Dr. Erin Michos, the associate director of preventive cardiology at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease explains “A large review of studies published in 2015 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that even after adjusting for physical activity, sitting for long periods was associated with worse health outcomes, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Sedentary behavior can also increase your risk of dying, either from heart disease or other medical problems.”
Smokers
Smoking is known to compromise the immune system. This increases the risk for many immune and autoimmune disorders, conditions that occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s healthy cells and tissues.
So how do we explain the fact that some of the oldest of the old are surviving COVID-19?
In fact, there was a recent report of a 102-year-old woman who recovered from COVID-19 along with many others. Maria Banyas, the oldest woman in Spain, beat the coronavirus at age 113. Sylvia Goldscholl of New Jersey, beat COVID at age 108. Connie Titchen was 106 when she was wheeled out of the hospital in England, to a standing ovation from staff. Sister Andre left the hospital in France, just in time to celebrate her 117th birthday. According to Sister Andre, she had no symptoms, didn’t know she had COVID, and her only discomfort was the loneliness of isolation.
The list of these centenarian COVID survivors goes on and on. Google it for yourself. So clearly, age isn’t the defining factor of what makes someone a “most vulnerable person.” Each of these 100+-year-olds have proven they were not vulnerable to the point where this virus overcame their body’s ability to cope. They survived. They are actually among the least vulnerable people, despite their age.
If you delve into many of their stories, you will find common threads among all their lifestyles. They were never raised on junk food but enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables and real food in their diet—and many of them still garden. They were not overmedicated, a condition known as Polypharmacy. They have always enjoyed friendship and community. Daily strolls in fresh air and sunshine have always been a part of their routine. They have interests and hobbies and continue to actively participate in activities and celebrations. In short, they have made good lifestyle choices and taken care of themselves. Their lifestyle choices have sustained them, in most cases to ages well beyond what they thought would be possible.
If these people have taught us anything, they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that age is not the reason people are or become vulnerable. It’s lifestyle choices that make you vulnerable, not your age. And, it’s never too late to make different choices.
In fact, it was 98-year-old Max who was the inspiration for the 100 Year Lifestyle. Despite being of advanced age and extremely poor physical health when he walked into my practice, Max responded well to his chiropractic care. He proved to all of us at the 100 Year Lifestyle that it is never too late to start chiropractic care—but why would you wait and allow all that decay to accumulate for decades. As his body’s innate ability to heal was revived and his health and mental state improved, Max gave us all a new perspective on longevity, possibility, hope, and healing, regardless of age or health.
So, with these role models proving to us that anything is possible, now is the time to create your 100 Year Lifestyle. Now that you have survived COVID, it is time to consciously make the choices that will create the rest of your long and healthy life. You may not be able to control your age, but you don’t need to. Everyone gets biologically older. However, if you do the right things to take care of yourself, you will build strong immunity, function at a much higher level, feel younger, and go from being “most vulnerable” to “least vulnerable.”