Uncle Chen is 65 years old and a retired unit employee. Since his retirement, Uncle Chen has been idle, either watering flowers and grass, or going out to catch up with gatherings, and he is busy every day.
When you are older, your body will inevitably have some problems, and Uncle Chen is naturally no exception, sometimes the back pain is so severe that he can't even sleep peacefully. To this end, Uncle Chen was fascinated by health preservation, often chanting "it is difficult to buy old age to lose weight", and watched various health columns every night.
Not only that, Uncle Chen also hopes that his wife will join his health lineup and let her control her weight. However, Uncle Chen's wife was unimpressed, thinking that Uncle Chen was not doing business.
On this day, Uncle Chen watched his wife eating fat meat, and he was talking again, and the two did not agree with each other, and there was a quarrel. Uncle Chen said that his wife was vexatious, and also said that weight and life expectancy have a lot to do with it, and controlling weight can prolong life!
And after Uncle Chen's wife heard it, although she was reluctant in her heart, she couldn't help but mutter, is there really a relationship between life expectancy and weight?
First, is there a relationship between life expectancy and weight? See what the study says
Speaking of obesity, many friends may not be impressed, thinking that it is overnutrition, eating too many good things, and saying that this is a blessed performance.
It is undeniable that obesity and eating habits are closely related. At the same time, we also need to recognize that obesity is not only a body anxiety, but a metabolic disease caused by many factors, with clear diagnostic criteria.
It not only causes psychological burden, but also may lead to a high incidence of many diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. In addition, studies have shown that people's weight has a certain relationship with their own life expectancy, which means that obesity may affect their own life expectancy.
European scientists have studied that weight and human life expectancy show a U-shaped curve, for the elderly over 60 years old, its BMI is between 25~29.9, and the mortality rate is relatively low.
If this range is exceeded, the weight may exceed the standard, and the mortality rate will increase significantly. In fact, it is not difficult to understand. Several studies have shown that obesity is one of the risk factors for disease, and naturally affects one's own lifespan.
For example, the World Cancer Research Fund and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said that about 20% of cancers are closely related to being overweight or obese. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association also demonstrated obesity and cancer.
Researchers from The Ohio State University, who counted the physical condition of 135161 elderly women and grouped them by weight, found that a total of 5,088 participants developed bowel cancer after an average of 14 years of long-term follow-up.
Excluding other factors, the researchers found that being overweight or obese was associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer.
So, seeing this, some friends may ask, for the elderly, what kind of weight is more reasonable? Next, let's take a look together!
Second, over 60 years old, such a weight is just right, have you reached the standard?
For the fat and thin of the elderly, many people may have various controversies, some people say that fat is a blessing, and some people say that "it is difficult to buy old age to be thin". Through the above, we know that obesity has no benefits for the elderly, but will also cause frequent diseases and affect their own life expectancy.
So, does this statement that "it is difficult to buy old and thin" make sense?
Actually, not quite. With the continuous increase of age, the organs of middle-aged and elderly people will degenerate, and their ability to resist diseases will also decline. If you pursue thinness excessively, you may also increase your risk of disease.
As we all know, the gastrointestinal function of the elderly is usually weaker and prone to poor absorption. If you pursue thinness, diet for a long time, and do not supplement nutritional needs in time, it may lead to malnutrition, reduce autoimmunity, and be vulnerable to germs.
Moreover, when you are older, the total amount of metabolic tissue in the human body will decrease, the number of cells will also decrease, and the atrophy of its own organs and muscles will occur, and long-term malnutrition may exacerbate this trend and appear sarcopenia.
So, what kind of weight is most appropriate for the elderly to maintain?
It should be noted that for the elderly, the spine will be deformed to a certain extent, and the height and body shape will also change. Therefore, we can not simply judge with the naked eye or weight, but according to a more accurate body mass index, that is, the BMI above, which can reflect the individual's obesity.
As mentioned above, for the elderly over 60 years old, as long as the BMI is between 25~29.9, the mortality rate is relatively low, and the longer the life expectancy. So, how is this body mass index calculated?
Normally, BMI is calculated by dividing body weight by the square of the body. If an elderly person is 1.74 meters tall and weighs 80 kilograms, after calculation, we find that his body mass index is about 26.4, which is between the best body mass index of 25~29.9.
From the data, we can see that 80 kg belongs to a slightly fat state, neither too thin nor overly obese. If you are careful enough, it is not difficult to find that in this body mass index range, the weight of the human body belongs to a slightly fat state.
It can be seen that for middle-aged and elderly groups, do not deliberately pursue thinness, do not overeat, let the weight exceed the standard, maintain a slightly fat state is the most appropriate. So, in daily life, how should the elderly control their weight?
Third, how to control the weight of the elderly?
1. Pay attention to diet and maintain nutritional balance
As an emotional animal, man naturally has a preference for everything, and in terms of diet, the south and the north are very different. As individuals, their eating habits are also different, some people like to eat spicy and stimulating food, and some people like to eat light coarse grains.
However, in general, it is still necessary to adhere to the habit of not picky eaters and partial eating, to achieve a balanced diet, not only to use vegetables and melons, to ensure sufficient intake of vitamins, dietary fiber, to provide satiety, reduce calorie intake, but also to eat some fish, poultry, eggs and milk, appropriate supplement protein and various minerals, to meet their own needs.
2. Exercise actively and exercise reasonably
Most of the elderly in the age of 60, in the face of free time, may appear at a loss, then appropriate physical exercise, can not only consume a lot of calories in the body, reduce fat accumulation, play a slimming and weight loss purposes, but also can pass the time, giving people a sense of fulfillment.
It should be noted that when performing physical exercise, try to choose some low-intensity aerobic exercise, such as cycling, walking, etc., so as not to exercise excessively and cause harm to your own body.
3. Get enough sleep
It is well known that obesity in the human body is closely related to increased calorie intake. Recent studies have shown that getting enough sleep can help reduce calorie intake and help control weight.
Over the course of the study, the researchers recruited 80 overweight adults and analyzed sleep duration and caloric intake. After a 4-week test, the researchers found that when the volunteers' sleep time increased by 1.2 hours, their total caloric intake decreased by 270 kcal per day.
Therefore, for middle-aged and elderly groups, maintaining their sufficient sleep time also has a certain effect on weight control.
So, in addition to losing weight, what else should the elderly do if they want to live a long and healthy life? Next, let's take a look together!
Fourth, in addition to losing weight, what else should you do if you want to live a long and healthy life?
Health and longevity is everyone's beautiful hope, whether it is a billionaire worth hundreds of millions or a destitute beggar, there is a consensus in terms of longevity, hoping that they can live a long life and live a healthy life. As an elderly person, if you want to live a long and healthy life, in addition to controlling your weight, you also need to pay attention to the following aspects.
First of all, in daily life, the elderly should maintain a reasonable body temperature. Throughout the ages, people have wanted to understand the secret of immortality, and with the continuous progress of science, more and more studies have found that whether it is a ectothermic animal or a thermostatic animal, maintaining a slightly lower body temperature has a certain effect on prolonging their own life.
Why is this happening? Recently, the University of Cologne in Germany may be able to tell us this answer through research on Caenorhabditis elegans.
The researchers exposed nematodes to a low temperature of 15 degrees and found that the low temperature environment helped activate the activity of proteasomes in nematodes. This proteasome can eliminate redundant, damaged and misfolded proteins, reducing the risk of disease, and thus prolonging life.
Therefore, for the elderly, in daily life, it is necessary to maintain a reasonable body temperature, and while ensuring that it is not cold, the body temperature can be moderately reduced.
In addition to modestly lowering body temperature, you can also listen to some music appropriately. When you think of music, you may think of a glittering stage, where a good-looking musician conducts the orchestra, playing high or low music.
With the advancement of science and technology, we can listen to a lot of beautiful free music without leaving home, and music can not only soothe the body and mind, make people enjoy music, but also delay brain aging.
A study published in Science Advances found that long-term listening to music can alleviate the decline in audiovisual ability caused by age.
During the study, the researchers compared the brain activity of musicians and non-musicians of different ages, and found that musicians were more active in the sensorimotor cortex and frontopietal lobe regions of the brain than non-musicians.
Researchers say that listening to music properly may keep the brain sharp, young and focused. In fact, not only that, for the elderly, there are many ways to maintain a healthy and long life, such as optimistic and positive attitude, regular maintenance and so on
Epilogue:
With the improvement of living standards, the number of obese groups is increasing year by year, and more and more studies have also shown that weight has a certain relationship with their own life expectancy, and presents a U-shaped curve, so in daily life, we need to control weight to avoid excessive obesity.
Bibliography:
[1] Wang Li. Is there a correlation between weight life expectancy in older adults? These points should be done well[J].Pharmaceutical Circle, 2020.
[2] Li Zhiming. Dinner determines your weight and longevity[J].Popular Science World, 2015.