Sitting too long is not healthy.

[Jayne]

As I understand it, healthy living is not so much about extending age but improving one's functionality in one's older years.  It makes people less likely to develop dementia, less likely to be a burden on their families and more able to prepare themselves spiritually for death.

Dementia risk doubles every five years from 65.  With exponential risk rates like that the best chances of not developing dementia are to die early.

There are many practices known to greatly decrease risk of dementia.  All the evidence indicates that it is not an inevitable result of aging, but another lifestyle disease.

[Greg]

That being the case, why do the Japanese who have a very different lifestyle and diet to westerners suffer from it?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-23/japan-dementia-epidemic-calls-to-improve-missing-persons-network/5471884

[Jayne]

That being the case, why do the Japanese who have a very different lifestyle and diet to westerners suffer from it?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-23/japan-dementia-epidemic-calls-to-improve-missing-persons-network/5471884

This study addresses your question to some extent: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijad/2012/956354/

In conclusion, our systematic review shows that (1) there is an increasing trend in overall dementia in Japan. Although we cannot confirm definitively from the current study, the possible explanation of the increase could be a shift in health conditions among the elderly in Japan including the increase in diabetes mellitus in more recent years despite the plateau in decline in stroke incidence during the late 1990s; (2) the similar AD/VaD ratio found in recent studies in Japan with that of the US could be due to a combination of at least 3 factors: (a) shifting diagnostic criteria (more in line with US consensus diagnosis), (b) possible shifting in health conditions among the elderly in Japan (decline in stroke incidence, but increase in metabolic disease e.g., type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis), (c) an increase in the proportion of the oldest old who had an historically higher prevalence of AD (as opposed to VaD) in Japan, and (d) regional variations (i.e., a north-to-south gradient in VaD) possibly due to large difference in dietary patterns.

I know you like to rely on common sense, but some questions actually do need scientific study.  Here is an article that summarizes the current state of knowledge on prevetion of dementia: http://www.medicinenet.com/dementia/page17.htm

Research has revealed a number of factors that may be able to prevent or delay the onset of dementia in some people. For example, studies have shown that people who maintain tight control over their glucose levels tend to score better on tests of cognitive function than those with poorly controlled diabetes. Several studies also have suggested that people who engage in intellectually stimulating activities, such as social interactions, chess, crossword puzzles, and playing a musical instrument, significantly lower their risk of developing AD and other forms of dementia. Scientists believe mental activities may stimulate the brain in a way that increases the person's "cognitive reserve" - the ability to cope with or compensate for the pathologic changes associated with dementia.

[Greg]

But scientific studies also show your risk doubles every five years from 65. So ageing is by far the biggest risk factor.

In short you are far less likely to die, with dementia, at 70 even with risk factors of diet and lifestyle than you are to die with dementia at 95 without those risk factors.

Exponential growth trumps all other risks.

[Jayne]

But scientific studies also show your risk doubles every five years from 65. So ageing is by far the biggest risk factor.

In short you are far less likely to die, with dementia, at 70 even with risk factors of diet and lifestyle than you are to die with dementia at 95 without those risk factors.

Exponential growth trumps all other risks.

That is not how it works. The general risk for dementia may double every five years, but that does not mean that a given individual's risk doubles, especially not an individual who takes all the known preventative measures. 

[Greg]

How would you know what individual you are?

[Jayne]

How would you know what individual you are?

I am the individual who is going to take care of myself because I prefer healthy old age to death.

[Akavit]

I know an 80+ year old man who just finished rebuilding a pipe organ for a nearby church.  The stuff he does with band organs and player pianos is more complex than most people would attempt in their prime.

[Greg]

Ask him what he ate in the 60s and 70s.

Itemised list.

[Akavit]

Heh.  I would need to ask him to get an exact list but not for a general list.  He's not one to pay much attention to health food but based upon the few times I've had dinner at his home and knowing how much he grows in his garden, he eats a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables than most (grows everything from grapes to peppers).  Meals are mostly home made.  He's also quite active between gardening and working on organs and pianos.

So it's basically a healthy lifestyle but he seems to do it out of habit and without much thought.

[moneil]

As I understand it, healthy living is not so much about extending age but improving one's functionality in one's older years.  It makes people less likely to develop dementia, less likely to be a burden on their families and more able to prepare themselves spiritually for death.

At any rate, those are my reasons for caring about it.  I am not trying to live as long as possible, but to retain my abilities while I live.

This about sums it up.  While there are "exercise nuts" who are annoying, I find them far less annoying than the "food nuts".

While Greg is correct that the possibility of dementia and other maladies increase with age, there is also an awful lot of credible peer reviewed science (I don't mean some of the "stuff" one finds on the internet, unless it can be referenced directly back to a peer reviewed study that has been published in a recognized scientific journal) that a healthy lifestyle may defer, deter, or mitigate these maladies in many individuals.  This work is still "young" with lots of unknowns, and there are individual genetic predispostions that come into play.  Still, eating well (meant in a broad general sense, not the paranoia diets espoused by some here), staying mentally and physically active, and keeping one's weight proportional to one's frame will predispose one to a better outcome than not doing so.

My mum is 92, still actively manages her farm business (the land is rented out) and does close to a mile walk about of the place every day.  My uncle (her brother) died 4 years ago at age 94.  He was a civil engineer, owned a general contractor firm (commercial construction), and up until 7 weeks before he died he still went into the office most days.  Though he had nearly lost his eye sight, he could still hear out of one ear and his mind was still sharp.  He maintained some engagement in every aspect of his business up until the end.  My father's two surviving siblings are 90 and 93 respectively.  My aunt (and godmother) still lives alone and keeps house, and drives herself to Mass every day, and to the local market.  An arthritic condition in her back does slow her down somewhat and her children come to help with laundry (in the basement, stairs are difficult) and with yard work.  My uncle, a retired electrical engineer (he worked with nuclear power and fuels most of his career, that obviously didn't kill him), lives with a daughter and son-in-law (they actually live with him in his house), keeps company with a widowed lady friend from church, goes to a local gym twice a week, and maintains a vibrant intellectual curosity and active correspondence with a wide circle of friends and family.

It seems I "might" be cursed with a long life (all dependent on God's providence of course).  If I am, I hope I may be as active, in all senses, as my elders are.  They are all farm kids from the depression, ate "old fashion" (more fresh food prepared from scratch, not so much prepackaged and processed; though none are fanatics about it), keep active mentally, physically, and spiritually, and have kept their weight proportional to their frame.  I'm thinking I should take some clues from this.

[Bernadette]

My uncle's mother lived alone and trimmed her own trees (!) until she was 89. She was 94 when she died. I'll bet she had some interesting stories, but I wasn't able to spend as much time with her as I'd have liked. 

[voxxpopulisuxx]

Greg since when did you become al gore?  Greenhouse gasses? Limited resources? The only resource limitations that plague mankind are a lack of Christian empathy and compassion....a lack clearly promoted by the globalist banksters and materialist atheists. God made the planet...it is more than adequate to its task...it is our spiritual inaction that spoils His plan for humanity. The earth properly occupied in faith is superabundant and sustainable.