[LUM#4] Move More, Age Less
Is physical activity the key to eternal youth? In any case, it’s the surest path to healthy aging. That’s excellent news in a world where life expectancy continues to rise…
For a long time, old age was considered the final stage of life. “Even in the 1970s, anyone over 65 was considered an old person,” explains Jean-Marie Robine. “Back then, we thought we had reached the limits of human potential in terms of longevity, ”recalls the head of the “Longevity and Vitality” team atthe “Molecular Mechanisms in Neurodegenerative Dementias”laboratory. Life expectancy, however, continues to rise. It now stands at 86 years for women and 78 years for men, placing France at the top of the European rankings.
Healthy Aging
So much so that a new category has emerged: the “fourth age.” And why not a “fifth age” soon? After all, life expectancy continues to rise, increasing by 3 months each year.“The fourth age is getting longer, with its inevitable share of physical difficulties,” warns Jean-Marie Robine. For while life expectancy continues to rise, “disability-free” life expectancy—as researchers call it—is stagnating. And France isn’t exactly a model student.“We may be first in Europe in terms of life expectancy, but we rank only tenth when it comes to disability-free life expectancy,” explains Grégory Ninot, director of the CEPS Platform, a center for evaluating health prevention programs and non-pharmacological interventions.
And when it comes to the effects of aging, we’re not all equal… While some centenarians continue to hop on their bikes every morning, some people in their seventies are already struggling to get around. Where does this inequality come from? Partly from genetic factors: they account for 25% of how well we age. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. For the remaining 75%, the determining factor is lifestyle. This is good news, because while it’s—still—impossible to change one’s genetic makeup, we can adopt behaviors that promote healthier aging.
Pierre Louis Bernard, a researcher at EuroMov, the European Center for Movement Research, is working with Grégory Ninot to study the effects of physical activity on aging.“Engaging in physical activity leads to a very significant improvement in independence and quality of life,” the experts emphasize. That doesn’t mean you need to train for a marathon, though: the researchers recommend engaging in moderate physical activity—such as walking—on a regular basis, ideally five 30-minute sessions per week.“What matters most of all is consistency,” explains Grégory Ninot. “As for the rest, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution; the ideal approach is to offer personalized care.”
Customized Physical Activity
A “tailored” approach that involves assessing older adults’ health status in order to offer them physical activities adapted to their needs. The program “Balance and Fall Prevention to Improve Independence in Older Adults,” launched as part of the Macvia project, is based on this personalized prevention approach.“This program, implemented in partnership with Montpellier University Hospital, involves reaching out to each older adult in local communities to assess their individual functional abilities and plan appropriate physical activities,” explains Pierre Louis Bernard. The goal istoreduce the risk of falls, one of the leading causes of hospitalization and dependency among seniors.
“Physical activity helps people take charge of their health and play an active role in how they age,”adds Pierre Louis Bernard. And even if you’ve always been sedentary, experts remind us that it’s never too late to start:“No matter what age you start exercising or what your current state of health is, physical activity always provides tangible benefits.”
Conscientious people age better
What if our personality influenced how we age?“There are personality traits associated with an increase or decrease in age-related decline,” explains Yannick Stephan of the Epsylon Laboratory. For example, people who are conscientious, highly organized, and show a strong tendency toward self-discipline are more likely to age well.“Probably because being conscientious leads them to engage in fewer risky behaviors—smoking, drinking, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet…,” explains the researcher, who specializes in the psychology of health and aging. This is in contrast to anxious people, who exhibit a high level of emotional instability. “Anxious people are therefore at greater risk of suffering from cardiovascular disease or Alzheimer’s disease,” explains the researcher. Do we need to change to age better? “We can’t change people’s personalities, ” emphasizes Yannick Stephan, “but we can identify those at risk and implement preventive measures to improve the quality of aging.”
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