SuperAging validated: Groundbreaking study demonstrates “getting older without getting old”
One of the best ways to look at the premise of SuperAging—”getting older without getting old”—is to compare people of the same age from different generations. What’s the health of a 70-year-old born, for example, in 1940, compared to a 70-year-old born in 1950 or 1960 or later?
We would expect a longer future life span, due to constant new discoveries in disease prevention and treatment. And this of course has occurred. But is the presence or absence of disease the only way to look at it?
Now, as reported here, a study from the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health “highlights notable improvements in the overall health of older adults in England compared to previous generations. Instead of focusing solely on the presence or absence of disease, the research—published in Nature Aging—adopted a novel approach to assess trends in individuals’ functional abilities, including cognitive, locomotor, psychological, and sensory capacities.”
The researchers drew on data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, and found that “today’s older adults demonstrate better physical and mental functioning than their counterparts of earlier generations at the same age.” (Emphasis added.)
How much better? From the article: “’These improvements were large,’ said John Beard, MBBS, PhD, Irene Diamond Professor of Aging in Health Policy and Management in the Butler Columbia Aging Center of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and author of the study. For example, a 68-year-old born in 1950 had a similar capacity to a 62-year-old born a decade earlier, and those born in 1940 had better functioning than those born in 1930 or 1920. Beard noted, ‘If we had compared someone born in 1950 with someone born in 1920, we would have likely observed even greater improvements.’
“Beard says that improvements in Education, nutrition, and sanitation over the course of the twentieth century are likely to have played a key role. Medical advances—such as joint replacements and better treatments for chronic conditions—were also likely to be contributing factors… We were surprised by just how large these improvements were, particularly when comparing people born after World War Two with earlier-born groups. But there is nothing to say we will continue to see the same improvements moving forward, and changes such as the increasing prevalence of obesity may even see these trends reverse. It is also likely that more advantaged groups will have experienced greater gains than others. But overall, the trends were very strong and suggest that, for many people, 70 really may be the new 60.”
And 80 being the new 65? And 90 being the new 70? Even his word of caution, about the potential negative effects of obesity, speaks to something that can be modified as opposed to being an inherent consequence of aging. The active SuperAger has plenty to pay attention to, no argument there, but that’s actually the point: if you do pay attention and do work at it, you can indeed “get older without getting old.” Much older.
The article ends with a quote from aging expert Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois: “This is a powerful article. It shows that intrinsic capacity—what really matters to people as they age—is inherently modifiable. With this evidence, we see that medical science can enhance intrinsic capacity, providing a hopeful message for the future.”
Related stories on SuperAging News:
According to longevity experts, people who live to 100 have these 6 things in common
How our attitude toward aging affects how we age and – how long we live
World’s oldest skydiver, 107, shares his longevity secrets
Meet the SuperAgers: Centenarians explain how they did it
Doctor, 78, says he’s reversed his biological age by 20 years. Here’s how he did it
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