Health Populi

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Centenarians say a long life is all about staying connected


The key to longevity isn't about taking vitamins or consuming health care or yogurt...it's staying connected to family, friends, and world events.

That news comes to us from the third Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey which details ultra-seniors' views on politics and the good life.

Evercare surveyed in-depth 100 centenarians. Collectively, their views challenge stereotypes of the oldest Americans alive today. There are 84,000 of them, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

For example, 19% of centenarians use cell phones, 7% email, and 3% online date.

Google is a boon to looking for old, lost friends.

Evercare also surveyed 900 people from younger generations to compare findings, including the age cohorts G.I. (ages 84-98), Silent (ages 63-83), Baby Boomers (ages 44-62), Gen X (ages 30-43) and Millennials (ages 20-29).

Some of the key findings are:

- 90% believe that staying close to friends and family is the most important factor for healthy aging

- 90% believing keeping the mind active and 88% believe having a sense of humor also contribute to long life

- 54% say that the 2008 election is more important than previous presidential elections, and 70% plan to vote in this year's Presidential election (vs. 60% of Millenials)

- A plurality of centenarians watch American Idol; 4 in 10 centenarians knows who Simon Cowell is

- 85% say spirituality is very important as a key to living longer.

Some methodological notes: GfK Roper conducted this survey of 1,000 between April 16 and May 4, 2008.

Evercare is a UnitedHealth company that addresses chronic care for 330,000 Americans through Medicare, Medicaid and private-pay health plans.

For more inspiration, see the video, Secrets of the Centenarians and Other Seniors, here on YouTube's EverCare channel.

Health Populi's Hot Points: “If I could leave any message, never stop learning. Period. That's it,” according to Maurice Eisman, an Evercare enrollee and centenarian. We're all about that here at Health Populi! See him at the end of this video on YouTube. He's wise.

And as for the yogurt: go ahead, eat it. It's part of a healthy diet, and it couldn't hurt! Remember the Dannon ad in the 1970s the Marstellar created referred to as the "Old People in Russia" commercial? Bob Garfield of Ad Age included that ad in his Top 100 ads of the past 100 years; it's #89 on the list here.

posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at 8:44 AM

1 Comments:

  • This article highlights the point I raised earlier about factoring for citizenship in these studies of hte uninsured. It is from:

    http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2008/8/6/Study-Sees-Escalating-Percentage-of-Uninsured-Who-Are-Immigrants.aspx?topicID=39


    August 06, 2008

    Study Sees Escalating Percentage of Uninsured Who Are Immigrants
    Although U.S.-born residents still make up the majority of uninsured U.S. residents, the percentage of uninsured documented and undocumented immigrants is growing, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the Kansas City Star reports.

    EBRI researchers analyzed U.S. Census data for the study and found that immigrants accounted for 18.8% of uninsured residents in 1994 and 26.6% in 2006, the last year in which data were available. According to the study, 12.3 million immigrants and 34.1 million U.S.-born residents were uninsured in 2006.

    The study did not define whether an immigrant was documented or undocumented.

    In 2006, more than 46% of noncitizen immigrants were uninsured, compared with 19.9% of immigrants who gained citizenship and 15% of U.S.-born residents.

    Contributing Factors
    The study found several factors that contributed to the higher number of uninsured immigrants.

    Immigrants are more likely to take lower-wage job positions that typically do not offer health insurance benefits, according to the study.

    In addition, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 contributes to the figures because it mandates that documented immigrants live in the U.S. for five years before they become eligible for public health care and other programs.

    The study also found that the longer immigrants lived in the U.S., the more likely they were to acquire health insurance.

    According to the study, 58.7% of uninsured immigrants lived in California, Texas, Florida or New York (Kansas City Star, 8/5).

    The study is available online (.pdf).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At August 6, 2008 11:49 AM  

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