Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - BITESIZE | The #1 Secret to Living a Longer and Healthier Life | Professor Rose Anne Kenny #486

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Today's guest brings valuable insights about what we can do to make sure we age healthily and happily. Feel Better Live More Bitesize is my weekly podcast for your mind, body, and heart. Each week I’ll be featuring inspirational stories and practical tips from some of my former guests.   Today’s clip is from episode 400 of the podcast with Professor Rose Anne Kenny. Professor Kenny is a medical gerontologist and Regius Professor of Physic and Chair of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin. She’s the Founding Principal Investigator of Ireland’s largest population study of ageing (TILDA) and the author of the international bestseller Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life. In our conversation, she revealed that while 20% of ageing is genetic and can’t be changed, 80% is epigenetic. In other words, we have the power to influence how quickly or how slowly we age. In this clip, she shares some of the simple, practical things we can all do to embrace the 80% that's within our control. Thanks to our sponsor https://www.drinkag1.com/livemore Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. Show notes and the full podcast are available at https://drchatterjee.com/400 DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

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packs to 10. And these packs are perfect for keeping in your backpack, office, or car. If you want to take advantage of this limited time offer, all you have to do is go to drinkag1.com forward slash live more. Welcome to Feel Better Live More Bite Size, your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend. Today's clip is from episode 400 of my podcast with Professor Roseanne Kenny, author of Age Proof, the new science of living a longer and healthier life. In our conversation, Roseanne reveals that whilst 20% of aging is genetic and can't be changed, 80% is epigenetic. In other words, we have the power to influence how quickly or how slowly we age. In this clip, she shares some of the simple, practical things that we can all do to embrace the 80% that's within our control.

One of the central messages in your book is that 80% of our aging biology is within our control. So I thought we'd start with some practical tips. Let's say if someone's in midlife in their 40s or 50s and you were going to say one or two things for them to focus on, what would you say? I'll give my top three. And the first one I'd start with would be friendship and to culture friendship, how important that is. Maybe we can take a step back. You mentioned there that 80% is in our control. And isn't that wonderful? Because everybody assumes it's genes. You know, aging is about your genes. And you are stuck, more or less, at the moment anyway, with whatever genes you've got. But that isn't the case.

Genes only contribute to 20% of the aging process. 80% is within our control. So that's fantastic. And then what are the things that we know are in our control that influence the process, that influence that 80%? And so if my top three would be, as I said, friendship, having good friendships. It's not about quantity, but it's very much about the quality of relationships. And I'm sorry to say the next two, because once I said this on radio in Ireland and the interviewer said to me, oh my God, not those old chestnuts again.

But I have to mention diet and I have to say exercise because they are very important and they are something that certainly definitely makes a difference. And then if I were to include a fourth, I'd say stress. You know, stress is so bad for us. So anything that we can do to attenuate stress processes or attenuate stress itself is important for the aging process. But I think it's not all or nothing. So at least to try and do some of the things we know are beneficial. So in your book, you wrote in detail, was it Rosetta? Rosetta, yeah. And it was truly fascinating. So I wonder if you could talk us through Rosetta and what does that teach us about

the power of community and social relationships? This is a great story. And it was probably the start of the link between social sciences and health. So Rosetta was a town, a small town in northern Italy. And in the 1800s, there wasn't any employment. So they emigrated to a location in the States, in Pennsylvania in the States. They called it Rosetta. They replicated an awful lot of their lifestyles in Italy in terms of the infrastructure, the way the town was designed, etc. And a scientist called Stephen Wolfe, he wasn't a scientist,

he was actually a gastroenterologist, but he got interested in epidemiology and he was very interested in the brain-g gut response and interaction and network. So he had a holiday home near it and he gave talks to towns and villages nearby. And one night he was speaking in one of the towns and a GP came up to him, a general practitioner, and said, you know, you're talking about what was the big killer at the time, cardiovascular disease in men in their mid 40s, 50s in the USA. He said, I'm working in this town. It's one of two or three towns I work in nearby, and I'm not seeing that. I'm seeing people living well into their 65s and beyond. This is in the 1900s, 1930s and 40s. And he said, I'm definitely seeing something different there than the other towns

I'm working in nearby. So Stephen Wolfe didn't just take that as a, you know, he went with medical students the next summer. They took over the town hall and they did all of the measures we know lead to longevity because in the interim, he checked their death rate books and found that, yes, it was true. They seemed to be living longer in Rosetta and he found no suicides, et cetera. So they went and they installed themselves in the town hall and started doing blood pressure. They took blood tests for blood glucose at the time, et cetera, and they couldn't find anything. Then they looked at diet and they couldn't find anything. And I'm sorry to say, but they actually found that they were eating, you know, quite, quite luscious pizzas regularly. And he looked

at everything he could think of. Smoking wasn't more common exercise. There wasn't any difference in all the factors we're talking about. And he was sitting one morning in the town square in Rosetta on a Sunday outside the church. And the next thing, the church doors opened and everybody piled out of church. But they didn't move from there. They stayed outside the church. And for an hour or two afterwards, they were still there chatting, kids running around mixing. And he realized that the secret of longevity in Rosetta was Rosetta itself. And then he started to explore their social engagement, their social networks, their social infrastructure, three generations living in one household. For a town of 2,000

civilians at the time, there were 22 different civic societies. People were always doing something. So that was, then he got other researchers from his university involved who were interested in social scientists. And they started this whole research field, which is so huge now, of how important sociology is in determining our health. It's just fascinating. And particularly what you said, their diets probably weren't that good because, of course, we're trying to promote healthy lifestyles, but what does that mean? If you could live by yourself and hit all your exercise targets and hit a clean, organic, no sugar diet, sleep eight hours a night, right? sugar diet, sleep eight hours a night, right? But you didn't have community. You didn't have connections. You know, who would be better off? And I'm inclined more and more to think that

social connections are right at the top of the tree. I believe that. That's why I started when I made my list at the beginning. You asked me what were the top few things and I said friendship. You know, that's social connection. That's friendship, that's engagement. And we know ourselves, if you've had a good night out, in my case, with the girls, with lots of laughter, and you know, there'll be a couple of drinks involved, potentially, very likely, the next day you feel so good. And it's been such a good experience. So we know this, it's intuitive. And yet we need to make an effort, particularly since COVID, to build that now back into our daily routine. Yeah. I really think we've been deceived by convenience,

right? There is a cost to convenience. It is more convenient to meet with your friends on Zoom. You don't have to go anywhere. You just, you know, in your kitchen, with your coffee, press join, and you feel you're interacting with them. Now, of course, that can have benefits, particularly for people who live far away, but it ain't the same thing. And I also have seen with so many patients and so many friends, they used to go to classes, whatever it might be, yoga, martial arts, singing. But over the last years, they went on to Zoom and they've never returned back. But that convenience, I think long-term can be toxic. And I don't know how we start reminding people. I keep saying it on the show.

I want to try to remind people to go, listen, you want to do 10 minutes of yoga every night on YouTube? Great. But still sign up for that weekly class that you used to go to back in 2019. Because you get so much more from that class or the yoga. You get the social engagement. And that is, we have evolved as gregarious animals we have to do it i want to talk about attitudes yeah our attitude towards life um the lady i think jean

louise calamore who you wrote about in the book the french lady who went past 120 yeah you've written about her in quite a bit of detail yeah Yeah. She had a privileged life and probably all of the components that we have got control of with respect to the aging process, she illustrated throughout her life. That's what I liked about her life. You write that she did actually move into a nursing home, I think it was after a fall, aged 110. But again, some really interesting things there. Even though she was in a nursing home, Calamore initially followed a rigorous daily routine. She was woken at 6.45am, started the day with a long prayer at her window. She thanked God for being alive and for the beautiful day that was starting, underscoring her positive attitudes and outlook. Then she sits on her armchair and does gymnastics wearing her stereo headset, right? So this is fascinating. I've got this

wonderful image of this 110-year-old lady basically practicing gratitude every morning, right? And, you know, we've touched on gratitude several times on this podcast over the years. There's really good research on gratitude. It seems as though she naturally had this positive attitude. From what you know, from what you've studied, how important is attitude to the aging process? Hugely important. That's what I would say. Probably, you know studied, how important is attitude to the aging process? Hugely important. That's what I would say. Probably, you know, the most important thing that now it's hard to change your attitude. I mean, attitude is very much about being an optimist or a pessimist, you know, but knowing it's important, people might be able to put more

time and effort into creating a positive attitude or being positive or less negative about things. We talk about resilience in the science of aging and what makes some people resilient and others not. And how you perceive yourself aging and your attitude towards your own aging and towards others is a major factor. Again, in the TILDA study, we have shown, we've measured perceptions of aging or aging attitudes at baseline and obviously follow up. And people who saw themselves as 20 years younger than their age, as I do, actually were physically fitter and mentally, cognitively better, independent of all of the other factors we were able to adjust for, 10 years hence. So it matters. So the phrase, you are as young as you feel,

actually has scientific validity. Yes, it's biologically embedded. I mean, that is just fascinating that, you know, I think a lot about, I guess, that. You know, I think a lot about, I guess, what might be considered the more softer aspects of health, right? Attitude, our perception, these kinds of things. But there's actually hard data on them. Really, they're not so soft when you start studying them. You really have written a wonderful book, Age Proof. It's so succinct. It's full of science and research, but it's also very, very practical. There's one chapter on purpose and laughter, which is really interesting. Any kind of top line thoughts on those two things you want to share? Well, first of all, laughter is really important. And we know this intuitively because we feel good

after, but it releases a whole lot of neurohormones, which are very important for us. And that's actually used therapeutically now. I'll just cite one study, which I find amazing, is that people who had had a heart attack, who were exposed to laughter therapy, were 48% less likely to get a recurrence of a heart attack. Now that's a massive figure. So that's the benefit. So just carry that moment and know that laughter matters. Laughter is a way of us to bond socially. So it's all tied up with this whole social engagement piece. Yeah, it plays into what you said about friendships before. Like if I think about hanging out with my best mates, what do we do? Well, we do lots, but one thing we're always doing is laughing when we're together, right? So, you know, again,

that speaks to everything that they're not all in isolation. They all, all of these behaviours kind of interact. And you know, kids laugh 400 times a day. There are studies to show this. Toddlers laugh 400 times a day, but we laugh so much less as we get older. So let's introduce laughter as part of it. So laughter really is the best medicine. And then purpose. Purpose is terribly important. And actually, my message about that is anything can have purpose. You know, if making a shopping list and go down to the shop to get this, that's purpose. You can create purpose in your day. We need to feel purpose. If we feel we have no purpose or if we feel we have nothing to contribute, we have no purpose, that's really bad for us from a physiological perspective.

Yeah, one of the things in that chapter I particularly liked, and it's something you just echoed now, is that you can find purpose in anything. It really makes me think of what we were saying about attitude. Going to get the shopping can be seen as a chore. Oh man, I've got to go and get the shopping now or whatever it might be, but you can actively reframe that, you know, maybe a bit of gratitude, maybe a bit of, oh wow, I get to go and actually get the food now that feeds my family or feeds me and my partner or whatever it might be. And I know it sounds very soft and very simple. I honestly believe that you can train yourself to have this attitude. You can train yourself to look at the positive side of everything, even washing the dishes. And purpose is tied into control. And we need to be in control. There are lots and lots of studies showing that

in an employment hierarchy, those who are in control, that is one of the most important contributors to good health in those individuals compared to those who maybe are often in the bottom of the hierarchical chain and have no control. They have to do what they're told, etc. So purpose is part of that. Purpose, if you can reframe it, gives you control over your life. It is your purpose and you're framing what your purpose is. Therefore, you're in control. And that's really good for us biologically.

Yeah, I love that. Hope you enjoyed that bite-sized clip. Do spread the love by sharing this episode with your friends and family. And if you want more, why not go back and listen to the original full conversation with my guest. If you enjoyed this episode,

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