Aging causes many changes, namely in personality, abilities and lifestyle. However, these changes do not need to be negative. In the book Successful aging, Daniel J. Levitin teaches how to live life to its full potential. The book is divided into three parts, part one: developing brain, part two: choices we make and part three: the new longevity.

Developing Brain

This part of the book delves into the individual differences between us, as well as the relationships between our senses, memory, emotions, pain and the aging brain.

Our differences in personality, agreeability, openness and many more factors end up affecting the way we cope with aging, as well as the effects of aging itself. For example, a child that might have a high sense of adventure seeking, which could cause them to get into trouble. This behavior carries through adulthood, putting the child at risk for many larger risks such as substance abuse or other dangerous situations. Such subtle behaviors caused by differences in personality can cause immensely difference outcomes in the future. Inversely however, newer research has shown that there are ways for people at any age to make meaningful changes in themselves at any point in life. Although genes and environment can be a good predictor of future outcomes, it is still only a piece in the puzzle of one’s life.

Our five senses help us make sense of the world we live in, so what happens when we lose sharpness, and these senses fall into decline as we age? Luckily, we new technology, there is a fix for almost all of these concerns, some are more popular like glasses for visual impairments, however for senses like touch or taste, there are a lot less options. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any, new gels along with research have come out in recent years- in the near future such impairments can help older adults live more robust lives.

• individuality
• memory
• senses
• emotions
• social factors
• pain
• individuality
• memory
• senses
• emotions
• social factors
• pain

Choices we make

Just like in all those lifestyle vlogs, diet, exercise and sleep are all highly important in living longer and more productive lives. However, how do these activities look different when our main goal isn’t- for example- weight loss, but to live longer? The answer lies in our internal clock.

The internal clock is a product of our evolution to adapt to the Earth’s 24 hour rotational period. This clock helps us predict events such as: when the sun will rise so our brains can release chemicals to wake us up. Through more studies on biological clocks, researchers have found that when you eat, sleep, and exercise, is all the more important to older adults. However, as we age, gradually our biological clocks also go through stark changes. Malleability of our clocks decreases as we age, a barrier to travel. Another difficulty would be the declining amount and quality of sleep, due to the changes in biological clock. These changes effect more than just our sleep itself, it also changes alertness throughout the day. For adults aged above 60, there is a large disparity in alertness and clear thinking from the morning to the afternoon, with the far majority performing better in the morning (244). The best thing to do about this is to stay away from caffeine, and have a consistent schedule.

Diets have always been a controversial topic. In this book the final verdict is that the most important thing is a balance of foods, and minimizing processed foods and sweets.

Exercise for older adults may look like walks in nature, but also walks in museums or malls. While being mentally fit is important, physical exercise is also important to maintain health.

Sleep strengthens memory and helps to preserve mental fitness, which is why it is so important to have a sleep schedule.

• internal clock
• diet
• exercise
• sleep

The New Longevity

Lifespan is still extremely unpredictable. You could avoid all unhealthy foods, alcohol, cigarettes and have a consistent schedule- and still not live as long as Jeanne Calment (the oldest person to ever live) who lived to 122 smoking and drinking until she was 117. However, there are still predictors such as telomere length that can give us hints as to how long one will live.

Long life ≠ Quality of life. Instead of evaluating living long as just an age, just a number, we must consider the quality of the time that we live that long. Mental health is such a big factor in determining our lives that good relationships with family, friends and general community is a good predictor of how long we live. By the age of 50, good relationships become a bigger factor in determining longevity than cholesterol (376).

• living longer (years)
• living smarter (cognitive)
• living better ( life and happiness)

The main takeaway from this book is that although we can try to eat healthy, sleep well, control other factors of our wellbeing; genetics still play a huge role in our longevity. Despite this however, we can still focus on learning new things, forming good relationship and understanding our own body and its needs to reach our own full potential in life.

Did you know, loneliness is actually more of a threat to your health than smoking 15 cigarettes everyday? Not to say you should start smoking that much everyday, but loneliness is truly a big factor in deciding your mortality. The risk of dying in the next seven years goes up significantly by 30% if you are chronically lonely. I learned this in a book I just recently finished reading, “Successful Aging” by Daniel J Levitin.

• Darwin’s theory

Many know Lamarck as the french scientist that proposed an alternative theory to Darwin’s famous theory on evolution. Today, through studies of genetics we acknowledge Darwin’s theory is fact. A key difference between the two theories, is how each scientist explained the passing down of traits. Darwin’s theory shows that the game of genetics isn’t ‘fair’; some organisms have a better chance of survival because of their inherited differences, which are passed down from parents and predetermined. These predetermined differences can make or break or organism’s survival: those with favorable traits end up living on to reproduce while those that do not end up dying before reproducing, a phenomenon that we know commonly as natural selection.

• compare

this is also where Lamarck’s theory differs from Darwin. While Darwin theorized that organisms all had inherent traits (genes) and that evolution occurs when the inherited traits of a species has changed; Lamarck believed that organisms can acquire certain traits over a lifetime, and therefore pass those ‘learned’ traits down to their offspring.

• genes

Mother nature is not that nice, she doesn’t make sure every organism is adapted. Organisms are born either adapted or not: a misconception in Lamarck’s theory. In his theory, he assumes that all members of a species adapt together through their lifetime, that each generation would become more adapted.

• natural selection

In such a modernized world, we (for the most part) do not need to experience natural selection. Most people live without fear of a predator, and with enough resources to sustain themselves. Success in the past may have just been having enough resources to survive, but now, it is more determined in social status. So now instead of competing for food and other resources directly, we are competing for things like jobs and opportunities.

• You don’t have to reinvent the wheel

While we might not necessarily be able to pass down our knowledge from generation to generation directly as ‘traits’, we can provide future generations with what we already know, with opportunities and connections. So that they don’t have to figure each thing out themselves again with trial and error. Even though Lamarck may have been wrong about how traits are passed down biologically, he still does have a point; that we can pass down our experiences and knowledge: just in a different way.

• That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!

How do adaptations occur? Darwin’s theory focuses on the evolution of the individual, while Lamarck sees it as the evolution of a whole species. If we see this as more than just biological, and more in a social sense Lamarck is right. Any new finding or innovation that makes humans more adapted to the environment is a finding/innovation for all humans. This is different from a biological adaption, because you can’t share a gene mutation existing members of your species.

• Lamarck was in the wrong room

While Darwin’s theory is regarded as true in a biological sense, maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Lamarck’s theory: it may not be applicable to biological evolution, however if we look at social evolution it all comes together. Social evolution is “notion that culture generally develops (or evolves) in a uniform and progressive manner.” Lamarck’s ideas on how we can pass down experiences and knowledge gained in each generation to the next is exactly how we evolve socially today. For example, we have invented many things like ACs and heaters to adapt to our environments, without needing to wait centuries for a random genetic mutation to come along and help us become more tolerant to different climates. Instead of pitching the idea with biologists, Lamarck would’ve definitely performed better with a crowd of philosophers or anthropologists; studying a different side: an arguably more important side of human evolution, social evolution. Darwin’s theory of evolution certainly does not tell the whole story of human evolution, and how we got to where we are today: being able to adapt ourselves/our climates in our favor. Even though Lamarck is known as the ‘guy who got evolution wrong’, he really was just the ‘guy who was right, in the wrong room’.

School has just ended this Friday for me, and I am now on summer break!

For this summer I plan to focus on getting back into reading some more books, working on my digital art, continue with sports (golf, tennis), and piano.

Yesterday, I went to a Barnes and Noble and I found a book that I would like to read in the future! It’s called Girl Decoded. I read the summary, and it is about how the author overcomes her own struggles, and discovers what she wants to do in life- humanizing technology. I think what she is doing is very interesting, especially because I haven’t seen many people consider emotion when dealing with technology. I am excited to read this soon!

The book: ‘Girl Decoded’ By Rana el Kaliouby with Carol Colman