Secrets of Longevity 3: Staying Strong

Today we’re continuing our topic, secrets of longevity, as we look at staying strong and avoiding frailty.

All of us want to live a long life, but the longevity we picture for ourselves is one of robust health, vitality and continued independence. We do not picture ourselves languishing in a nursing home or needing help for the most basic activities of daily living. Yet 15% of adults over sixty-five (not counting nursing home residents) do suffer from frailty syndrome, rising to 33% and beyond in the over eighties. Worse still, 45% of elders are pre-frail and experience difficulty in carrying out activities of daily living.  What is frailty and how do we avoid it? How can we stay strong and avoid the ravages of old age?

 Known in Ayurveda as jara shosha, frailty syndrome includes wasting of muscles, loss of weight, general apathy, weakness, low physical activity, low energy and slow walking speed. Ayurveda includes cognitive impairment among the features of frailty. Onset of frailty, even under age eighty, can accompany conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, COPD, arthritis, and dementia. A catastrophic event such as a stroke, a major fall with hip fracture or major surgery can trigger a downward spiral whereby a spry elder quickly goes downhill and develops frailty. While many of these things may be beyond our control, there are still ways we can help prevent frailty and even ways to restore our strength if we become pre-frail or start to spiral downwards. And you can use these tips to support an elderly relative as well.

Remaining strong throughout life has three components: preventing frailty, reversing frailty and supporting a frail elder to live their best life. As we’ve discussed previously,

prevention of jara shosha needs to begin by at least age forty. Do your best to enjoy a long and healthy life by following the tips in our two previous blogs on the topic of Secrets of Longevity. Once you get into the eighty-and-over age group, or start to experience frailty,  after an illness or accident for example, here is a five-step process to maintain or regain your strength.

 Step one: Exercise

Use it or lose it, when it comes to muscle strength. The key component of frailty is sarcopaenia, or loss of muscle bulk, known in Ayurveda as mamsakshay. This can easily happen if you are bedridden due to an illness, lead a sedentary lifestyle or are limited in your ability to exercise because of arthritis.  To maintain muscle strength, be sure to prioritize an exercise programme including walking and yoga. Do enjoyable things for exercise; it’s supposed to be a hobby, not a punishment! I always admire how vigorously Mick Jagger dances in his late seventies, and hope to be dancing all my life. If you have become weakened, for example by an illness, follow an incremental regimen. Gradually increase your aerobic exercise and strength training, little by little, until you get back to your pre-setback norm. If injuries or arthritis are holding you back, seek the help of a physical therapist or yoga therapist to maximize your capabilities. If balance is limiting how much you walk, a physical therapist can help with balance exercises and will recommend walking aids as needed. Do whatever you have to do—but keep moving!

Step two: Nutrition

Many factors can affect our nutrition as we age. We may feel tired or get backache when cooking, not have adequate dentition to chew our food, or lack financial resources to buy ingredients. If cooking is too tiring, try simpler recipes, such as those in The 30-minute Ayurvedic Cookbook by Danielle Martin. Make enough for a few meals or even freeze some portions for later. If chewing limits your nutrition, try nourishing drinks like those in Easy Healing Drinks from the Wisdom of Ayurveda by Amadea Morningstar. Cook your vegetables thoroughly, until they are soft, and make soups and kicharis that require less chewing and are easy to digest. There are plenty of recipes on our website. Your brain, heart and eyesight require the antioxidants from fruits and vegetables, so make sure they are central to your meal plans. If it’s difficult  to afford ingredients, ask a relative or friend to help you find out what resources are available for you.

Step three: Sleep

Shakespeare describes sleep as ‘Chief nourisher in life's feast.’ Yet older people often don’t sleep well, for multiple reasons. If pain is making it difficult to sleep, treat the pain, rather than using sleep aids. As well as yoga and physical therapy, try massaging painful areas with a pain-relieving oil such as castor oil or Mahanarayana oil.

 As an older person, you are in the vata time of life, and vata can cause restless sleep. Massage the soles of your feet at bedtime and massage your whole body and scalp with oil at least once a week—daily if you have time. Massage the oil into your skin, relax for twenty minutes and then take a hot shower or warm bath. Use sesame oil for vata, sunflower or coconut for pitta (coconut only in summer) and a blend of coconut, castor and flax for kapha. Better still, ask your Ayurvedic Doctor to recommend a medicated herbal oil for you. If you can’t reach to massage your back, ask your spouse to help. If massaging yourself is too strenuous, try and get a regular oil massage.

Take the TV and other screens out of the bedroom and start settling down for an hour before bedtime, sipping chamomile tea, reading, journaling or meditating.  It can be helpful to get a short nap once or twice during the day, before you get overtired. And meditation bestows many of the physiological benefits of sleep, so regular meditation will help you physically and mentally as well as spiritually.

 Step Four: Oral Health

The bacteria that cause gum disease contribute to chronic inflammation. And chronic inflammation underlies conditions such as heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Support your oral health by daily oil pulling with sesame oil or a medicated oil recommended by your Ayurvedic Doctor. Fill your mouth with the oil and hold it there for as long as you can. Spit it out into paper towels rather than down the sink as oil may clog the sink.

Step Five: Love Life

As we age, life’s sorrows increase, with loss of loved ones and coming to terms with the diminishments of ageing. Yet we also have greater wisdom and an ability to be happy whatever our outer circumstances. One of the key ways to stay strong is to stay involved in the lives of those we love and to continue to care deeply about all our fellow beings. As we adventurous, tech-savvy and highly individuated Boomers age, expectations of life’s elder years are shifting. We won’t go gentle into that good night. We’d rather have a zafu than a rocking chair, as we continue our inner and outer explorations. As TS Eliot said in East Coker,

Old men ought to be explorers

Here and there does not matter

We must be still and still moving

Into another intensity

For a further union, a deeper communion

Through the dark cold and empty desolation,

The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters

Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning 

Alakananda Ma M.B., B.S. (Lond.) is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) and graduate of a top London medical school. She is co-founder of Alandi Ayurveda Clinic and Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder Colorado, as well as a spiritual mother, teacher, flower essence maker and storyteller. Alakananda is a well known and highly respected practitioner in the Ayurveda community both nationally and internationally.

Enliven your holistic health! Visit Alakananda Ma in Alandi Ashram’s ayurvedic clinic to support the overall rejuvenation of your body, mind, and spirit. In-person and virtual appointments available. Book now!