SuperAgers: Getting Old, Living Young

(light music) - If someone had told me when I turned 70 I'd be producing a documentary I'd have laughed out loud.

I was in terrible shape.

My back was killing me.

Both knees were shot and I was 35 pounds overweight.

On top of that, I woke up every morning with no energy in the tank.

I looked in the mirror and thought, "So this is what old age looks like."

Yet when I celebrated my 80th birthday I was in the best shape of my life.

I weighed less than I did in high school.

I'd gone from being unable to do a single pushup to doing 50.

Best of all, my chronic back pain had literally disappeared but my proudest moment came when I overheard my wife telling her friend, "Jim used to be a couch potato.

Now he's gone from a spud to a stud."

One statistic finally got me off the couch.

I read, "If you make it to 70, the odds are you'll live at least another 15 years."

I couldn't help thinking, if I look and feel this bad now, what will my life be like when I'm 85?

When I looked at other older adults I saw some who were 60 but looked and moved more like they were 80, but there were also those who were 80 but looked and moved like they were 60.

I thought of them as SuperAgers because they had a spark, a vitality that defied their years.

They inspired me to set a long-term goal to become a SuperAger myself.

I wanted to become one of those who at an advanced age are still living life to the fullest.

- I remember hearing this quote years ago.

"Some people are old when they're young and some people are young when they're old."

- Well, I think somebody who's 80 who looks like they're 60 there's probably nothing special in the DNA.

It's probably something about life experience and the way they've chosen to formulate their own mindset.

Chronologically, age is inevitable, but functionally, age is not.

- Can anyone become a SuperAger?

Absolutely.

SuperAgers aren't born, they're made.

When it comes to healthy aging, your lifestyle has a much bigger impact.

To be successful, you need an action plan.

What worked for me was dropping bad habits, picking up good habits, and making those changes a high priority in my day-to-day life.

I'm not talking about a total lifestyle makeover.

It's no more complicated than taking your health and wellness into account when it comes to the many small choices you make each and every day.

(light music) I used to think walking was the only exercise I needed but as I discovered, walking alone isn't enough, especially for couch potatoes who've been inactive for many years.

After six months of walking four or five times a week, I did feel much better but my walking routine didn't help my lower back pain and my body was still stiff and tight all over.

Neither did walking restore the strength I'd lost.

- I think three things are important.

You need some kind of endurance and when I say endurance I don't mean swimming across the English channel.

I mean, can you take a walk for 30 minutes and not call 911?

Number two is strength and again, I'm not talking about lifting barbells all the time.

It's basically keeping the muscles in your body toned so that you can do the things you want to do.

Third thing is balance, and I'll throw flexibility in.

The older we get, because we're losing some muscle, it's harder to balance, especially if you have, maybe you're carrying a bag of groceries or you're carrying a grandchild.

You wanna make sure you're maintaining your balance.

You don't have to do it all on the same day.

- The first six months were pretty challenging but like most beginners, I quickly saw results and I found I really enjoyed working out.

- Exercise actually improves your brain and can delay dementia and it treats high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, prevents some cancers, helps or delays with Parkinson's, with Alzheimer's disease, with insomnia, which is really common with anxiety, with depression, I mean, I could go on and on.

There's really no better medicine.

- Exercise is like most things in life.

You get out of it what you put into it.

If you work out consistently, you'll look and feel so much healthier, you'll never want to go back.

- I would say to someone that feels they've given up really trying and just sit on their couch all day and say, get up.

Take a little walk around the block and eventually you'll find yourself wanting to do more.

I love to challenge myself.

I participated last year in the fitness challenge and I beat my own record.

I was able to do a plank for eight minutes, even aging another year, I beat myself.

I was not always active.

When I turned 40, my doctor said, "You need to do some weight bearing physical activity," so I decided that it was time for me to get moving and I haven't stopped since.

- My name is Bill Adair.

One of my objectives these days is being able to shoot my age, and I've done it 72 times.

Last time was a week ago.

- My name is Eva Zimmerman.

I am 88 and a half years old.

I exercise every day because it makes me feel good.

I have energy and I can live longer to enjoy my life with my kids.

(upbeat music) - I'm 90-years-old.

We love to dance the group of us here and we love to meet people and we do not need a partner to do the line dancing and then we learn how to improve and maintain our balance.

- Hey!

(all applauding) (soft music) - I'm often asked, "Jim, what was the hardest part of your physical transformation?"

Without a doubt, it was trying to get lean.

Losing weight is hard, especially when you're older, and your metabolism has slowed, your weight creeps up even if your eating habits haven't changed at all.

This is one reason the average American gains a pound every year from your late 20s on.

When I started my exercise program, I made great strides in improving my strength and mobility but for the first two years I didn't lose a single pound.

A typical hour of exercise burns only two or 300 calories, not enough to make up for a single glazed donut.

That doesn't mean exercise isn't important to weight control, but unless you're training for the Olympics, exercising doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want.

If you want to lose or keep off weight, it's about diet and exercise.

- You have a triple whammy going against you when you get older.

Number one, you're gonna lose muscle mass just because you're aging.

That's inevitable.

Number two, the machinery in your body that makes the muscles is less effective the older you get, and the third thing is your energy expenditure, because you're losing muscle mass goes down which means your appetite tends to go down with age so what this all means is the food that you eat better be the best stuff you can get in there and that's why I say make every bite count.

So you want those bites to be full of good quality protein.

You want to eat lots of fruits and vegetables because they're nutrient dense.

- Once I changed my relationship with food and started thinking of it as fuel for my body, not just a way to satisfy my hunger or gratify my taste buds, my healthy eating habits fell into place.

I don't think of it as a diet, it's a lifestyle.

- Physical fitness and diet go hand in hand.

If you transform the way you think about food, the way you think about exercise, you'll find you adopt an identity that says I'm a healthy, active person.

When it becomes part of your identity, becomes much less effortful.

It becomes more like a habit which is something that you don't have to think about.

- I'm Jim Galbreath.

I'm 76 years old and on my right- - Kathy Galbreath, 75.

- Just a youngster.

- Yeah.

- She gets me involved with cooking, which she's great at.

I'm not, but I have a few things I can do.

- He's the Taco King from California.

- The taco and guacamole guy.

We met when we went to the University of Denver but went our separate ways.

A little more time went by and we're all of a sudden invited to a dinner party.

Didn't take any time at all, the spark was there.

How many people find love at 75 years old?

We got married in South Carolina.

The theme song we played at the end of it as we walked off down the beach was Etta James- - [Both] "At last."

- [Jim] At last we came together and we had a wonderful life and we're very grateful for it.

(soft music) - Anyone who doesn't feel stress is living in a bubble.

Young people assume that once you're retired you don't have much to stress about.

If only that were true.

- For older adults, there's often this myth that this time in their life is blissful.

There is no stress.

The type of stresses may actually change.

There are a lot of transitions that are happening.

They may be downsizing, moving, difficulty caring for a spouse who may be ill, grief, loss.

When we experience a threat to our body or to our mental health, our body kicks into gear.

It sends a release of cortisol and adrenaline throughout the body and turns on that fight or flight response.

It gears up our body and gets us ready to deal with stress.

The bad news is that sometimes that stress continues and that is what starts to break down both the body and the mind.

- The way we try to cope with stress can be just as damaging.

When you've had a tough day, it's easy to reach for a drink and binge on comfort foods.

Believe me, I've been there.

- It's very tempting to avoid, escape, or numb stress but it's really important to understand what your stress is, to feel it, to work through it.

Eating, drinking, smoking, these all temporarily take us away from our stress, but they return immediately and sometimes the after effects are worse than before.

There are many different techniques that you can use to deal with stress.

One of my favorites is called the STOP method.

It's based on the word S-T-O-P. S is stop, pause for a moment.

Just take a moment.

T is to take a breath, take a deep breath in and out to center and be in the moment.

O is to observe.

Observe whatever is going on for you, any thoughts, feelings that pop into your mind, and our temptation is to analyze but just notice.

And then P is to proceed.

Proceed to be in the moment.

To be truly physically and mentally present.

Having a pet is one of the best things that you can do for your mental and physical health, particularly as an older adult.

Studies have also shown that you can live 11% longer just by owning a pet, particularly if you live alone.

- We can't control what happens.

We can only control how we react.

That's where stress management comes in.

For me, the best medicine is exercise.

Any kind of exercise activity helps.

It always leaves me calmer and more centered but nothing beats a long walk on the beach with Stanya, my wife of 53 years.

- My name is Bob Murphy and I've had the good fortune to have a long and varied career.

I had a corporate career and concurrent with that I was in public service, planning commissioner, a city counselor, and then eight years as the Mayor of Lakewood.

And then I concluded my career as a state director for AARP Colorado.

Obviously had stress in my life.

Fresh air helped, round of golf helped, skiing helped, basically getting outside for me.

I do look on retirement as embarking on yet another journey.

I retired for health reasons.

I'm in good health and I want to enjoy it.

I am operating under five hobbies.

I need one to earn some money, I need one to stay in shape physically, I need one to grow my creativity, I need one to build my knowledge, and I need a fifth one to evolve my mindset.

As we get older, change becomes harder.

I want to counter that a little bit.

I feel like I can continue to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually.

(soft music) - We all know what happens when we have a bad night's sleep.

The next day, we're groggy, irritable, and don't think as clearly.

I started having sleep issues in my mid-60s probably because I was overweight, out of shape, and eating too much junk food.

Plus I usually had a glass or two of wine with dinner so I'd be sleepy at bedtime.

That did help me relax, but I also tossed and turned and I'm told snored much of the night as my wife reminds me, laugh and the whole world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.

- A lot is happening when you sleep to your brain.

There's a lot of connections that are being formed.

Long-term memories are being made, waste is being removed from your cells.

If you do not get enough sleep, your focus is impacted, your concentration, you have difficulty processing, so it's really important to get a good night's sleep and sometimes easier said than done.

There are numerous factors that can impact your sleep, light in the room, the temperature is really important.

Noises, it is very tempting to scroll through your phone at night.

The blue light actually impacts our melatonin, that chemical that helps us to sleep.

So putting your phone to bed 30 minutes before you do is optimal.

- So I started taking a sleeping pill every night but sometimes the cure can be as bad as the disease.

Not only did they make me feel groggy during the day, I build up a tolerance to the pills so I had to double the dose.

- There are mixed reviews on medication.

For some, it is a really important intervention.

Many professionals will try behavioral interventions before medication.

Some studies say that medication only provides 35 extra minutes of sleep and only makes you go to sleep about eight to 20 minutes faster, so the benefits may not be that great.

The best thing that you could do is to have a consistent sleep schedule.

- Ironically, my anxiety over my poor sleep was only making it worse.

Once I started thinking of bedtime in terms of relaxation, my sleep pattern improved dramatically.

Now I get into bed, take a few deep breaths, and focus on clearing my mind and relaxing my muscles.

In the morning, I can't say for sure how many hours I slept but I wake up feeling rested, alert, and in a good mood.

- My name is Stanya Owen and I'm proud to say I am 82 years young and I'm so grateful.

Our motto throughout our marriage it's to strive to thrive and not merely survive.

As Jim always said, "Positivity is contagious."

Whatever the issues are with how you're feeling, you just move forward.

You meet those challenges, you do the best you can and you look forward to hopefully getting through and out the other end.

(light music) - Throughout my 70s, I honestly believed the key to a longer and happier life was physical wellbeing.

I was wrong.

My wake up call came when I turned 80, that's when it hit me.

There's a lot more to living life to the fullest than being physically fit.

Getting in great shape had given me feelings of joy but hadn't brought a deeper, more lasting happiness.

I had an empty feeling I couldn't quite put my finger on, so I started wondering, what else do I want out of life?

What really matters most to me?

How do I want to spend my time knowing it's growing shorter?

- We talk about how important purpose is.

It is about our ability as humans to remember that we are all in this together.

- When I was in public service, I said many times that my heroes were local neighborhood volunteers.

- [Paul] Purpose doesn't necessarily mean changing the world.

It could simply be taking care of our grandchildren.

It could be helping a neighbor.

Purpose is self-defined.

- There is quite strong data that people end up being less anxious, having greater life satisfaction and more happiness in old age.

Knowing that you're on a clock, you're finally realizing what matters most to me, who matters most to me, and how am I gonna spend my time?

- As my perspective has changed, so have my goals.

I still care about fitness and keeping up with my healthy habits but now my goals ought to be a better husband, a better father, and a better friend.

- There's no way I could overstate the power of face-to-face human connection for our health and wellbeing in particular for older adults.

- It is a growing trend in America that older adults become more socially isolated.

The medical community has compared the health impacts of social isolation to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

- During this time, you may have to work on seeking some relationships, getting involved in an activity that is personally meaningful to you.

- I'm doing things that I like and most of it is doing things with my friends because that's where life is, doing things with your friends.

- For me, friendships have made a giant difference.

That's why I think that we need to be around cheerful people, positive people like Molli.

(both laughing) - Like Dixie.

- People who laugh and can laugh at themselves.

- It all comes down to how you look at life.

If you have a positive mindset, born of acceptance and gratitude, a sense of humor and a connection to some higher power, you can find happiness in spite of any physical challenges.

- People who have positive feelings about their own aging live on average 7.5 years longer which is as significant a variable as body mass index, smoking, or exercise.

- SuperAgers show us that if you live with enthusiasm and heart, life can get better as you age.

- A SuperAger to me is somebody that tries to always achieve more than what they think they can.

- SuperAger is a person who takes the circumstances under which they find themselves and makes the best of it.

- That wisdom, that understanding of the complexities of life, it's the thing that we've earned.

- So what if you can no longer do everything you once did?

If you make the choice to explore new ideas and try new things, your world opens up.

- And I wrote a bunch of tunes and then through my children and their vast connections, I got a lot of good musicians to back me up and then I did this thing.

Music is one of the things that's really sustaining for me.

It's not exactly meaning, but it's sustenance.

- Diving has meant to me discovering a whole new world.

- It's been character building, not to be afraid to go do new things.

I mean, you want to be living your life not just sitting around moping or worried about injuries.

- You just gotta be willing to adjust but you can still have fun.

- I've met a lot of people who were retired who tell me that they more regret the risks they didn't take rather than the risks they took and it failed.

But if you never take the risk, you never know.

- You have to make your own happiness.

I don't think you search for it so much, you just have to make it.

- I think you have to really get past your chronological age and think of living your life for the quality and for the opportunities that it presents.

- If you reach an advanced age, still finding ways to become an even better version of yourself, I'd say you're winning at life.

And isn't that the real name of the game?

(light music)