Flora Holistic Wellness

View Original

Aging Well vs. Just Getting Old

Dana Flora

What does “aging well” mean to you and how exactly do you do it? Let’s start with how you think about aging and your life expectancy in general. 

How long do you think you will live?  

Apparently, how you answer this question is a pretty good indicator of your life expectancy. Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, and one of my teachers at IIN is a longevity expert. If you are not familiar with him, he traveled the world with National Geographic and several scientists and identified and studied “The Blue Zones”, which are unique regions across the world with the healthiest, happiest, and longest-living people. One of my favorite nuggets from his lecture was that according to the National Institute on Aging, if you were doing a quick assessment of life expectancy, the number 1 question to ask is, “How long do you think you will live”? So interesting. Score another point for mind over matter/positive mental attitude!

Bottom line: Mindset matters.   

Life span v. Health span

So now lets tackle the more important questions:  

  • How long do I want to live?

  • How long do I want to live with health and vitality?   

The first question has to do with life span/life expectancy while the second question is about what longevity experts and one of my favorite functional doctors, Mark Hyman M.D., calls “health span”. Health span is how long you live with good health and vitality. Can you imagine being 100 years old? If you are middle-aged, that means you still have half of your life left to live! But what about the second question? Can you imagine living being 100 years old with health and vitality? If that is possible, sign me up!  

Chew on this: The average person in the U.S. lives to be about 78 years old. Thanks to modern medicine we are living longer than generations before us, but we are sicker than ever. According to the CDC: 

  • 6 out of 10 Americans suffer from at least one chronic disease,

  • 4 in 10 have more than one chronic disease,

  • 1 in 3—have prediabetes. ONE IN THREE!

I don’t know about you, but I want my health span to equal my life span. What is the point in blowing out 100 candles if you can’t enjoy the cake?!

The good news is that you have a lot of control over your Health Span - more than you may think. Your health span is not predetermined by your genes.  Without diving too far into the age-old genetics v. environment debate, it is pretty well accepted that in terms of longevity, environment beats genetics…. handily. For example, the often-cited Danish Twin Study found that genes determined only 20% of life expectancy. Friends, the lifestyle choices you make now really do impact your “health span”- let’s focus on that.

Now the million-dollar question, exactly how do we age well?

I wish I could announce the discovery of the Fountain of Youth, but here at Flora Holistic Wellness, we strive to keep it real. Which leads me to another favorite nugget from my class with Dan Buettner at IIN. What is the next best question to ask if doing a quick assessment of how long someone will live? Drum roll, please… 

How many servings of fruits and vegetables do you get per day? 

Yep, kale scores again! For those who just rolled their eyes, or grabbed their mouse to click away, don’t fret - it’s not ALL about vegetables, or even food for that matter. I believe, and will help teach my clients the importance of what IIN calls “primary food”, which is everything off the plate that nourishes you - relationships, career, spirituality, physical activity, etc. Stay tuned for more posts where I will explore the concept of “Primary Food” and Aging Well.   

In the interim, feel free to check out the following:

Until next time, here’s a quick health deposit for your health bank: 

Imagine your best and most vibrant 100th birthday celebration. What does that look like for you?  

Thanks so much for being here. I’d love to hear your comments below and suggestions for future posts.


Peace and hugs,