The Secrets of Becoming a "Healthy Survivor"

By The Survivors Club
September 29, 2009

If you want to learn the secrets of living into old age without suffering from major chronic illness, you might take a look in the mirror, according to the latest results from the landmark Nurses' Health Study.

The key to becoming a healthy survivor, according to the study, is to be lean at 18.

If you're overweight in middle age, your chances of making it to your golden years in good health plummet by almost 80 percent.

 
Every ounce of weight gain between ages 18 and 50 lowers a woman's probability of being a "healthy survivor" — living to age 70 or older without suffering from 11 major chronic diseases or other physical, cognitive and mental impairment. For every 2.2 pounds of weight gain after age 18, the odds of healthy survival go down by five per cent, according to the study.

Women who are overweight at 18 have the worst chances for living a healthy, disease-free life.

"It's really important, at least for women, to maintain a healthy weight in the very beginning of adulthood to maximize the chance of enjoying a healthy and long life," says Dr. Qi Sun, a research associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
 
The findings, based on analysis of data from the Nurses Health Study, were published in BMJ Online First.
 
The new study comes from the Nurses' Heath Study, one of the largest and longest running investigations of its kind. It began in 1976, with more than 121,000 nurses age 30 to 55, who have been followed every two years.  The team looked at 17,065 nurses who survived until at least age 70.

About 10 per cent were "healthy survivors." They had no history of cancer, diabetes, heart attack, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, congestive heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — or ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. The women also had no major impairment of cognitive function, good mental health and no major physical limitations. They could bowl, lift and carry groceries, climb several flights of stairs or walk more than a couple of miles.

The "healthy survivors" were less likely to be smokers and more likely to have had a somewhat better diet when the study started than "usual survivors" — women who lived to at least 70 but who had health limitations. The women in the study were also primarily white, so the results may not be generalized to all populations.
 

For more information about surviving and thriving, please visit The Survivors Club Health Support Center.

 
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