“I wish I could walk and live healthily on my own feet and then suddenly die one day.” “I want to live and cook my own food until I’m 90 and then end my life.” “I don’t want to stop my children from giving me money while lying in a nursing home bed and taking nutritional supplements.”
Living a long and healthy life is a blessing, but there is no punishment if you live sick and bedridden for a long time. No one would want to live to 100 years old, suffering from low energy. However, the healthy life expectancy of Koreans is 73 years, which is 10 years different from the life expectancy (83 years). This means that most of the last 10 years of life are spent in an ‘unhealthy’ state.
What preparations are needed to live a long, disease-free life? In Japan, which became a country with an aging population before us, there are many scholars studying health and longevity studies. Improving your daily lifestyle will improve your quality of life in old age and extend your healthy lifespan. Yosuke Yamada, an expert in health longevity and an assistant professor at Kobe University Graduate School, looked at tips for preparing for a disease-free and long life with reference to the book ‘Science Reveals How to Resolve Middle-Aged Men with Paunches’ published last month.
Illustration = Chosun Design Lab Jeong Daun
✅A short-lived shortcut to “It’s a hassle to move.”
“Ugh, my legs hurt.” “I don’t want to wake up because it’s cold.”
Healthy centenarians move their bodies all day long without any complaints. Professor Yamada said, “Modern people lie down or sit and look at computers or cell phones, but this posture does not increase energy consumption,” and added, “You need to keep moving your body and increase your activity level to become healthy.” The point is that you have to move the center of your body. In particular, Professor Yamada says that energy consumption increases when you move up and down or left and right using your waist.
When it comes to up and down movements, typical examples include sitting and standing up from a chair or going up and down stairs. Side-to-side movement refers to walking while bending left and right rather than walking straight or walking up and down the hallway several times.
Professor Yamada continued, “I have been asked if there is an exercise effect even if you sit on a chair and do things like swinging your legs, but sitting down and moving your body consumes very little energy.” He added, “You need to do exercises like going up and down stairs to expend a lot of energy in your body.” “You can do it,” he said. Going up and down stairs consumes about three times as much energy as walking on flat ground, and has the effect of improving cardiopulmonary function and strengthening muscle strength.
Among household chores, hanging laundry is an effective up and down exercise. Gardening can also consume a lot of energy because watering or maintaining crops requires constant movement of the body up, down, left, and right.
Graphics = Chosun Design Lab Kwon Hye-in
✅30 minutes of exercise every day, even on weekends
However, moving constantly during daily life is not enough. To slow down the aging process, you must consciously exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, at least two days a week. Playing ball with your kids or walking in the sun is also okay. Adults usually walk about 1,000 steps in 10 minutes, but walking 3,000 steps means exercising for 30 minutes. On rainy days, it is also a good idea to do strength training at home, such as squats (sitting and standing up with your back straight).
Professor Yamada emphasized that it is easy to forget to exercise for 30 minutes, especially when resting on weekends or holidays, but you should exercise more intentionally on holidays than on weekdays. This is because on rest days, you move your body less and it is easy to gain weight due to lack of exercise. Professor Yamada added, “If you have the opportunity to move your body by going to an exhibition or an amusement park instead of lying on the sofa because you are tired on the weekend, that alone has a sufficient exercise effect.”
Graphics = Chosun Design Lab Kwon Hye-in
✅Choose an exercise to do with a colleague
In addition to doing light exercise for 30 minutes a day, playing serious sports about once a week also lowers the risk of premature death. Professor Yamada introduced the so-called ‘Copenhagen Survey (2018)’, which was conducted through a 25-year follow-up survey of 8,477 adults living in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He said, “The Copenhagen survey analyzed the differences in individual lifespan according to eight types of sports, and the difference in lifespan was determined by the type of exercise chosen rather than how long the person exercised.” According to the Copenhagen Survey, people who played tennis lived about 10 years longer than the average lifespan, followed by badminton (6.2 years) and soccer (4.7 years). The top three most effective exercises for extending lifespan were all ball games.
On the other hand, solo exercise such as jogging, health gymnastics, and health club ranked at the bottom. Professor Yamada said, “Ball sports are different from solitary sports such as jogging or the gym because you spend time chatting and communicating with colleagues during and after the game,” adding, “Exercise with other people.” “Doing so gives you a sense of social belonging and has the effect of improving your health,” he said.
Graphics = Chosun Design Lab Kwon Hye-in
Meanwhile, Professor Yamada also had a positive evaluation of golf in old age. He said, “There are quite a few elderly people who played golf during their active years, but stopped playing golf for various reasons after retirement.” He added, “Playing golf with friends in old age can prevent the aging phenomenon that occurs while living in isolation, relieve stress, and keep the mind clear.” “It has the effect of prolonging lifespan,” he advised.
➡️The three major anxieties of old age are said to be ‘money, health, and loneliness.’ In this article, we looked at ways to age healthily. If you are curious about financial preparations, check out the information on ‘Chosun Ilbo Money’, the official economic YouTube channel of Chosun Ilbo. On Chosun.com hereClick and link on portals such as Naver and Daum (https://youtu.be/-gHQVnskJCo) and try connecting.
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2024-01-23 02:27:32
