Our society imprints so many messages about aging onto us, we often carry around loads of assumptions without even realizing we’re doing it.
For example, there’s a cultural assumption that once we hit 60 or so, the end is in sight (even from a distance), and it’s time to start slowing down.
But what if 60 wasn’t the “beginning of the end” but was closer to the middle? How would that change how you thought about yourself, your daily rhythms, and the years stretching out before you?
"Have you ever thought about what if there was a key to reaching 100 years of age in good health?"
Costa Rica’s Nicoya peninsula has an unusually high number of centenarians – people aged 100 or older.
At least 46 currently live there out of a population of a round 161,000 and after years of studies it was discovered that these centenarians have three key common lifestyle traits:
1. Staying active
Regular exercise can strengthen the immune system, improve mental well being and prevent heart diseases and type 2 diabetes
2. Eating healthy
Plenty of fruits and vegetables in your diet is important. Fish, seafoods, wholegrains and avoiding too many processed foods and oil.
3. Have a social lifestyle
Having lots of good friends can improve health and wellness. Go out often to weddings, parties, join groups in church, dance more at events, participate more. The more social relationships you have and the higher the quality, the larger people tend to live.
But How Far Can The Ideal Lifestyle Take You?
The oldest known person is believed to be Jeanne Calment. She was born in France in 1875 and died in 1997 aged 122.
So It’s no longer unrealistic to think you’ll live to 100 especially if you live an active life, take good care of yourself, and eat well.
If you assume a life span of 100 (instead of the 70 years it used to be), that means “midlife” is 50.That means when you hit that midpoint you’ve potentially got another five decades in front of you.
Think about everything you did with the first five decades. It’s a lot!
At 50, there’s time to reinvent yourself (at least twice!), go back to school, travel, choose a new career, master an instrument or several, start a new business, learn new languages, move to another country, totally transform your lifestyle.
Once we loosen up our ideas about what’s possible, and distance ourselves from the assumptions that have been imprinted on us, we can think about how many years we actually have and outlive our imaginations.
What are you looking forward to the most in the decades to come? How have you shifted your expectations about longevity? Let us know in the comments below!
