How to Live Healthier for Longer
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Juuu, täällä on valittamana 1268 ravintolaannosta, 540 hotellihuonetta, 6 elokuvasalia, 20 keilarataa, 8 saunaa, ainakin 12 allasta ja 26 pakohuonetta. Lomareissu, täältähän se vasta alkaa. Että mitenkäs nyt suupannaan? Suurenmoista, suurenmoiseen elämään. Jumbo!
Hi everyone. Welcome to What's Up Docs. I'm Dr Chris. I'm Dr Zand. We are so excited to be here at the Hay Festival recording Radio 4's Health and Wellbeing podcast. Thank you all so much for coming. First of all, are you looking after yourselves? A little hesitancy there. That's good.
How do life expectancy and healthy life expectancy differ?
I'd say at least half the room. Are you looking after each other? Well, a bit more confidence there, which is nice to hear. Which is nice to hear. And that's really what we're asking today. Which is more important for your longevity and for your well-being, looking after yourself or being looked after? That is the dilemma that we're wrestling with today. And people have been interested in this dilemma for a long time, Zandi, particularly in the concept of longevity, haven't they? That's right, Chris. So if we were recording this episode at the first ever Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival... 1983. 3,000 years ago... Top of the charts would be the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known major work of literature.
King Gilgamesh of Uruk, he's obsessed with cheating death. And is he still around? Spoiler alert, he does not succeed in his quest.
What factors contribute to healthy aging?
But, as the Hay Festival reminds us, if you write a good enough book... You live forever. OK, Zandi, but what has been a common concept across this discussion, across cultures for a very long time, is the idea that there is something out there external to ourselves that can confer on us a longer, better life. I think we're all familiar with this, Chris. I guess the Holy Grail would be a great example. It's part buried in Christian stories, part of it's Arthurian legend. So there's these old ideas, but we see these vampire headlines now. There's this much more contemporary idea, Silicon Valley billionaires injecting themselves with the blood of the young to rejuvenate. So this is a familiar idea, but in fact, if we go back, Chris, to 1492, Pope Innocent VIII, aged 60, his doctors hired three young boys, drained out their blood for the pontiff's benefit.
So the story goes. It's a difficult story to confirm, but the measures failed. The pope died, as did all the boys. It's an unusual operation that has a 400% mortality rate. But what about hormone supplements? Because this feels like the most modern idea that we are all aggressively confronted with.
How does society influence individual health choices?
This idea is not new. It goes back at least to 1889. Brown Saccard, the great French physician, starts grinding up guinea pig and dog testicles and injecting extracts of them under his skin. And he reports that he gets stronger, his bowels improve, his brain fog clears, and he urges other physicians to try it And they do try it and they kill a lot of people. So whether you're seeing strange practices on social media and that's where you're getting your longevity conversation or whether you're reading headlines in serious newspapers talking about it or scientific journals, it's been a conversation for 3,000 years and it surrounds us more than ever. How many people here are doing something to work on their longevity?
Are there people here who are sort of aiming to live a bit longer or would like to live a little bit longer? OK, that's great. So that's getting a few nods. So we do have an interest in living beyond what we might call our life expectancies. But there was an interesting headline in The Guardian very recently, which said that at least 80% of the responsibility for ill health in old age is down to the individual. So people who are trying to live longer may well be doing the right thing, according to this headline. And that idea to me seems potentially really exciting and really empowering that we could take charge of our health. And perhaps that's what we should be doing in this tent today is setting you up to kind of grapple with your longevity.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:11
2
How do life expectancy and healthy life expectancy differ?
1:11–2:10
3
What factors contribute to healthy aging?
2:10–3:25
4
How does society influence individual health choices?
3:25–4:59
5
What role does personal responsibility play in health?
4:59–5:43
6
How do environmental factors affect our health?
5:43–6:53
7
What lessons can we learn from blue zones around the world?
6:53–7:49
8
How can we create healthier communities for better longevity?
7:49–30:14