… continued from part 4 … “Talk to five people a day!” The former head of Neurology at Auckland Hospital and my good friend, Sharon, were chatting over dinner as he described how social contact was just as important for healthy aging as eating at least five fruit and vegetables a day.

Food and exercise are just part of healthy aging. Our interaction with others and how we feel about life also affects health. As the proverb goes: ‘A heart at peace gives life to the body.’ Fruit and vegetables may boost your immune system but so does being happily married. On the other hand, if your wife or husband has just died, all the fruit and veges in the world won’t stop the grief, loneliness and resulting stress on the body. A British study of people over 65 found that those who were single, divorced or widowed had lower antibodies than those who were happily married. The UCLA School of Medicine found that people had a stronger immune system when they had more social contacts.

So get out of the house, talk to the mail-man, the garbage man, the shop assistant. Be interested in their lives. Join a club, get involved with your marae, volunteer to help in the community or invite friends and neighbours for dinner. If you can’t cook, eat out (and bring the leftovers home), buy takeaways or make it ‘pot-luck’ where the guests bring food. If you are young and have elderly friends or neighbours invite them for a meal – not just for the food but for the social contact. And try to have a laugh – it boosts the immune system. One elderly author, himself in his eighties, told some nursing home residents, “If you can’t find anything to laugh about, take all your clothes off and look in the mirror. That should keep you laughing all day!”

Like a good wine or cheese, in many ways we improve with age. Youth may bring vim and vigour but with maturity comes depth and wisdom. Healthy aging is all about feeding and exercising our body, mind and spirit with the nutrients it needs from food, social contact, learning new things, prayer, laughter and thinking outwards. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “It’s not the years in your life that counts. It’s the life in your years.”  ..c

Related posts:

• part 1
• part 2
• part 3
• part 4