100, and still going: For all of us who get to 50 this year, one in eight have another half-century to look forward
By Arthur Martin
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 23rd April 2010
One in eight people who celebrate their 50th birthday this year will reach 100, a survey found yesterday.
The startling statistic means the number of centenarians in Britain will soar past 300,000 by 2060 – nearly a 30-fold increase on today’s figure.
Analysts say the booming number of the very elderly is because of advances in medical treatments and a change in the attitudes and lifestyles of the over-50s.
Almost half of those over 50 in the UK say they are taking more exercise than they have ever done before.
Office for National Statistics data put the count of centenarians in England and Wales in 2008 at 9,640, a level far ahead of any recorded in the past.
The rate of increase of numbers of very old people is now such that the total is certain to have passed 11,000.
When the current centenarians were born into the Edwardian age, there were reckoned to be just 100 individuals in England and Wales who had reached the age of 100.
A survey conducted by Saga found that 76 per cent of over-50s are giving themselves a better chance of reaching 100 by being healthier than they have ever been before
Forty-six per cent said they were taking more exercise, 19 per cent said they had climbed a mountain recently and 23 per cent said they had run at least a mile while in their 50s.
One in seven entrants in this weekend’s London Marathon is over 50.
Six in ten over-50s play brain-training computer games and one in eight men over 50 claim to have taken Viagra in the past five years.
Only 15 per cent of those of over 50 smoke cigarettes – compared to 40 per cent in the 1970s – and they are four times more likely to take health supplements.
They are six times more likely to be on a low-fat or low cholesterol diet, with 78 per cent saying they are eating a healthier diet.
Emma Soames, editor-at-large of Saga Magazine, said: ‘Staying fit is about more than just diet and exercise – it is also about being psychologically and sexually active.
‘In both health and appearance, we see reflections of a fascinating truth about the nation’s over-50s.
‘In many respects, it is older people who have changed most, who have proved most responsive to social changes in the past generation, who are most unlike their same-aged counterparts of the 1970s and 80s.
‘When it comes to health, this generation’s willingness to change old habits is overwhelmingly positive – more so than we even realise.’
The spread of good occupational pensions since the 1950s – a factor in decline since Labour taxed pension funds and secure final- salary schemes began to disappear – has also helped many to live longer lives, according to analysts.
Britain is believed to rank high up international tables of long life, with only the U.S., Japan and France thought to have more centenarians.
French and American long life are often linked to high farm populations living a healthy outdoor life in the early years of the last century and good medical care for the elderly.
Long life in Japan is attributed to diets rich in fish and low in fats, and a society in which the elderly work deep into old age and are cared for by extended families.
Among our centenarians, the great majority were women – 8,360 versus 1,280 men. However, the number of men who survive to 100 has increased at twice the rate of women over the past decade – possibly because men born after 1900 escaped the dangers of the First World War trenches
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0lsQ2P35L
Going for the ton!
Going for the ton!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Going for the ton!
We need to change the retirement age. Soon.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Going for the ton!
Yeah. The Government didn't mean to have to support us for near 40 years of our lives.
Bah!
Re: Going for the ton!
Ah well, three out of four aint bad...Four common bad habits combined - smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet - can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests.
The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviours. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 per cent. Among the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 per cent.
The risky behaviours were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.
These habits combined substantially increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, said lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.
The study appears in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
The healthiest group included those who had never smoked and those who had quit; teetotallers, women who had fewer than two drinks daily and men who had fewer than three; those who got at least two hours of physical activity weekly; and those who ate fruits and vegetables at least three times daily.
"You don't need to be extreme" to be in the healthy category, Kvaavik said. "These behaviours add up, so together it's quite good. It should be possible for most people to manage to do it."
For example, one carrot, one apple and a glass of orange juice would suffice for the fruit and vegetable cutoffs in the study, Kvaavik said, noting that the amounts are pretty modest and less strict than many guidelines.
The US government generally recommends at least four cups of fruits or vegetables daily for adults, depending on age and activity level; and about two-and-a-half hours of exercise weekly.
Study participants were 4886 British adults aged 18 and older, or 44 years old on average. They were randomly selected from participants in a separate nationwide British health survey. Study subjects were asked about various lifestyle habits only once, a potential limitation, but Kvaavik said those habits tend to be fairly stable in adulthood.
Death certificates were checked for the next 20 years. The most common causes of death included heart disease and cancer, both related to unhealthy lifestyles.
Kvaavik said her results are applicable to other westernised nations including the United States.
June Stevens, a University of North Carolina public health researcher, said the results are in line with previous studies that examined the combined effects of health-related habits on longevity.
The findings don't mean everyone who maintains a healthy lifestyle will live longer than those who don't, but it will increase the odds, Stevens said.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbei ... -tnmd.html
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Going for the ton!
And meth can do it all by itself!
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.