This doctor insists she knows the secrets to the “fountain of youth,” but she won’t bore you with “the same old crap.”
Many for years have believed the key to longevity is simply eating a balanced diet, staying active and typical, oft-heard healthy-living guidelines. Other legends have insisted the so-called “fountain of youth” lies within a region of the Himalayan mountains or the “Blue Zones” where denizens seem to live well past 100.
But Dr. Lauren W. Yancey, a board-certified ophthalmologist based in Carrollton, Georgia, has prudent advice for living longer with four specific lifestyle habits that many have never considered.
“Everybody’s looking for the fountain of youth,” she said in a TikTok, which has racked up 2.7 million views since it was posted last week. “Let me tell you the things that will make you live longer and I’m not going to tell you the same old crap.”
As a cataract surgeon and the co-owner of Georgia Vision Institute and Georgia Cataract and Refractive Surgery Center, Yancey says she knows about aging all too well, since she sees “40 plus” patients a day, and is offering advice because “so so many people are aging poorly.”
“If you want to live longer, have a garden,” she said as tip number one. “Why? I don’t think it has anything to do with eating anything out of that silly garden.”
“I think it’s about having a plan for the future,” she explained. “I think it’s about that person having something to look forward to and having something that they’re working towards.”
Yancey, 43, told The Post she believes gardening’s impact on longevity is “related to the seasonality of the garden” since “each season has its different things to look forward to.”
“There is always work to be done to prepare, weeds to be pulled and plants to be planted or harvested. The plants have their own schedule and it’s not ours to alter — we abide by their timeline,” she said. “There’s no procrastinating in a garden!”
She equates gardening to a type of “caregiving that brings life, growth and optimism” and other pastimes don’t stack up.
“This is different than other types of hobbies that conform to our own timelines and conveniences,” she said. “While you can plan a trip, there’s no day-to-day timeline that requires your physical involvement. I’m not sure about the theory of grounding but I do believe that there is something healing to the soul about having your hands in the soil.”
When asked how small-space or city dwellers might add gardening into their daily lives, Yancey recommended having a window full of greenery would do the trick.
“You can garden small scale in any space,” she told The Post.
In Yancey’s video, her second tip was that taking care of yourself in addition to caring for a spouse is key.
“Stop abandoning your own health, your own family and your own relationships to take care of your spouse,” she said, noting that she sees many people who “waste the last opportunities they have with relationships with grandchildren and with the rest of their family for an ill spouse member.”
“That becomes their everything. That’s their hobby, it’s their purpose, it’s their day-to-day life,” she said.
Yancey instead thinks caretakers need “to take a break” or risk losing “their own health.”
“To be a caretaker, you have got to take a break. When those people wake up from the years of being a caretaker and then they have moved past the grief stage, and they move back into the taking care of themselves stage, they have lost relationships with family and friends,” she said. “Often times that would have never been what that spouse wanted or the same level of care could have been provided, but you could have taken a break.”
In a follow-up video, Yancey clarified that she meant it’s important to care for yourself in addition to someone else, and she understands it may not always be possible to take a break.
While leading an active lifestyle is often touted as a surefire way to live longer, Yancey suggested a specific fitness style as her third hack.
“Lift weights,” she said twice with emphasis. “Lifting weights is the only thing that has ever been proven to increase your bone density. Lift some iron and keep your bones healthy.”
She said they “don’t have to be super heavy” and even suggested wearing a backpack on an afternoon walk as a sneaky way to strength train.
For her last tip, Yancey said retiring early is basically a death sentence.
“Do not retire early unless you are retiring to a second career or to a hobby that takes mental exercise,” she said.
Yancey explained that many “nosedive after they retire” because the “brain needs exercise” to stay sharp.
Instead, she recommends retirees get a part-time job, volunteer or stay active.
“When you retire and your purpose is gone and your mental exercise is gone, you will go downhill if all you do is sit on the couch and watch TV and wait to go have lunch with friends,” she said. “That is not enough to keep you stimulated and keep you alive and healthy. It’s just not. Sorry.”
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