ON AGING

I just listened to a most interesting lecture, part of the course I am taking, on aging by Dr. Andrew Weil. He spoke about the Okinawan people having the highest rate of longevity world wide. He expalins that longevity is not attributed to genetics as most people seem to want to believe, but to lifestyle factors documented by the McArthur Study, something we have control of. He sited the main reason for the Okinawan's longevity is that the older people live in communities with family and people of all ages with social and intellectual connectedness unlike the Western world who isolate their old people in senior communities or nursing homes. Being with people of different ages increases activity levels of the elderly, another important contributing factor to longevity, we have to keep moving. Why do we appreciate aging in wine, meat and cheese but not in ourselves. With aging comes knowledge, widom, mellowness, experience and tenderness to name a few positives, all traits we should celebrate. In closeing Dr. Weil said "Connect with the inner-self that is always what it was.......the part of you that doesn't age."