3 days Ago
No sooner had Christmas Day passed than my media feed was jammed with health and fitness tips for the new year. This included recommendations on things I might do to help me live longer. Or even forever.
As in, never dying. This enthusiasm for trying to outlive all others is not new. Kings, warriors and wealthy people have fought to beat death since the dawn of time.
In Greek mythology, the goddess Eos asked Zeus to grant her mortal lover Tithonus eternal life. But she forgot to ask for eternal youth to accompany this gift. She got her wish, but Tithonus withered into an old man.
Oisín suffered a similar fate in Tír na nÓg. Only gods were immortal, and mortals were warned about the consequences of meddling with fate. In these stories, desire to be immortal is fuelled by self-importance, with the intoxication of power and wealth making it easier to lose sight of individual insignificance.
Read more Venki Ramakrishnan, a Nobel laureate and molecular biologist, critically analyses current research on ageing in his book Why We Die . His examination of extremely long lifespans is framed using the massive variation in how long different species live, from the Greenland shark, with a lifespan of 400 years, to the fruit fly, with only a day of life. Ramakrishnan assesses the rapid development of molecular biology and concludes that living beyond the usual human lifespan is theoretically possible.
Importantly, though, he also debates whether extended life is philosophically attractive. It is a question that reminded me of a patient in her 90s that I cared for as a young doctor. Marvelling at her vigour, I foolishly asked her if it felt wonderful to live so long.
“Not really,” she replied sadly. “Everyone I loved is now gone.” Strength and mobility training can keep us healthy as we age.
Photo: Getty Extreme longevity must be desirable to some, however, considering how much effort is expended on resisting cellular ageing. “Live forever” zealots extol the virtues of long fasts, medication to lower blood sugar and hours of weight training. Some receive blood transfusions from young people and individualised supplements to boost cell repair.
To be clear, these are not proven interventions. Though I’m sceptical about potential immortality, there is a lot to be said for retaining muscle strength, mobility and memory. Professor Rose Anne Kenny and her team in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda) emphasise the importance of maintaining mobility and supporting healthy brain function as we get older.
Tilda demonstrates what we can do to improve the quality of our lives as we age: reducing or stopping alcohol intake, sleeping well, tackling hearing and vision loss, socialising and staying active physically. Research in populations characterised by successful aging found in Italy, Japan, Greece and Costa Rica come to similar conclusions: if we wish to have a good quality of life beyond the average human lifespan of 73.3 years, our efforts should be collective and begin in childhood.
The magic fix for successful ageing is unlikely to lie in the actions of one person, and far more likely to come from investment in communities. It is best to live in the moment and embrace each day as it comes. Photo: Getty Focusing on living in the moment provides a welcome balance to the fight against inevitable ageing.
We could probably use a bit of each approach. Sticking to the day at hand provides purpose, helping to manage anxiety and feeling overwhelmed. A few months after my husband suddenly passed away, my family went on holiday.
On the way home, my small son declared: “That was the best holiday ever.” Unsurprising, as he had spent all his time swimming and eating ice cream. His living each day without dwelling on the past or fretting about the future made me see how liberating this mindset is.
Adult life is harder, with its blizzard of responsibilities and demands, and it can take strenuous effort to dig into each moment, be it painful or joyful. Whereas youth grants vitality, old age gives wisdom and humility. Perhaps this is why the “blue zone” way of life found in Sardinia or Okinawa does not focus on eternal youth or life; instead, it accords value to old age and focuses on including everyone.
Although research on extreme longevity is having a major moment, immortality thankfully remains out of reach. Sensible measures to maintain good health in older life are available, however. Each begins with actions that we take each day.
Borrowing the words of the writer Anais Nin, this year I hope to “postpone death by living, by suffering, by loving, by error, by risking, by giving, and by losing”. Dr Suzanne Crowe is a consultant in paediatric intensive care medicine Read more.
