Ever wondered how you'll be spending your days when you're 90? Leslie was fascinated by The 90+ Study conducted at UC Irvine so in this episode the Besties went in.
In 2003, investigators began to look at “the oldest-old” in one of the largest studies of this group of people ever conducted, to determine the factors contributing to longevity. One of the fascinating findings included a participant who was seemingly resistant to the outward signs of Alzheimer's disease (e.g. memory loss, cognitive decline) even though his autopsied brain showed clear markers of the disease.
The Besties discuss the likelihood that adoption of Health 2.0 influenced behaviors described by Peter Attia proactive strategies for longevity, like planning for our future wellness, might be the best bet. Imagine continuing the passions that color one's youth, all while staying cognitively resilient. That would indeed be something to look forward to. What’s the point of planning for living well into our next chapter while at the same time neglecting habits that lead to good health?
This episode and all previous episodes are available on YouTube. Please join our Besties Quad Squad as a Patreon subscriber at the $5 or $10 monthly level. You'll receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Visit Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn website for behind-the-scenes extras.
Ever wondered how you'll be spending your days when you're 90? Leslie was fascinated by The 90+ Study conducted at UC Irvine so in this episode the Besties went in.
In 2003, investigators began to look at “the oldest-old” in one of the largest studies of this group of people ever conducted, to determine the factors contributing to longevity. One of the fascinating findings included a participant who was seemingly resistant to the outward signs of Alzheimer's disease (e.g. memory loss, cognitive decline) even though his autopsied brain showed clear markers of the disease.
The Besties discuss the likelihood that adoption of Health 2.0 influenced behaviors described by Peter Attia proactive strategies for longevity, like planning for our future wellness, might be the best bet. Imagine continuing the passions that color one's youth, all while staying cognitively resilient. That would indeed be something to look forward to. What’s the point of planning for living well into our next chapter while at the same time neglecting habits that lead to good health?
This episode and all previous episodes are available on YouTube. Please join our Besties Quad Squad as a Patreon subscriber at the $5 or $10 monthly level. You'll receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Visit Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn website for behind-the-scenes extras.
Hey Ange, hey Les, How's it going?
Speaker 2:It's going well.
Speaker 1:Good, good, I'm loving the green.
Speaker 2:You know me, I was going to say I am wearing your favorite color, you are. What about this shade of green? Is this a good shade?
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful shade. It's actually very close to the color on my toes.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't show that't don't show that, please don't show that beautiful toes.
Speaker 1:Beautiful toes um I'm putting my leg on the fact of the fact that on one foot, my my second toe is just a scotch longer than the first, is that the one with the toe jam?
Speaker 2:I'm not laughing at that, that was you know. That's like a dad joke said by a mom.
Speaker 1:And then repeated by a toddler.
Speaker 2:No, how are you today, my dear?
Speaker 1:I'm actually doing well for being tired. I'm doing well. It's good to see you.
Speaker 2:I hope our listeners caught the fact that in our prior podcast we determined that we were somewhere between 60 and death. But wait, there's hope. So check this out. Wait, wait, wait. You didn't introduce the podcast.
Speaker 1:What's going on?
Speaker 2:I tell you you're out of your groove, man. I'm out of my groove.
Speaker 1:I'm distracted. I'm distracted by the need to stop working. I'm distracted by the red lipstick. Oh what? Oh, you're.
Speaker 2:Welcome to another episode of Red lipstick, episode of Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn, brooklyn.
Speaker 1:Listen. So Leslie and I come on at least once a week to remind women of a certain age. They can live freer, abundant, bold or not bold, they can live life to its fullest in whatever way that means for you. And we show up. We show up very authentically. We're clumsy, we're, we're charming, we are curious, we're all those things, and we just want to create space for you to live your best life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we even forget to introduce ourselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do Every once in a while. So what are we talking about?
Speaker 2:today. So what are we talking about today? So I was intrigued by this 60 minute episode. I didn't view it when it aired, so I viewed the video, but I'm fascinated by it because it is. It just speaks to us about who we are as boomers and besties, but also it brings up for me content that we brought up, that we spoke about in prior episodes. So there is a study, and I don't remember the centers that are conducting the study. I should have made note of that, but I was so fascinated by some other things so I got to say I don't know who the principal investigators are and what university they're from, but it's called the 90 plus study.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And what that is. They look at elderly people. Do they call them nonagenarians? Or? I know octogenarians are people in the 80s, but what are the 90s and the centen? Anyway, whatever, it is.
Speaker 1:have you lived a century yet? Are you coming in this studies you?
Speaker 2:Are you sliding into 99? Sliding? So they look at a cohort of elderly people age 90 and over and they check in with them every six months and do a whole battery of tests to see, to ascertain if there are some traits that are similar, if trying to find clues to their not just their longevity but the fact that they're thriving in their older years. So they give them memory tests, they do PET scans in order to look at some brain activity, and then obviously blood works and cognitive tests and things like that. So they follow these people on a long-term study. Probably I think it was from the earliest was from 2014. So 10 years at least. And oh, my goodness, you know it tickled my medical fancy, it spoke to my um, my nerd science head, stuff which is the same thing.
Speaker 1:But okay, but it was really.
Speaker 2:It was really. It was really something. And just remember, I said that there's remember Health 2.0?.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember you talking about that. So I believe the physician is named Peter Attia A-T-T-I-A. I'm blocking the name of his book. I should have been ready. I'm blocking the name of his book. I should have been ready. But he describes a mindset where, if you have plans to live in retirement or in your older age, if you have things like I want to travel, I want to be healthy, I want to have good, nurturing relationships, the time to start is not when you're in your 80s and 90s. The time to start is now.
Speaker 1:Okay. Is it ever too late. Meaning now meaning what are you feeling? Like it's too late.
Speaker 2:So, in other words, I'm just saying it's like like right now, the future, right now or last year, now, so but check this out, okay. It's so interesting because what we said in that prior recording according to this health 2.0, is that if you want to be able to travel, you need to have physical fitness in order to get on a bus to drive to this or that. The time to start is now.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, maintaining your, your weight, your muscle tone and things like that, that muscle, oh yeah. Yeah, it's important if you want to have a good friendship, um relationship. Well, the time to really nurture those types of bonds of trust and intimacy and things like that is right now, yeah, so if you and I are fortunate enough, god willing, to make it to our 80s or even 90s, then don't get on my bad side.
Speaker 1:I promise I won't, but I have to tell you something. I have to tell you something that I did the other day. Okay, and I made it, but halfway through I'm like, why, Angela? Why? So I was going to drive to the coffee shop day before yesterday and was it yesterday? It was day before it was yesterday, it was yesterday.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And I actually got in the car to drive over because I thought that I was going to make some stops after, but it was so hot, I thought it was cooler, it was so hot. I'm like you know what, I'm just gonna walk over there and so close the door or whatever. And I walked over and a few hours in so I'd looked at the eclipse and all that stuff and I I posted on my Instagram page what happened there. Maybe we'll circle back to that, but anyway, I was feeling really hungry and you know, sometimes I forget to eat and I someone commented on the fact that I have coffee and peanuts in the morning and I had had that in the morning, but I hadn't had anything else and this coffee shop only really has.
Speaker 1:I didn't really want that. So I was like, okay, I need to go and get something to eat before I start feeling weak. And so it's directly across the street from the supermarket. I'm like, oh, I needed to go to a supermarket. Anyway, let me just go to a supermarket and pick up some stuff, but I'm not thinking that I don't have the car, ok. So tangerines were on sale. You know how heavy those are. Right, they were on sale. I got two packs of not tangerines mandarins. I got two bags of those. You know I have to have my dose of apples. Cosmic, cosmic crisp.
Speaker 2:Those are my jam and then you got some green grapes, green and red grapes. That's a staple.
Speaker 1:All, all yes, and all of those things are pretty weighty. Yeah, I'm like oh snap, oh snap, oh snap, oh snap. This is going to be kind of heavy, but I refuse to put anything back because I wanted it. I did stop myself from getting a thing of water and a few other things, so anyway. So I bag everything. I went to the self-checkout. How was it?
Speaker 2:you got your workout.
Speaker 1:You're gonna lift in 90 and as I bagged everything I purposefully like, um, tried to balance the weight across the bags and so on, and I was kind of shocked at how well I did. But at one point I'm like okay, okay.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to be able to move on. I'm not going to be able to move on.
Speaker 1:Okay, too many people are out here. It's a nice day. They're going to see me. Something's in my eye. They're going to see me. I have to keep moving. I have to keep moving, I have to keep moving.
Speaker 2:You could have taken a rest like the other old people.
Speaker 1:I refuse to I refuse.
Speaker 2:But you are you. It was the time for self-talk, right, Like when that happens.
Speaker 1:I'm like, ok, yeah, you can do it. Just a couple more steps, just a couple breathe, breathe. That's how I run through the airports you know, when I'm like short on a flight it was sorry, keep blinking, terrible. And you know. Someone asked as I got closer to the complex. Someone asked if I needed help you and I wanted so badly to say yes, I wanted so badly to say and you're like no, no. I'm okay. What if you collapsed?
Speaker 2:at their feet.
Speaker 1:I said this is penance for me not doing my workout, so I'm okay. But I swear to you, when I got in, thank God I prepared and put my key in my pocket. It wasn't in my bag, so anyway, I got it.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute. I felt like my arms had elongated. I felt like they were hanging down past my knees. Yeah, oh my gosh. So, anyway, one thing I know when I am physically active, when I'm doing my workouts and so on, the thing that I that I like most about it is that I feel strong and I can do things like that.
Speaker 1:You probably said that you know what I mean. Without I, I it's I. I just don't like the feeling. I feel like it's like you know what, come on come on, you can do it.
Speaker 2:Why are you so weak?
Speaker 1:You were your own coach. I was like you used to be able to just sling it over your shoulder. What are you doing?
Speaker 2:You were like Coach Jerome Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, but that almost did me in. That almost did me in. Sorry my eyes, but anyway I had to interject that because when you talked about being physically fit, it's not to be able to bench, press a certain amount Right or run marathons.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:It's to live life in a comfortable way that you can carry groceries home or walk up a flight of stairs, or let me tell you what's really really?
Speaker 2:really, really, really important as we get older. Yeah, what balance. Yes, not just balance per se, but if you were to fall, you really need to be able to get your ass up Right.
Speaker 1:Not that I've fallen, and to get your ass up Right. Not that I've fallen and I can't get up.
Speaker 2:Right, but I mean falls are a major cause of problems in the elderly. Wow, in fact there are statistics that say if an older person has a significant fall, their life expectancy. There's different ways of saying that, but they, their life expectancy is shorter. Oh, why is that? Just for the?
Speaker 1:fall.
Speaker 2:Well, it implies a level of well this is like a medical term, but frailty, and that's a constellation of symptoms and signs of an older person with decreased muscle mass and failure to thrive, and this and different things. But anyway, what I'm saying is we don't have to be those people who are like running and bench pressing and lifting and stuff in our older year just to get around. We need a certain level of, you know, health in order to do that. So let me get back to the study. Okay, go, go, go. So it's called the 90 plus study. They had a number of people that they followed in their older years. Get this I was shocked about this half of the children born today that's 50% of the children born in 2024, will live to 103 and 104 years old. That's true, 50% of the people born in the 2020s. Isn't that crazy? That's crazy 50%. So there's going to be all these old people walking around, oh, wow. Or I should say, elders walking around.
Speaker 2:So that has so many implications. Ange, okay, I have some questions, but keep going. All right. But just think you and I right now. Well, I'm 62. You're almost 62. But could you imagine us being podcast co-hosts for 40 more years?
Speaker 1:Actually I can. Yes, indeed, I cannot.
Speaker 2:I cannot.
Speaker 1:No, because you tend to. Whenever you talk about aging and the amount of time we have left, I don't like how much you cut us short. You're always talking like 20, what? 20, 25 maybe?
Speaker 2:I'm being conservative.
Speaker 1:I feel really truncated when you do that Well.
Speaker 2:the thing is, when we hit 80 and we're still spry and fly, then it'll be like a present surprise. Hey, what's the matter? You still here. You know you woke up today.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, that's your way of kind of counseling.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm going for. Fly and spry.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:Another thing that I'm glad it came up in this study because they showed, obviously, if they're following these people very closely, they showed they had markers and signs of their decline Okay, various declines memory loss or physical decline or mental decline or onset of dementia and I've known this because I've had training in it. I've known this because I've had training in it. But so many people look at elderly people who are confused with cognitive decline or clinical what we call dementia, which is a constellation of things.
Speaker 1:But they automatically say Alzheimer's and people.
Speaker 2:I like that this 60 Minutes show showed the public that there are many forms of dementia. Alzheimer's is but one type of dementia.
Speaker 1:This is the way that I learned about that Because, as you know, my mother had that cruel disease Cruel disease and they, they, they did not. They did not refer to her disease as Alzheimer's. It was in the way that the doctor explained it to me which was really helpful is dementia is flowers and Alzheimer's is a rose. So it's a particular type of dementia. So dementia is a broader. So I don't know what is particular about Alzheimer's, but I do know that it is a specific type of dementia. It's not synonymous with dementia.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 1:Did I get that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a subset, it's a type of dementia. Hallmark of Alzheimer's that separates it from other types of dementias is the brain findings in dementia and in Alzheimer's dementia, and there are different proteins that are present in Alzheimer's dementia that are not in other types of dementia, like Lewy body dementia or there's a whole constellation of them. So get this in. Some of the people that had these markers I'll say these markers or plaques or protein substances in the brain that is pathognomonic or that indicates that you have Alzheimer's there are some people that weren't ill or did not show any signs of cognitive decline, even though they had these markers in the brain. Okay, wait so.
Speaker 1:I know that they can't test for these things until the person dies, because they have to dissect the brain.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, you, absolutely, you certainly see it. And I got to say I don't know if there were any markers in the blood that show that you had this substance in the brain Right, you know, indicative of Alzheimer's. But actually they had to, because they would not have featured this, this person that had these issues, and you would have thought, or maybe they did it, no, no, no, like okay.
Speaker 1:I didn't, I didn't watch the whole thing, okay.
Speaker 2:So let me just try to explain it.
Speaker 1:Let me just so juicy, so juicy, but so let me just try to explain it. So juicy, so juicy, but wait, hold on. Let me just say one thing that will answer your question researchers who were looking at the kind of clinical what presented itself as they observed and interviewed these people, and then there was another doctor who looks at that particular person's brain. So the person had died. There's a doctor who's looking at his brain and looking for these things going on Yep Evidence.
Speaker 1:And then this other set of doctors who are looking at the clinical data and saying, hmm, what do we think this guy has?
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it is the same person that, at least in that little segment that I saw evidence of these abnormal proteins in his brain that are a diagnostic of Alzheimer's dementia. Yet, and still, this man had no clinical symptoms of cognitive decline. He was doing just great, no memory loss and the other things that are associated with confusion and etc. Etc. Isn't that fantastic? I mean, it's fascinating it's fascinating for you.
Speaker 1:For me it's like well, what the hell? Well wts right, it's so, so yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So it almost seems like, despite of the physical manifestations, this patient did not show it. He almost seemed like he was resistant to the uh clinical effects of the disease. Let's say right. And they call no, I'm going to. Should I get it down a little bit more? Oh, it's not interesting to you? No, no, no, no, no. Oh, it's very interesting. Am I boring you?
Speaker 1:All right, be honest, Not in the least. What I'm thinking is do these doctors know what the hell they're talking about? It's like listen, there's no evidence of it. Then what? Do you know? What's going on, or don't you, Leslie Stahl?
Speaker 2:she even said something like that to one of the researchers. She said it seems to me that you know less now than you knew 10 years ago about this. And it's true, because they're learning more and more and more. But just to finish, to put a bow on this particular situation, is that they realized that they called the phenomenon resilience. Resilience it's almost like you're immune to the effects of these proteins in your brain.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And what they attribute to this resilience is some kind of genetic mutation. Genetics, genetic mutation Okay, red wine.
Speaker 1:A Mediterranean diet.
Speaker 2:But they say red wine. Why am I repeating that nonsense that you're saying?
Speaker 1:I'm such an influencer, exactly.
Speaker 2:But I mean, I don't want to get into the gritty details about it, but it was really fascinating.
Speaker 1:You can get into the gritty details.
Speaker 2:I am not in the least this is not boring to me at all, so this, this um phenomena of resilience, makes people resist the declines that are normally associated with the Alzheimer's diagnosis because they have a genetic abnormality or difference or mutation. That it's almost like a what? What is term non-penetrance, like it's something else. That's all I'll say. It was great, but what it told me looking at these people is that again, we need to take the steps now. They were people who were physically active, they were dancing, they were in romantic relationships with a healthy sexual life. Right, you know. Yeah, and remember Ange, when we were young, we would look at people in their 40s and 50s and say they're old.
Speaker 1:Why they wearing that.
Speaker 2:You know they're old and look wearing that you know they're old and look at them kissing old people don't kiss oh yeah, that is so true isn't that something?
Speaker 1:about, yeah, that I do think about how, like I I am just kind of recently, um, referring to myself as old or elder and so on, and not feeling like that is a downer, you know what I mean. Especially referring to myself as an elder, I'm totally embracing that. I'm totally embracing seeing myself as wise, sharing my knowledge, because I have the benefit of age and experience and I can, you know, I can help, instead of feeling like you know, you're in kind of this, this state of decline all over the place. There are a lot of positives to aging, I think.
Speaker 2:And I like the way that you framed it, because you said you use words like elder, older age. You know, I think when we use the word old it implies some level of finality or, you know, like a terminal stage. I mean if, again, if we are living into our nineties and one hundreds and still driving and still thriving and physically active and able to engage in our surroundings in ways that are more and more independent.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean it's almost like old 2.0.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of reclaiming language that used to be used as pejorative. You know something to fear or something to you know. I mean I like using them, like like I know this is going to sound really crazy Like people use unit to describe wigs and I've never taken on that. It's like because wigs wig had this negative connotation, you know, because of how they, they, they looked, how fake they look back in the day, but I've never adopted that term unit. It's like, well, it's a wig. You know what I mean. So it's kind of like in that way I know I have these really strange analogies sometimes, but so old to me, it's not avoiding those words, it is leaning into that and say, yeah, I'm old and beautiful and old and smart, I'm old and wise. I'm old and you know you're going to want to be old, because the alternative is what?
Speaker 2:Well, and that's true. But what I'm saying about the word old is that the whole concept around that word is changing, because, whereas life expectancy 100 years ago may have been in the 50s or 60s, if you're telling me now that people born today half of them are going to be around when they're 104 years old, that's in 2130, the year 2125. It boggles my mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's. Why is that, though, like why is the life expectancy increasing so much?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess that's a good and that's a good. That's a whole other podcast episode that perhaps we can go into, but it has to be. You know the there's so many things that determine health and longevity and environment, and you probably know that your zip code determines how long you live. Yes, you know that. So, in other words, when I um leave this country and, uh, breathe the fresh air of wherever I'm breathing the fresh air of, you know, maybe, I'll add a couple of years to my life.
Speaker 2:Get out of a polluted you know, or stress stress.
Speaker 1:I want you to stop right now having conversations about you going somewhere and referring to it as I versus we. I just want to interrupt. I want to interrupt that thinking because if you think you're going to leave me here, your place is lovely. You'd be fine If you think you're going to leave me here. You are out of your mind.
Speaker 2:I have cognitive decline, you, I will definitely. I'll email you, baby, I'll text you, I'll send you panoramic selfies.
Speaker 1:Listen, you know I'm already.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we've been talking about this for years and years. We just got to get our tribe to come with us and see our way you know and we will.
Speaker 1:We will, we build it.
Speaker 2:When we present paradise to them.
Speaker 1:Picture this so, doc and I know this is not medical advice that you're giving on this podcast here but what are some simple things or how and I know it needs to be a mind shift before anything, because you know you have to believe it and want it in your mind before you actually go forward and do something, and do something with consistency, which is what is required, something with consistency, which is what is required. What do we have to think about? What do we need to bring to the forefront of our understanding in order to move into the health 2.0? What would you say about?
Speaker 2:that I got to tell you that one of the things that I think would be vital is to believe that it's possible for you that it's not someone else's victory, that you would be standing as sidelines and watching that we're talking to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Not just those other guys and I think, and I think, that once you you get that, that then you'll start feeling it's possible for me and then I can start making small little changes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know, I've as I've mentioned many and people who know me know that I've lost significant weight over the last couple of years, working really, really hard to do that, loving and embracing exercise and working out, and like I've never had my entire life and adopting a diet or I don't really want to call it diet, but a way of eating that is way more healthful than I've ever eaten in my life.
Speaker 2:You know and I brag that sometimes I eat like a toddler, but most times I don't. But I really think it's taking the small steps and believing that you can, that this is something that is doable and possible for you would be, you know one thing, and then being smart about it. You know getting regular care and taking care of yourself and mental health is a big deal. You know it's so much of it because if you're not mentally and emotionally right, um, it's really hard to. It's even hard to get up in the morning. You know I've suffered with depression and all, and I tell you that gray umbrella over your head is is so hard to push through on your own yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, but.
Speaker 2:You know, but we got to talk more about this. This is, this is yeah.
Speaker 1:One thing I'm going to add too is around the mindset. I've talked about this before, I haven't done it yet, and I think we should commit to doing it, and then we can come back and kind of talk about the experience, and that is.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Writing a letter To your future. No, imagining your future self and that person writing a letter Thanking yourself now For the life that they have.
Speaker 2:Oh, so that's kind of meta, but I bet you In fact, thinking about that made me warm, you know? No, no, no, no, no. Remember the episode where we talked about writing your daily writing and all of a sudden I started getting nervous and stuff.
Speaker 1:Here you are talking about writing and all of a sudden I'm like either, I'm getting flushed Seriously Really. Just imagine yourself at 63, right, just just sit in.
Speaker 2:that, yeah okay nine months from now.
Speaker 1:I think. And what and what are the things that you have do? Eat, wow that's really something who's with you. You in that place, write to you now and say this is what I'm doing. Thank you for making these choices Drinking water every day those types of things. Those types of things writing that letter. I am going to commit to doing that and I'm going to challenge you to do that and we'll talk about it here, because I think doing things like that- I accept the challenge Challenge.
Speaker 1:I think when we do that is when we get into the mindset that you were talking about. It is actually a mindset, is actually um, taking the time to get into your head about certain things yeah yeah, yeah, that, that so let's do it.
Speaker 2:You're. You're in, I'm committed, I'm in, okay. I am so in.
Speaker 1:Anyone else in?
Speaker 2:Tell me, tell us if you're in, Come on come with us, get in, come with us, come along. Wow, maybe it's something like in a year we can read it and yeah, oh my gosh. You know I don't like to write things down and read it in the future, whatever, but okay okay, I'm in like a.
Speaker 1:This could be like a time, put your pinky up pinky got it okay.
Speaker 2:Well, this is a perfect way to end this episode. Yes, it is so you. Thank you for listening. And Black Boomer Besties from Brooklyn is produced by Angela Fraser, that lady right over there. And we also have to thank our editing team, matt Dershowitz. Hi Matt, hey Matt. And I really want to thank our marketing team from Couture Copywriting. They are awesome and they keep me on my toes.
Speaker 1:I got to tell you that.
Speaker 2:So this has been another episode of Black Puma Besties from Brooklyn, brooklyn.