Journey to Longevity: Unmasking the Superagers Lifestyle
Nov 27, 2023
Marcy Backhus
Ever wondered about the secret to living longer, thinking stronger, and savoring the zest of life? Brace yourself for an intriguing journey as we unveil the world of superagers and their seven key strategies to longevity. From my personal tales of city living and Thanksgiving week to my upcoming condo remodel, there's a bit of everything to keep your listening taste buds tingling. I, Marcy Backhus, will guide you through this journey, sharing insights into family gatherings, holiday plans, and the sheer joy of city living. Hold on tight as we navigate the superagers' world, focusing on compelling aspects like mental health, stress management, and the detrimental impact of isolation.
Looking for the best travel deals? Look no further! We'll be exploring Google Travel, a goldmine for savvy travelers. Learn the ropes of finding the lowest flight prices, rental cars, and more. We'll unravel the process of setting up travel alerts for price drops and compare other resources like AARP and AAA to the wonders of Google Travel. Meanwhile, I'll be sharing my personal experiences and thoughts on all things travel, city living, and family gatherings. Prepare for an exciting voyage into brilliant travel tips and the lifestyle of superagers. Let's redefine our golden years together!
Ever wondered about the secret to living longer, thinking stronger, and savoring the zest of life? Brace yourself for an intriguing journey as we unveil the world of superagers and their seven key strategies to longevity. From my personal tales of city living and Thanksgiving week to my upcoming condo remodel, there's a bit of everything to keep your listening taste buds tingling. I, Marcy Backhus, will guide you through this journey, sharing insights into family gatherings, holiday plans, and the sheer joy of city living. Hold on tight as we navigate the superagers' world, focusing on compelling aspects like mental health, stress management, and the detrimental impact of isolation.
Looking for the best travel deals? Look no further! We'll be exploring Google Travel, a goldmine for savvy travelers. Learn the ropes of finding the lowest flight prices, rental cars, and more. We'll unravel the process of setting up travel alerts for price drops and compare other resources like AARP and AAA to the wonders of Google Travel. Meanwhile, I'll be sharing my personal experiences and thoughts on all things travel, city living, and family gatherings. Prepare for an exciting voyage into brilliant travel tips and the lifestyle of superagers. Let's redefine our golden years together!
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to the AG Name for Sissy's podcast. My name is Marcy Backes and I am your host. Well, on today's episode we're going to talk about something called superagers how they live longer, think stronger and enjoy life more. Read this article, thought it was kind of interesting and thought I'd share it with you. So sit back, relax. I'll catch up on what's been going on this week and then we'll find out the secret to the superager. Well, what's been going on this week? Well, this was a great week.
Speaker 1:
This is Thanksgiving week, and you know what I love about Thanksgiving week? I think almost everybody celebrates it, whether they're from other countries, I don't know. It's a holiday that seems to bring everybody together. When you're out and about, you can easily say happy Thanksgiving. And it's a holiday about food. What more could you ask for? We ended up having a really wonderful holiday. We spent it with Craig's cousin and her husband and their kids and grandkids. Great food, great company and fun games and to me, that is the ultimate holiday Good food, good people and a good game to play and I call that a win-win. We did that. Let's see what else did we do this week. Oh, craig and I, last night we went to the Chicago Symphony and they showed the movie Fantasia and the symphony played the music. Well, let me tell you it was quite a delight and what a great time to be out in the city yesterday. It was probably 33, 34 degrees. We took the train couple stops up, had a great dinner, went to the symphony, took the train back home.
Speaker 1:
I just have really I can't say finally I've embraced the city living quite a bit and I just love it to not have to take a car out. When you live in California, all you do is drive, literally all you do is drive. You're going to the Hollywood Bowl to hear something. You're driving two, three could be four hours, you never know. If it's a Friday night, the ability to hop on the train right here, go up two stops, get off, walk two blocks, see the Christmas tree, the Chicago Christmas tree, millennium's Park, I mean, it's just so exhilarating.
Speaker 1:
And then today we wake up and it's been snowing all day. I'm looking out now there's a few little snowflakes. Craig is at his parents' home. He and his sisters are still, you know, wading their way through it. It's a lot of work to go through your parents' stuff. Again, listen to my podcast, the Swedish Death Clean. Don't do this to your kids, craig, and I will not do it to our kids. Our life is pretty well paired down after our last move and I think it'll be paired down more as we go along. But they are out there doing that today and I bet it's.
Speaker 1:
The snow doesn't stick in the city usually the first few times it snows because the building create. The buildings create warmth. The streets are too warm, so there is. You may get a little accumulation on a plant or two, but other than that it'll take us a little bit into winter or a few days of really cold weather before the snow will stick. Here in Chicago Didn't work out all week, which was great.
Speaker 1:
Again, you know you're never too old to change. If you think that you know life has come and you are what you are, that isn't true. I think anybody. When you dig down deep and you look inside, if you want to change, you can change, no matter. Oh, sorry about that, I was looking up something on my phone at the same time. You can. You can find ways to change. You don't have to be what you are. Change is always possible.
Speaker 1:
My son and his girlfriend spent the week climbing in Joshua tree. They're both climbers. The climbed their week away, had a great week. They also got to spend dinner with my brother, his wife, his oldest son wife and their kids and their cousin Casey, and that just makes me. I don't know about you, I couldn't be with my kids this holiday, but it makes me happy to know they're with family. Alec was with Kyle in California on sat Sunday, spent the day together. So, brother and brother, it's a hard transition for me. Brother and brother, I always want to say sister, because Kyle was a sister for many years and is now becoming your brother. So Bear with me as I remember the change. They spent time together. So that's great.
Speaker 1:
Looking forward to the holidays. I don't know about you, I am very much looking forward to the holiday season. Again, we've talked about that. It's not everybody's favorite time, it's not even my favorite time, but you know I'm just going to embrace it. This year it's snowing today. The city is decorated, the city is lit up and I am just happy to be a part of it and looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:
We are going to next week a week from Monday, so this you will be able to listen to this on Monday, excuse me, october, november 27th, the following Monday, we're going to be moving out of our condo for nine days as they remodeled our kitchen and our bathroom. So very excited about that. Not a full kitchen remodel. We already bought all the new appliances. They're just putting in counters and tile, new floor and we have a tiny kitchen. It's not a big deal. And then we are getting that walk-in shower that I think all senior citizens need. All senior citizens need a walk-in shower and we have a tub shower. We only have the one bathroom, so we are going to have a nice walk-in shower, no door, just a glass wall and then an opening. I figure the less glass to clean the better, and I'm looking forward to that. That should finish our remodel here on the condo. It'll be exactly the way we want it and that makes me happy.
Speaker 1:
I've done a little bit of Christmas shopping. How about you, hey? Last week we talked about memories of Christmas. I wonder, did that episode spark any memories for you? I know it did. My sister, she gave me a call and we walked through a few other memories of being kids. Talked at Thanksgiving also about department stores and days gone by and what the department stores used to do for us and help a shop and look for things, and it seemed to spark a lot of conversations with a lot of people. So I hope you enjoyed that episode. I enjoyed making it. It really did bring a lot of memories down and back.
Speaker 1:
So what is a superager? Well, I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Oh, you know what else we did this week? I'm just really proud of Craig. Craig runs Monday through Friday every morning. He doesn't care how cold it is Now if it's raining. He did run on the treadmill this week but he did the turkey trot here in Chicago. What a blast.
Speaker 1:
That was Thanksgiving morning. We went down to Lincoln Park where the zoo is. He did a great. He ran. I think it was five miles, so six miles, it's an 8K, so it's six miles. And he averaged 11 minute miles, which I you know he goes. Well, it's not the seven minutes from when I was younger. I'm like, well, you're not younger and you're older, but what a great job. And so I think he was very proud of himself. I was proud of him. I got him a little turkey beanie and a run turkey shirt and everybody was dressed up and the families were there and it was a. It was a beautiful morning. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving here in Chicago, chilly but bright sunshine, and it was just an amazing day. So that was something else we did this week A little little turkey trot. We've had some great meals out this week and oh, what else did we do? Oh, we did go to. No, maybe we did that the week before the walnut room, can't remember, but we did do that. I might have been the week before. I might have told you about that already. Well, we're eight minutes in.
Speaker 1:
I think I've shared with you what I've been doing. Hope it reminds you of all the things you've done. Or if you haven't done a lot, get out there and do things, find in your hometowns the holiday things, pick something and go do it. I would say Craig and I had gotten very lackluster in our life before we moved to the city and now we look for things, we find things, we do things, just like that Fantasia with the orchestra. We found that when we went to pick up Craig's turkey trot packet at the athletic club on Michigan Avenue and we walked by the symphony and it had the poster up, and that's how we found that, and we, craig, booked our tickets and off we went. So find something in your hometown, do it, enjoy it. Do something you haven't done before.
Speaker 1:
All right, let's talk about those superagers, all right. What the heck is a superager? Well, a superager is people that live long, have memory, thinking skills, a zest for life. There's more than people that are decades younger. I'm sure you know one. I'm sure you know many. At our church in California, there were several people that I think could have qualified as superagers. There are seven secrets to a superager, so let's talk about that. Lucky genes don't fully explain superagers Razor, sharp thinking and memory skills. Lifestyle matters. Here's what they do and here's what you should do.
Speaker 1:
Superagers control their blood sugar and blood pressure. Superagers tend to have a healthier blood pressure and blood sugar levels than the general population. They control both through medication and by eating a high nutrient diet. Older adults who follow an eating pattern rich in whole grains, veggies, leafy greens, nuts, berries and fish, and low in red meat, butter and sweets, their brain aging by 7.5 years and kept thinking and memory sharper, according to a 2015 Rush University study of 960 older adults. So these are nothing new. But think about it Blood pressure and blood sugar, and they're not saying that you have to do it naturally, that medication is okay. It's not just about naturally doing it.
Speaker 1:
Superagers, talk to their friends a lot. This is important. Isolation not talking, not engaging, is going to slow your brain down. So superagers, talk a lot to their friends. Older adults who connect every day with others had less shrinkage and key brain areas than those who seldom had contact with pals and relatives, according to a 2023 Japanese study. That's why memory declined fastest and furthest in people who felt lonely most often. So this happened during the pandemic with the elder generation. It was a disaster for them. I think the youngest and the oldest really paid for that pandemic, and isolating the senior citizens in this country more than they were already isolated was not good. We have seen that. There is proof of that. So make sure you're engaging with your friends and family. Get out there and engage with people. Talk to people. It's important.
Speaker 1:
I was told I talk too much my whole life. Well, you know what it's going to serve me well in my old age. Why else would I start a podcast? Only people that like to talk start a podcast, right? Well, ha to everyone. I love to talk and I think it's going to. Now I got proof. It's going to serve me well.
Speaker 1:
What else do superagers do? They avoid stress and prioritize mental health. A recent three-year Danish study found that depression doubled risk for dementia, and a 2023 study found those with high stress levels had a 37% higher risk for memory problems. Okay, if this isn't a good reason, as I've told you, self care how many times have we talked about this is so important. Take care of yourself. Don't let other people drag you down. Don't give your mental health to anyone. Take care of it yourself. Okay, so that was number three. What's another secret of a superager? Oh, this is good for me because lately I've prioritized this.
Speaker 1:
Superagers prioritize sleep. I love my sleep. I don't like having my sleep messed with. I sleep next to an extremely loud snorer who refuses to wear his CPAP, and I struggle with that, but I do love my sleep. So during slumber, your brain clears away toxic waste that builds up early in development of Alzheimer's disease. A 2022 Canadian study found that trouble falling or staying asleep three or more nights per week for three months boosted the risk of worsening memory in older adults. But don't rely on drugs. Chronic use of prescription sleep drugs boosted the risk for dementia by 48%. Ooh, listen to that. If you're using something to help you sleep aid, that's 48. The risk of dementia by 48%. I wonder if that includes like melatonin? Hmm, I'm gonna have to re risk, re, excuse me, research that more. I read that earlier, but I really didn't think about melatonin.
Speaker 1:
Superagers protect their vision and hearing and we talked about this last week on the on the senior moment that they are finding people that take care of their hearing has less chance for dementia. So a University of Washington study found that at risk adults who receive hearing aids showed thinking and memory losses that were 48% slower compared with those who didn't. Another study found that those who had cataract surgery had a 29% lower risk for dementia compared to those who did not have the procedure. Treating poor vision could have prevented 100,000 current cases of dementia. Think about that. Just just vision and hearing, taking care of it. I mean, let's say, cataract surgeries are a dime a dozen these days. It's not a big deal. Hearing aids people, they're not a big deal, they're just not and they've come so far. They're not your parents hearing aids, so check into that.
Speaker 1:
What else do superagers do? They don't exercise more, but they push themselves physically. Spanish researchers found that what distinguished superagers most profoundly was that they have greater speed, mobility, agility and balance than typical older adults. And I'm going to tell you that getting that agility and that balance down is super important, because we all know that Taking a fall is one of our biggest scares as we age. There's so many things that can happen with that and getting good balance. I mean, obviously, sidewalks in Chicago are not my friend, we all know this but having good balance, mobility, it's super important.
Speaker 1:
Work on, if nothing else, if you hate exercise and you don't want to do anything and you haven't found something that works for you, work on balance exercises. Go on YouTube, watch some videos, do some balancing exercises. Just do that much. Give yourself some balance. One reason maybe super-agers tends to do more demanding activities such as gardening, stair climbing. In other words, walking a mile is good for you. Walking fast for a mile will get your heart rate up and is better. So maybe they walk a mile, but they walk it faster. Think about those kind of things. Think about taking what you're already doing, do it better, do it faster, but really keep up with mobility and balancing exercises. It's funny. It's not funny really. But in my aqua-sculpt class that I take now four times a week, a lot of the exercises we do are balancing. And let me tell you, balancing in a pool, when everybody's just churned up the water and it's moving and now you're doing balancing, it really helps. It's pushing, you're swaying, you're having to keep that center and I'm getting much better at it and I can see a much bigger difference in my walking and in my life.
Speaker 1:
Okay, super-agers do more than wordle. Super-agers do crossword puzzles and Sudoku games. Now, that is Craig's thing, right there, crossword puzzles and Sudoku games more often than normal-agers. But they are also more likely to frequently read, listen to music, travel, play games, attend lectures, concerts, variety. Here is what is beneficial. You can do your wordle every day, you can do a crossword puzzle every day, but find some variety in your life. Go to a concert, listen to music.
Speaker 1:
I love Saturdays. In our house, saturday mornings, craig gets up and he pulls out his records and he puts them on the record player. We listen to fabulous jazz. He's always up before me because I, as we all know, prioritize my sleep and now that I'm retired and after years of getting up at 5 am and walking dogs and taking care of kids. I don't get up early anymore and I don't have to be at the gym till 10.30 for my class and I can either drive and be there really fast or I can walk and it only takes me 10, 10 minutes or so. So I do not rush my mornings anymore. But I do love. On Saturdays and Sundays, craig puts on the albums and it's enjoyable. It's good to listen to music. It's good to listen to a good turntable. We have some great speakers here in our house and we enjoy that immensely. So get that variety in.
Speaker 1:
Don't just do your wordles. You got to do a little bit more. Do your crafting, do painting. The next thing I'm going to get into I have always loved photography and it's one of the reasons I take so many pictures with my phone. But I really want to get into photography. So I'm looking at cameras and I've looked at. I found myself a couple of photography classes right here in Chicago, and once I get my camera, I'm going to sign up for a photography class. And I live in a city that couldn't give me more things to photograph People, buildings, nature. It's all here in one place and I'm excited about doing that. So that's going to be my new hobby coming into the new year. What's your new hobby going to be?
Speaker 1:
Well, I hope you learned a little bit about what makes a super-ager a super-ager and I hope that it gives you enough information. I'll tell you I got this information from the latest AARP Bulletin, that newspaper that you get if you don't have your AARP once you're 50, you can be a member. That AARP Bulletin gives me a lot of information for this podcast. Sorry, I need to take a sip, but it also gives me a lot of information about life and I really enjoy it. So get that AARP membership, remember. You can go to my website and get information at wwwagingain'tforSissy'spodcastcom. You can email me directly at agingfastoneatgmailcom. That's agingfastonenumberoneatgmailcom. I do have a quick little senior moment for you this week, wishing you a great week and let's see what my senior moment is. All right, my senior moment is traveling.
Speaker 1:
We all love to travel. I don't know if you know about Google travel, so just Google Google travel and I'll take you to the Google travel website. What's great about this is it can find you the lowest price on everything across the board, but you can also set up travel alert. So, let's say, my son lives in Denver and Craig and I want to travel to Denver. I can put in a Chicago to Denver alert and when ticket prices drop on that particular route I'll get a message. I mean this is great. It's watching for you all the time.
Speaker 1:
You don't have to be on the computer constantly looking for the best prices and the best deals and the best everything you know. You can just put in a Google alert and so check out Google travel. I love all of the things for travel AARP, aaa, all of that but Google travel is quite good if you're looking for deals on rental cars. Rental cars are so dang expensive it's insane. So put in a Google alert for that and you know you can use Google travel for all of your travel needs. So check that out, take a look at it. We're always we're all trying to save money, but we all want to travel. So I hope that will help you save a little bit money. Take an extra trip because you're able to find a good deal. All right, everybody, you know what I always say AJ Name for Sissy.