It is already known that there are certain factors that promote longevity. In order to live to 100 or even more, you need to eat a diet rich in vegetables and fruits, give up stimulants, take care of regular physical activity and healthy sleep. Successful family and social relationships are also extremely important. Prof. Grzegorz Dworacki from the Medical University in Poznań emphasizes that the key to developing longevity factors was to designate five so-called blue zones in the world, where the most healthy, fit and happy centenarians live.
Two Blue Zones are located in Europe. They are Ikaria in Greece, and Sardinia in Italy, specifically the Ogliastra region and several mountain villages in Barbagia . The other “Blue Zones” are Okinawa in Japan, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica , and Loma Linda in California.
– There is no clear answer to the question of how to ensure longevity. However, research shows that at the moment there are five so-called blue zones defined in the world and these are areas where people live much longer. In Europe, it is the Mediterranean basin, the first longevity region is Sardinia, the second Ikaria, but in Sardinia, for example, not the entire island, only the central, mountainous one – says to the Newseria agency prof. dr hab. med. Grzegorz Dworacki, pathomorphologist, clinical immunologist, Poznań University of Medical Sciences.
Studies and statistics show that the inhabitants of these unique places on our planet are healthy, happy and live the longest. Where you live is one thing, but the emotional and mental aspect is also extremely important. In order to “cheat your PESEL”, you have to take care of your mental well-being and lead a calm, balanced lifestyle. A successful family and social life is of great value.
– Some say that without love between people there is no long life. People who stay in these blue zones admit that there is above all enormous kindness and goodness, simply human love. And this aspect, first of all – lowers the level of stress, and on the other hand, such people who have a friendly environment, live in good relationships and loving families, live much longer – he says.
According to Prof. Grzegorz Dworacki, in order to enjoy health, fitness and well-being for as long as possible, you need to take care of your immune system.
– The activity of the immune system is very important. If it is proper and effective, then there should actually be no cancers, because on the one hand, cancers are cells that rebel and this is happening all the time, up to several dozen a day, which is why they should be constantly eliminated and cleaned up by the immune system. On the other hand, the failure of the immune system affects the fact that there are more cancers – he explains.
Shift work has a very negative impact on our health . It disrupts the natural, internal rhythm of the body. Performing duties at night means that the employee cannot rest at the moment when his biological clock requires it. According to the findings of scientists, so-called compensatory sleep during the day is less valuable than sleep at night.
– People who work shifts and stay up all night are much more likely to have cancer. It turns out that the cells that protect us immunologically during the day, as if they were leaving the car park and going to the city, and at night they return to the bone marrow. And if this movement is constantly disturbed, then our immunological supervision of cancers definitely drops. So it's simple: sleep is an element of longevity. People who sleep well live long – he says.
The professor also appeals not to neglect regular physical activity, especially outdoors. It is worth focusing on stretching exercises, for example.
– If in the old days people walked in the mountains, had to carry water or food for several hundred meters, such stretching of tendons was a signal to the brain that this person was leaving the cave and was exposed to pathogens, viruses, the environment. In this situation, the immune system must be activated and this is absolutely brain activity. However, when we have a sedentary lifestyle, constantly in one place and there is no such activity, the efficiency of our immune system decreases – he adds.
Prof. dr hab. med. Grzegorz Dworacki is the ambassador of Peter Attia's book “Living Longer. The Science of Long Life in Health”, which completely changes the approach to the aging process. Experts admit that we have been programmed for about 120 years. However, the program did not foresee that we would live slightly differently than our ancestors.
