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HOW CHRISTMAS IS HELPING YOU AGE BETTER

December 14, 2018 2 Comments

I love the way Christmas brings people together: a singalong at a carol concert, church on Christmas day, Boxing Day football matches, mulled wine with the neighbours. And  – you’ll be surprised to learn – all this festive fun helps us age well. Yes really! Christmas isn’t all expanding waistlines and hangovers: it can boost our longevity in unexpected ways. The more social elements of the festive season are a fantastic boost for our health.

People living in communities with better social cohesion tend to have longer telomeres (a key marker for ageing), whereas loneliness and social isolation have been linked to dementia, heart disease, stroke and depression. According to The Royal College of GPs loneliness is as big as killer as diabetes. Psychology Professor, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, believes it is as much of a health risk as smoking, air pollution and obesity.

Joining in, getting involved and group activities are all common to both superagers and Blue Zoners (those living in areas of the world with the highest numbers of centenarians). Studies of both groups have identified the benefits of attending weekly religious services and taking part in physical, and non-physical leisure activities, with other people. It’s the ‘other people’ element that’s crucial – and it happens naturally at Christmas. Here’s how:

TAKE ME TO CHURCH

Religious services may not be your thing. But long-term studies have found a consistent link between regular religious attendance and longevity – research found that men going to church weekly reduced their risk of dying from heart disease by 40%.  And a study tracking 21,000 Americans found those attending a religious service more than once a week lived up to seven years longer. But what if you’re one of the many Brits who only attend church at Christmas? (Church of England attendance is eight times higher in the festive season than any other time of year). There are still benefits from time spent in a group activity, the meditative moments of prayer and singing together.

SING IF YOU’RE WINNING

Getting together and belting out a few favourite carols is always a joy.  Exercising our lungs increases immunity and improves posture. There are mental benefits too: singing reduces stress and helps us feel at one with the people around us, which has its own uplifting effect. Fascinating research from Oxford University suggests that singing may have evolved to bond large groups of strangers quickly, by making us feel good about working together in harmony (literally).

FIND YOUR OWN ‘CHURCH’

You don’t have to go to church, or sing carols, to reap the benefits of ‘togetherness’. You just need to find your own ‘church’. It could be a concert, a gig or a sporting event. Psychologists have noted that sport has many of the same effects on spectators as religion. Coming together in huge, cathedral-like spaces, worshipping players like gods, waving banners, chanting…. It’s not hard to make a link. As a family, we have season tickets for our local premiership club and love the community aspects of regular attendance at matches.

REMEMBER OTHERS

So wherever your Christmas plans take you, enjoy the experience and embrace its age-well benefits. If you know of people on their own, try and involve them in a local activity. And do share this post with anyone who needs a nudge: knowing a carol service is good for you might be all it takes to get more involved.

FAVOURITE XMAS RECIPES

I’m sprinkling some of our favourite age-well Christmas recipes across our social media feeds at the moment, so make sure you’re following us on:

Instagram @agewellproject 

Facebook @theagewellproject 

Twitter @age_wellproject

to catch them all (links at the top right-hand corner of this page). But here, just for you, are some of our best-loved festive dishes:

Christmas nuts

Age-well Christmas cake

Griddled Brussel sprouts with parmesan

Spiced parsnip soup

Vegetable tartlets for Christmas dinner 

 

Happy Christmas!

 

Susan

 

photo: G Schouten de Jel 

« WHY I’VE THROWN OUT ALL MY BEAUTY PRODUCTS (nearly…)
WHY EVENING IS THE BEST TIME FOR EXERCISE: CELERIAC AND RADISH SALAD »

Comments

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    November 10, 2020 at 9:16 am

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    Having read this I believed it was very enlightening.
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    Reply
    • Annabel Streets says

      November 11, 2020 at 6:14 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply

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Welcome to The Age-Well Project

Welcome to The Age-Well Project!
Here you’ll find easy changes for a longer, happier life. We’ve immersed ourselves in the science of longevity and distilled the research to make it work in our everyday lives. You can change the way you age: here’s how.

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We’ve been playing with Pinterest! We’ve upl We’ve been playing with Pinterest! 

We’ve uploaded 10 of our Age-Well recipes to Pinterest, just to test the water. We’ve got so many gorgeous recipes on the blog, and sometimes they’re hard to search. Hopefully being on Pinterest will make them a bit easier to find. 

Are you a…. pinner? Pinster? What’s the correct term? We don’t know! Anyway, if you are, could you let us know if we’ve done it right? Then we can start adding more recipes. 

Link in our bio to our Pinterest page

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We’ve been thinking about this a lot recently: i We’ve been thinking about this a lot recently: if grieving is an inherent part of ageing, how do we do it well? 

As we get older, we must inevitably live with an accumulation of loss, because we’ve had longer to love. Love has a huge impact on our brains: they are literally rewired by our relationships. When someone dies, our brains struggle.  We cannot understand where they are, or why they have gone. We try to locate them in time and in space. 

How we cope with our emotionally overloaded brains in times of grief, and how it shapes us, is the subject of our latest blog post - link in bio. 

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Annabel is in Tel Aviv this week, finding her way Annabel is in Tel Aviv this week, finding her way around using a proper paper map - which is a fantastic brain work out. Research published a few days ago from McMasters University 🇨🇦 linked orienteering (a team sport which combines map reading with running) to reduced dementia risk. Who’s tried it? We’re keen to give it a go! @britishorienteering #agewell #ageingwell #agingwell #aginggracefully #mapreading #orienteering #dementia #dementiaawareness #reducedementiarisk #alzheimers #alzheimersrisk #dementiaprevention #womenover50 #womenagainstalzheimers #agewellblog #longevityblog #healthblog #over50bloggers
Strength training is one of our non-negotiable Age Strength training is one of our non-negotiable Age Well strategies, so we’re always looking for ways to make the best of our work outs! 

5 top tips here - and more on the blog, link in bio. 

What are you top tips for strength training? Let us know

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In recent years we've both, like so many of our ge In recent years we've both, like so many of our generation, faced the consequences of caring for elderly relatives. But we talk so little about caring, and the unexpected burdens and stresses that can bring. 

Caring is an experience that's so difficult to prepare for, but it can help to share experiences. This is what we've done in our latest blog post. Do have a read and let us know your stories too - the link’s in our bio (and the post will also explain why Susan went on a ‘pilgrimage’ to Kentish Town!) 

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