Golden Years: Big Gain in the Future

Have you ever thought about how long you want to live? Most people I know want to live to a good old age as long as they have their mind and can take care of basic daily needs. Most people are more afraid of having a debilitating stroke than a crippling heart attack.

Nobody really enjoys thinking about our golden years and how we want to end our time hear on earth. Our future selves will thank us if we do start thinking and planning for our golden years. I had a patient tell me the only thing golden about his golden years was the front of his underwear!

The problem for most of us is that we are always going to start tomorrow, and tomorrow really never gets here. I judge other people by what they do, but I tend to judge myself by what I intend to do. I have really good intentions like learning Spanish, but . . . I will start tomorrow!

I want to encourage you today to start thinking about the “future you” and consider developing a plan to not only “go long” but to thrive. I do think it is possible to make some small changes now for big gains in the future.

I am currently reading a book, The Longevity Project, and have found it fascinating. It is based on a study started by Dr. Terman in 1921. He started following thousands of California children in grade school. He developed an extensive questionnaire for the kids, their parents, and their teachers. He wanted to look at personalities and see which ones tended to be more successful in health and life. He followed them until he retired and then others took up his work. All of the participants are now deceased.

The main takeaway from the book is that “Personality is an excellent predictor of health and longevity, often in counterintuitive ways.” It was not the carefree, "enjoy life, grab all the gusto while you can" personality type that lived the longest or for that matter was the happiest. “The findings clearly revealed that the best childhood personality predictor of longevity was conscientiousness—the qualities of a prudent, persistent, well-organized person, like a scientist-professor—somewhat obsessive and not at all carefree.”

Our personalities are difficult to change, but with some thoughtful effort we can make some differences. I tend to be an introvert. (My family may say to the extreme.) I can, however, function as an extrovert. It is not my natural self, but I can pull it off for a while. I think the same is true with other parts of our personalities.

I want to encourage you to think about your golden years and start coming up with a plan. 

Telomeres: The Tips of the DNA Strands

When I was in medical school, I was taught that we only use about 20% of our DNA and that the rest of it was left over from our evolutionary days. I never really believed those guys and thought that their relatives may have swung from trees, but mine surely did not!         

Now we know what the other 80% of our DNA is doing. The tips of the DNA were once thought to be dormant, but now are known to be very active and important to cellular health. The tips of our DNA are called telomeres. They act like the aglet on the tips of our shoestrings and keep the DNA from unraveling. They dictate to our cells when it is time to divide and how often to divide. With each division of the cell, the telomeres shorten. Eventually, the telomeres become too short and the cell dies.

The length of telomeres is set at birth. The length of your telomeres is passed on to you from your parents. In general, the longer the telomere, the longer the cell lives.

Several things can affect telomere health. On the negative side, any chronic disease can shorten the length of your telomeres.  Diabetes and hypertension are harmful for your telomeres. Smoking has been noted to be one of the worst offenders to telomere health. Depression can be detrimental as well. Obesity and lack of exercise are also associated with shortened telomeres.

On the positive side, we have some things that are helpful. Exercise seems to enhance your telomere length and can translate into longer cellular life and health.

The most amazing thing to me that can keep your telomeres healthy and long is having purpose and passion for life! Keeping a positive attitude is associated with telomere health. Understanding who you are and what you were created to do is actually good for your health. I believe that there is a strong spiritual connection that can be seen in our genetic expression. He knows the number of our days (Job 14:5) and the length of our telomeres!