Health. Staying young, mentally and physically, at an old age.

Having celebrated my 86th birth on 6th may 2025, I have been asked how I manage to stay young at this old age. Hence this article.

I work on a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, limiting saturated fats, sugar, and salt.

Regular exercise, even light to moderate intensity, can improve blood flow to the brain and help reduce the risk of dementia.So, every day I aim to walk at least those 7,000 steps.

Engaging in mentally stimulating activities like researching and writing, helps build cognitive reserve and potentially lower the risk of dementia, While there's no guaranteed way to prevent dementia,adopting a healthy lifestyle – and expressing your gratitude for everything you have received - can significantly reduce your risk 

According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, maintaining social connections and participating in social activities can help reduce the risk of dementia,

Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are linked to an increased risk of dementia.

Drinking coffee can help.

Ensuring adequate R&R; at last 8 hours a night quality sleep, is important for brain health and memory consolidation which, I hope, may help reduce the risk of my dementia.

Taking precautions to avoid head injuries, such as wearing seatbelts and helmets, as well as reducing exposure to air pollution can also be  factors in reducing dementia risk.

I keep working on what I enjoy; my priesthood and friends. I am immensely grateful for all I have. I have developed a “eucharistic, thankful, temperament”.

Expressing gratitude offers a wide range of benefits for mental, physical, and social well-being.It canimprove mood, enhance relationships, and even contribute to better physical health.On my morning walk through Ravenscourt Park – some 2,000+ steps – I thank God for my past 86+ years.

Research shows that gratitude lowers blood pressure and helps to diminish feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression by shifting focus to the positive aspects of life.

Feeling grateful for the good things in one's life can lead to a more positive self-image and increased self-confidence.

Recently, at St Mary’s University, Strawberry Hill, I learned how a young man, who had behavioural problems was, soon,  profoundly moved to a positive life style once,  every evening, he started to make a list of three things for which he was grateful. “I started to realise how lovely life in fact is.”

George Burns (1896-1996), known for his long career in entertainment, particularly his partnership with Gracie Allen, took brisk walks and avoided stress.

Jimmy Carter(1924-2024), the 39thpresident of the United Statesfrom 1977 to 1981, credited marrying "the best spouse” for his long life.

Dr. Darshan Shah (born 1973)has been a physician and board-certified surgeon for 30 years. About ten years ago, his family history of diabetes and a health scare led Shah, 52, to study longevity and how he can improve his own wellbeing.

"Being a physician, we're really primarily educated in the science of how to manage disease, not really in how topromote health-spanand longevity

For decades, scientists have studied lifespan to determine the impact of the factors that dictate how humans age.Recently, into their studies a new term has appeared: health-span.

“Lifespan” is the amount of time that passes between when you’re born and when you die.  “Health-span “is how long we are  living in good health – across our PIES, the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimensions of our life.

Once conditions like chronic pain, severe dementia, chronic anxiety and  depression arrive, our lif may continue, but  our health-span has ended. 

To aim for healthy ageing, and a longer health-span, try to ensure that your body is getting enough vitamin C, more vitamin E from your diet, not from supplement, and eat more protein.

As of September 2024,  there were, according to official data from Japan's Ministry of Health,95,119centenarians in Japan. This marks a record high for the 54th consecutive year, with an increase of 2,980 from the previous year.

One of the secrets can probably be found in healthy food. Most meals are freshly prepared and abounding with vitamins, trace elements and antioxidants. Japanese cuisine avoids fat and too many products from mammals. Beef and pork are cooked for a long time and are thus free of fat and carcinogens. Fish is prominent on the menu – even raw and in the form of sushi. Mackerel, eel, salmon, squid and tuna are among the country’s most important foods

The five pillars of a longevity diet, as identified by researchers like Dr.Valter Longo (born 1967), Italian-American bio-gerontologist and cell biologist, are,whole grains, greens, tubers, nuts, and beans.These foods are staples in the diets of centenarians and are associated with a longer, healthier life.

We know that ourimmune system fends off bugs and determines how long it takes us to recover from illnesses. But this narrow view barely scratches the surface of its wide-ranging impact not only on our health but also ourlongevity, “Our immune system is the single greatest arbiter of both how long we live and the quality of those years,”  says immunologist Dr Jenna Macciochi (aged 39). “ in her new bookImmune to Age: The Game-Changing Science of Lifetime Health.

Longevity has become the latest obsession of millionaires. Bryan Johnson (born 1977, American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, writer and author)spends up to $2 million a year to extend his life expectancy through his 40-a-day supplement habit, morning oxygen therapy and regular plasma transfusions from his teenage son, 

The immune system, made up of hundreds of different types of cells and signalling molecules, controlled by around 8,000 genes, makes it, after our brain, the second-most complicated system in our body.

Rather than being in one place, it’s located throughout our bodies. Around 70 per cent of the immune system is found in our digestive tract while the rest ranges from the skin’s surface to our bone marrow, as well as from brain to big toe. 

It’s why immune cells line the entry points to our bodies – the eyes, nose and mouth – which are coated in a defensive mucus that aims to catch viruses and bacteria before they can travel deeper into our bodies.

However, our immune system is also working in other ways to keep us well. It monitors and eliminates potentialcancer cells, protects against autoimmune disorders and manages our response to allergens. It even plays a role in chronic diseases, as inflammation, which is triggered by the immune system, is thought to be a driving force in heart disease, diabetes, cancer and dementia.

The immune system, is what has kept the human species alive for hundreds of thousands of years by triggering an inflammatory response when we become infected with a virus or bacteria.

However, this inflammatory response is being triggered too often as a result of our modern lifestyles that typically consists of a poor-quality diet, frequent exposure to pollutants and mental stress.

So, add anti-inflammatory foods to your meals. A Mediterranean diet has an anti-inflammatory effect. Olive oil is one of the most-researchedanti-inflammatory food. It contains oleocanthal which has a molecular structure similar to the well-known anti-inflammatory ibuprofen.

It’s thought that people in the Mediterranean are living so long and so well because they’re getting this tiny anti-inflammatory effect every day through the olive oil that they use, 

The widerMediterranean dietis made up of minimally processed grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fresh seasonal produce, olive oil and oily fish.

Research also shows that adopting the MIND diet, made up of antioxidant-rich leafy greens, berries, wholegrain, nuts beans and fish, will reduce inflammation and protect against Alzheimer’s. It’s high in polyphenols, antioxidants and it’s good for the gut and it’s anti-inflammatory.

Research has shown that there is  a link between cognitive function and inflammation but that’s a growing area. Raised inflammation in the body affects what happens in the brain. We have immune cells in the brain called microglia and when they sense danger, they start spitting out inflammation which we know is then linked to cognitive decline.

High-fibre foods like carrots are key for good immune health.

Around 70 per cent of our immune cells are located along the digestive tract. The main reason for that is because the digestive tract is an obvious route for infection. We also have a collection of microbes that live in there and make up the microbiome.

Our microbiome is essential for producing immune-modulating cells, such as T cells which prevent the immune system from overreacting to harmless substances or underperforming when we do encounter a bug.

Fibreis the forgotten key for good gut health and good immune health. When your microbes break it down, they produce short-chain fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory.

Vegetables, fruit and legumes are all rich sources of fibre but it’s important to increase how many you’re eating slowly to reduce the risk of uncomfortable bloating.

If you’re going to choose one fruit to eat today, blueberries are as good as you can get. They’re packed with antioxidants. In particular, they’re full of a flavonoid called anthocyanins – a purple pigment that gives the berries their deep colour. These support brain health and may reduce heart disease risk.

Onestudyshowed that people who ate 200g of blueberries two hours before a test achieved better scores, whileanotherlinked 180g of blueberries with better memory, accuracy and concentration. Separate research suggests that anthocyanins improve blood vessel function.

To discover more about the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, take a look at books like "The Wonders of Fruits and Vegetables" which focuses on recipes and tips for maximizing health benefits, or "Healthy Living with fruits and vegetables" for a guide to their nutritional and healing properties.

For a more scientific perspective, "Potential Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables" is a collection of research on bioactive compounds and their disease-preventing roles.Several other titles on Amazon UK, such as "Miraculous power of fruits and vegetables" and "Wonderful benefits of fruits and vegetables", also provide information on the positive impacts of these foods.

My 87 years of life (86 breathing plus 9 months in my mother’s womb) have taught me that staying as healthy as possible is a matter of doing the optimal across the PIES of our life.

To sum up. 

Physically: sleep eight hours a night, walk 7,000 steps a day, stay well hydrated and eat a healthy diet; the shape of that we have seen above. Keep on with your daily exercise routine. You can see mine on my website, fathervlad.com

Intellectually, be positive. Concentrate on  the good and beautiful – not the bad and ugly – around you; and in the news. And stay curious. Keep learning.

Emotionally,  be a friend and serve others as a friend.

Spiritually, develop and sustain a loving, relationship with God. 

Jesus Christ – I call him Yesh – is my best friend with whom I have  phatic relationship throughout each day. As I have aged, my prayer life of TAPS – thanking, asking praising and saying sorry – has moved on to  walking arm in arm with God and thus receiving graces, the gifts of divine love, that motivates me  and acts as fuel for my life.

God, like gravity, is everywhere but to benefit from that presence and receive the graces that are there on offer, we need to open our heart and embrace God’s love.

I sense that, with age, my growing gratitude to God for everything, is contributing to me staying young at an ever-older age.

Gratitude is – as South Africans would say - Ubuntu: good for the receiver, even better for the one who expresses it.

Let’s end with, “Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age.” wrote Jeanne Moreau(1928-2017), French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite.

As I have found, loving God in timeless eternity, slows down ageing.