I went to a Moai that had been created to support an elderly cardiologist whose wife had passed away. Once a week his friends would gather at his house to sing karaoke (which he loved), eat, dance and chat. It was a lovely atmosphere and you could see how much it meant to them all.
Research has shown that the wealth of our social connections is probably the most important factor when it comes to living a long and healthy life. It’s worth keeping in mind if you’re hoping to get that birthday card from the Royal Family.
Around 75 per cent of NHS patients refuse to take part in any weight loss programme, even if it is free.
Researchers from the University of Oxford have discovered why: a study of 4,000 patients found that people tend to want a program based on real food rather than meal replacement shakes; they don’t like groups; and would much rather do the program online. Plus, they want something that delivers significant weight loss (10-15kg), rather than more modest goals (2-3kg).
Based on these findings, the researchers said that if the NHS offered more tailored programmes, the number of participants could almost double.
Whether you think lockdowns were essential or not, there is no doubt that they have had a long-term impact, especially on children’s mental wellbeing. But I was encouraged to see that they might have had an unexpected benefit: reduced allergies. That is the conclusion of a recent study of 351 babies by University College Cork, which found that those born during the pandemic were given far fewer antibiotics than a comparable group born before Covid.
This led to a healthier microbiome and in turn a lower incidence of allergic diseases, especially food allergies.
Deepen your voice like Thatcher to sound more impressive
If your voice is more of the high-pitched and squeaky type, you might want to emulate former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who famously changed the way she spoke: becoming slower and more deliberate, and lowering the tone, to be, it is said, more serious taken.
And now a study has shown that speaking in a deeper voice actually makes you sound more commanding. Researchers from Penn State University in the US recorded two men and two women saying the same sentence. They then edited the recordings to produce a higher and a lower version of each voice. They then asked more than 3,000 people in 22 countries to listen to these voices.
The results showed that both men and women chose the lower voices when asked “who would you most like to have a long-term relationship with, such as marriage,” and viewed a lower voice as “more formidable.” .
They also found that women with higher-pitched voices sounded more flirtatious and that men found them “more attractive for a short-term relationship.” If you want to deepen your voice, stand up straight, with your back straight and your chin up. This helps open your diaphragm, allowing you to exercise better vocal control.
And if you’re about to give a speech or ask for a pay rise, try deep belly breathing first: this will keep you calm and mean you’ll speak in a deeper, more authoritative voice (again, by clearing your diaphragm) .
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach: your hand should rise as you inhale slowly. Or do what Margaret Thatcher did: hire a voice coach.
Whether you think lockdowns were essential or not, there is no doubt that they have had a long-term impact, especially on children’s mental wellbeing.
But I was encouraged to see that they might have had an unexpected benefit: reduced allergies. That is the conclusion of a recent study of 351 babies by University College Cork, which found that those born during the pandemic were given far fewer antibiotics than a comparable group born before Covid.
This led to a healthier microbiome and in turn a lower incidence of allergic diseases, especially food allergies.