127. Chemo On Longevity

Some well meaning people who know my family and are aware of my health problems, try to reassure me that I will live to be my mother's age...  

My 95 year old mother lives in her own home still, mostly unassisted.  She does her own shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry and in summer tends to her garden.  The only surviving sibling of 8 is her sister, who turned 103 last month.   Most of the other siblings lived to be a "good old age". (80s and 90s)  On my father's side of the family, all members of his generation have passed away.  My dad was 74 years old when he died.  There were smokers on both sides of the family.   Longevity lives in the family, right?  At least that is a popular notion, one I used to believe also.  An article out of the Time magazine "Secrets of Living Longer" claims otherwise.   ""Approximately 25% of your risk of death is due to genetics", says Luigi Fontana, a physician and co-director of the longevity research program at Washington University in St. Louis.  "Of the remaining 75%, diet is likely the most important factor- even more so than exercise"." (quote taken from the article: "The best diet isn't what you think" by Markham Heid from the above-mentioned publication.)

It may be interesting to note that my mother grew up in a rural area and that her parents had a small garden.  My father however grew up in a appartment in the city with no opportunity to grow much of anything.  Also relevant maybe is the fact that neither my mother nor her sister ever learned to drive a car.  And while it is true that my mother was chauffeured around by my father when he was alive, my aunt always used public transportation and her own two feet.  She lived on the second floor of an appartment building with no elevator till about 5 years ago.

The above publication does mention that there is a way to predict a person's longevity and it does relate to our genes by way of examining someone's telomeres which are bits and pieces of DNA at the end of chromosomes.  The shorter the telomeres, the more rapid the aging.  It is a bit more complicated than that, and the article stresses not to take any supplements such as telomerase, but there are a few things a person can do to protect (and even grow) one's telomeres, such as stress reduction, exercise, eating and sleeping well...  This should come as no surprise!

Back in a few days; I have some appointments coming up.  Like the ladies are saying: SanTeh! 😁  Aunt on left; mother on right.