The Olympic old lady
Where is Olga Kotelko running to?
Dmitry Tselikov, CompulentaIn 2010, American publicist Bruce Grierson met Canadian track and field athlete Olga Kotelko.
He has just written the book "U-Turn: you woke up and realized that you were living the wrong Life" ("U-Turn: What If You Woke Up One Morning and Realized You Were Living the Wrong Life?"), the title of which reflected his state of mind at the time: he was 47 years old, and he suddenly realized that he could not see his feet from- for an excessively swollen belly. In addition to this, his strength, memory, drive and hair on his head were leaving him.
Imagine his shock when he met this amazing woman. "She was the complete opposite of me," Grierson recalls. And he decided to find out what was happening to her and why it wasn't happening to him. Thus was born the recently published book "Why does Olga Run?" ("What Makes Olga Run?").
And then, probably, it's time to surprise those who do not know Olga Kotelko. She was born in 1919, she is 94 years old, and in a month she will be 95. She participates in the Sochi Olympics (in her age category, of course) and is the owner of the largest collection of world records (among her peers, of course): she has 26 of them, and these are high jumps, hammer throwing, and 200 m running. Not bad for someone who started playing sports at 77, right?
Grierson made an agreement with Olga: she would go about her business, and the journalist would follow her around and make notes in a notebook. The result was this cheerful book, in which the story of the record holder is supplemented by the opinions of gerontologists, physiologists and geneticists.
If you really hope to find the secret of eternal youth in your new job, we have to disappoint you: there are many opinions, and they are all different. Genes, diet, temperament, physical education – everything matters. And Olga is not fond of doping.
Olga Kotelko (photo by Greg Wood / Getty Images).
Studies of twins have shown that heredity determines life expectancy by only 25-30%. Therefore, it is impossible to give up and say that Olga was just lucky. In fact, she lacks at least one gene associated with longevity, that is, her telomeres shorten with age in about the same way as you and I do.
As for the diet, the athlete does not deny herself anything. Red meat, sauerkraut, pressed cottage cheese, yogurt, a "huge amount" of tapioca casserole... Her hundred-year-old (literally) friend from Australia, Ruth Frith, a shot putter, also turns vegetables.
Of course, we can say that probiotics of lactic acid products strengthen the immune system, and zinc in meat and nuts protects against Alzheimer's disease. That's all that Grierson managed to squeeze out of this point.
So, perhaps, physical education is the main ingredient of the elixir of youth. Exercise not only keeps the heart and muscles in good shape. Studies show that they are also good for the mind, as they contribute to the formation of neurons in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory. "Sudoku is a shovel, and physical education is a bulldozer," Olga herself believes.
She is never in one place, and this is even more important than sports. "I study no less than Olga," writes Grierson, "but in between classes I sit, and she does not. 95% of my time, I age faster than she does." Indeed, a number of studies have shown that standing is better than sitting.
Eventually, Grierson managed to compile a list of nine "rules of longevity." They are banal: "move on", "believe in something", "don't do what you don't like", "start now". In general, we've heard it a million times. But maybe that's the point? After all, scientists also repeat the same thing: study regularly, sleep enough, sit as little as possible, communicate to your heart's content. Are we following these recommendations?
In general, the book is not so much an overview of the current state of the science of aging, as a story about how to feel young. In 2011 , the journalist decided to take part in a 10 km cross - country race . He came to the finish line one of the last, but realized that such events are held for the sake of gaining a sense of camaraderie. "Comfort does not create unity of souls, but discomfort does," he writes. Friendship is the key to health.
Prepared by the New York Times: Seeking the Keys to Longevity in ‘What Makes Olga Run?'.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru12.02.2014