Living to 100

On March 25, the Social Innovation Forum hosted Dr. Thomas Perls, MD, MPH, an Associate Professor of Medicine and Geriatrics at Boston University, and founding director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians in the world. In his lively presentation, entitled “Healthy Aging: Fostering Vibrant Lifestyles in Adults 60+,” Dr. Perls explained that many common conceptions of aging − most notably the idea that “the older one gets, the sicker one gets” − are routinely disproven in his work with centenarians.

Counter to even his own expectations, severe cognitive and physiological decline is not an inevitable corollary of the aging process; regardless of the age an individual lives to, disease is generally compressed into the last few years of life. “In general,” he said, “the longer you live, the healthier you’ve been.” To illustrate this point, he noted that the 105 “super centenarians” (110+ years) that have been in the study are “the gold standards of disease-free aging,” and are usually cognitively intact even at the age of 108. Some even show neurological changes that indicate the onset of Alzheimer’s, yet are clinically normal.

Dr. Perls noted that one of the most important elements of healthy aging, exemplified in centenarians, is building cognitive reserve, or resilience to the kinds of neuropathological damage that can occur to the brain over time. One key approach to building up cognitive reserve is “novel and complex brain exercise,” including engaging socially and intellectually with others Promoting this sort of mental engagement is central to the work of Generations Incorporated, a 2010 Social Innovator. In creating mentoring relationships between older adults and children to improve reading skills, Generations Incorporated gives older participants an opportunity to be active and engaged while simultaneously increasing children’s reading skills. The program, in the words of Dr. Perls, “gets to the heart of cognitive reserve, and how people can build it to live longer, healthier lives.”

Watch video from the talk here.