Longevity is an evergreen prayer and blessing humans wish upon each other while celebrating festivals, birthdays, anniversaries, and family functions. The blessing calls for a long and healthier life in the future. Do you ever wonder about the reason humans wish for longevity? Despite the struggles and suffering one goes through in his life, a human’s desire to live life with a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment never dies down.
Desire for Longevity is higher among people who are getting older but are living healthy and financially stable lives. They want to spend as much time as they can with their loved ones exploring the myths and truths of the universe.
Medical Science is snowballing to build the nucleus for pioneering discoveries in the varied fields of psychology, neurology, and epidemiology along with many more. To amplify the society’s standard of living and aid those who need a hand to do so, scientists are bringing a revolution in the discipline of modern science.
Genetics: Co-founder of Longevity
Genetics play an amusing role in recognising patterns of longevity in adults and their children. In the Journal- “Genetic Determinants of Human Health Span and Life Span: Progress and New Opportunities” published by Plos Genetics and authored by researchers George M. Martin, Aviv Bergman and Nir Barzilai, it was established that our genetics, environment and lifestyle have a direct role to play with longevity.
Scientists conducted practical research and observed people who were in their 90s (known as nonagenarians), and 100s (known as centenarians) along with a group of people who were aged above 100.
The factors which determined why the centenarians lived long lives were in stark contrast with the motives people are driven by in our zeitgeist. The basis of comparison found almost no commonalities across the divisions of: participant’s bank balance, education and occupation but could spot likeness among their smoking and drinking habits, fitness grade, and their mental capacities to deal with anxiety and stressful situations.
Therefore it was concluded that the children who belonged to families who pledged a healthier lifestyle, bore the gift of good genes and lived longer and healthier lives than the people around their age. The genes also lessened the risk of diseases among these children.
Happiness and its synergy with Longevity
Let’s try to understand the dilemmas we face around and about our expectations and perceptions of happiness. Humans are complex beings, their minds are wired around the acceptable, sophisticated and conventional norms of their culture. We make amendments to our goals if they don’t fall in the expected criterion of society’s standards.
Basically, we all have our modus operandi to achieve the goal of satisfaction and stability in life. However the more we chase after happiness, the more distant we feel from it. Our relationship with our family, bonds with friends, dynamics with neighbours, superiors and colleagues, financial situation and personal desires collectively become a set of challenges or ordeals that we need to overcome and experience to reach the threshold of happiness.
Finding Happiness in Awareness of Self
The greater our wants, the greater will be our concerns. Humans can attain happiness if they allow themselves to take some rest from chasing after thousands of pursuits in life. Finding happiness in simpler and smaller things in life will keep you grounded.
Grant yourself the permission to squeeze your standards a little bit and observe things with an open mind. You will see the wonders of joy unfold and the birth of pleasant emotions such as hope, gratitude, satisfaction and affection.
Finding fulfillment with your current state in life can sound moronic but if you let yourself lighten up and make some space for humor, you can find the divine excitement in living life in the present.
The happier you feel the longer you will wish to live and thrive. Longevity isn’t just about the duration of life but it is also about the genres that come along with it. If you feel good from the inside, you will take better care of yourself, which will compel you to live a holistic life with an informed sustainability approach.
Revisiting Basics of living a Holistic life
How great is the deal of Social Bonding?
A socially awkward person would want to excuse themselves from a gathering because they feel they don’t fit in with the crowd. What we need to understand here is that negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, frustration, anger and discomfort arise from the knowledge that you are inept at making conversations or forming bonds with people in general.
They may would have wanted to stay longer but self-doubt swept in. So making 100 friends like ‘Komi’ can be difficult but you can start with one and soon your awkwardness will fade away as you build trust.
Social Bonds hold the power key to your good mood and mental health. As you open up to people, you’ll see the difference in your body language as well as your outlook on life.
A Balanced Diet is directly proportional to Mental health
Balanced Diet and Mental health go hand in hand when it comes to longevity. ‘You are what you eat’ is a popular expression used by various health enthusiasts around the world. Your mind and body react and respond to the food you put in your stomach. Therefore be always mindful of what you eat and at what time you eat. ‘Good Food equals Good Mood’.
But let’s take you through the food course first. For sound health of body and mind, the Eatwell Guide suggests you include the following food articles in your meals:
Dairy or dairy alternatives (eg. soya drinks), high fiber foods such as potatoes and rice, for proteins add pulses, eggs, beans, and fish, unsaturated oils/spreads, and don’t forget to drink plenty of water.
Optimism- An Open Secret to Longevity
The National Library of Medicine in the Journal- “Optimism and its Impact on Mental and Physical Well-being” stated – “Optimism may significantly influence mental and physical well-being by the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as well as by adaptive behaviours and cognitive responses, associated with greater flexibility, problem-solving capacity and a more efficient elaboration of negative information.”
Optimistic people tend to see life problems as hurdles that can be overcome with hope and persistence. They value positive emotions over negative ones and thus do not let go of the thought that everything will be fine in the future.
Thus they can navigate around stressful emotions with determination and a strong mindset. Optimistic people therefore have lesser chances of falling into depression or having suicidal thoughts. Practicing optimism isn’t necessarily cringe, if it makes you healthier then it’s worth it.
However, one must stay fit and exercise regularly too to make escape out of potential health illnesses related to aging. You must stay physically active and energetic to reduce the chances of morbid diseases.
