Want to live longer? Socialise more

New research from the University of Otago has discovered that being ‘socially engaged’ throughout older age - and not smoking - are key to living a longer, healthier life.

The research looked at 292 New Zealand centenarians that were free from common age-related diseases with the aim of establishing what had helped them to live so long and well. It found that people can have some control over how well they age.

“Electing not to smoke and committing to maintain social networking will be the best investment one can make towards successful ageing,” says Associate Professor Yoram Barak, a consultant psychogeriatrician.

Being socially active means physically going out of your home and away from families and interacting with people whether that is visiting friends, volunteering, or participating in activities such as attending a concert or playing golf”, he says.

Dr Barak says various research projects over the past decade have been bearing out the importance of socialising in retirement and, conversely, how detrimental loneliness can be.

He says most of the centenarians in its study of the variables associated with exceptionally healthy, extreme old age, continued to engage with social activities they had done all their life.

“Whether it was singing in the church choir, going to the bridge club or attending lectures at the University of the Third Age,” he says. These were all activities that challenged the brain and required a response.

“Having a cup of tea with your neighbour is nice, but not really a challenge,” he said.

Dr Barak, along with his colleague Professor Paul Glue, from the Department of Psychological Medicine, and Dr Sharon Leitch from the Department of General Practice and Rural Health looked at data on the 292 centenarians who were free of common chronic diseases such as diabetes, depression, dementia and hypertension. They called this group the ‘centenarian escapers’. They also looked at information relating to another 103,377 older people aged over 60 for the comparison group. All of the people studied were living in private accommodation in the community and not in aged residential care.

The social engagement was the key element found in common amongst these healthy centenarian escapers.

The researchers say that while there is evidence that exercise improves health and length of life, most of the participants had a similar profile of physical activity and as a result this particular study was not able to test the effects of this on ageing.

However, among those surveyed, the highest physical activity groups were at the lowest risk of dementia. They also found that rates of depression and diabetes declined steadily with increasing age and rates of dementia declined after the age of 80. Hypertension rates increased by nearly 30 per cent from age 60 to 100 years.

As of 2011, there are estimated to be between 400 and 500 centenarians living in New Zealand. Of these, fewer than 40 would be aged over 105. The mean age of the centenarians interviewed in this study was 101.

The centenarian escapers were more likely to be female (75 per cent) and women were more likely to be free of the common chronic diseases previously mentioned, in all age groups.

“Women have a longer life expectancy and are therefore more likely to be represented in centenarian studies. However, after correcting for this advantage, men who do make it to 100 years of age are more likely to be free of common illnesses,” Associate Professor Barak says.

He adds that the foundations of remarkable health and longevity among centenarians is unclear. Genetic factors, certain geographical locations and life-style characteristics have all been studied in an effort to identify potential predisposing factors of exceptional longevity.