How to be a Super-Ager
Guest: Doug Clement, sports medicine researcher
On this episode of Journal: a look at super-agers. The official definition is someone in their 80s and 90s, with the cognitive ability of someone 20 or 30 years younger.
Most of us could come up with the basics of how to live longer besides your genes, of course: exercise, eat well, sleep at least eight hours a night, and so on.
Easier said than done.
What exactly do we mean by exercise? Does it have to be strenuous? Does it have to be everyday? If you didn’t exercise when you were young, is it too late to start?
And with food: Does this mean no more French fries or jamoca-almond fudge ice cream ever again? Does it mean we have to be rigidly pure vegetables, fruit and fish – and, oh yes – whole grains and beans? Good luck with that!
Yet, I found it interesting that when I looked up super-agers, the first half dozen articles were about supplements – supplements that would bring improved clarity, stamina, and cellular energy with just one “patch.”
Another promises to combat cellular aging for good. I guess if it were as easy as taking one pill a day, we could all be super-agers.
So, instead of the internet, I decided to go to one of my favourite super-agers, Dr. Doug Clement, for advice. Now in his 90s, Doug was an Olympic athlete (as was his vivacious wife Diane) in the 1950s. Along the way, Doug graduated from med school and went on to introduce the practice of sports medicine to all of Canada. In recognition, he was awarded Canada’s highest honour, the Order of Canada, 34 years ago.
Doug is lively, interesting, and opinionated – characteristics of a great super-ager.
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