AOUP Zoom talk "How to Live Longer Better, and Reduce Your Risk of Dementia"

Muir Gray says:  "Billions of  pounds and dollars are being invested to find a drug that can slow the ageing process, an elixir of life, but so far without success What most people want however is not an increase in life expectancy but an increase in healthy life expectancy and a reduction in the period of time at the end of life when one is dependent on others for the most basic tasks such as getting to the toilet on time. The normal biological process of ageing has not yet been slowed. But don’t be down-hearted - the interpretation of the science by the Oxford Longevity Project is that the biological process of ageing is not a cause of major problems till the late 90s, although you need a bit of luck to avoid the diseases such as Parkinson’s, that we cannot prevent or delay. There are in fact three other processes that cause the problems 
     *Loss of fitness, physical and mental 
     *Disease, much of which is preventable being caused by modern risks such as diet and inactivity, and the disability that results is usually complicated by accelerated loss of fitness  
     *Social factors, notably deprivation and negative attitudes – ageism 

Fortunately there is evidence from research evaluating methods that these three factors can be influenced so that life expectancy and healthy life expectancy can be increased even though the ageing process cannot be influenced. Even the risk of dementia can be significantly reduced.  The first step in achieving this is to prepare your personal plan for action and we will give you a framework to do so."