Guest of "Sans Rendez-vous", the geriatrician doctor, and author of the book When I will be old, everything will be fine (Hachette), Antoine Piau delivers four tips for resisting the ravages of time longer and better.

Because according to this specialist, the way a person ages depends two thirds on his lifestyle.

The saying goes that "old age is a shipwreck".

But this is, fortunately, not inevitable.

Guest of "Sans Rendez-vous", the geriatrician doctor, and author of the book 

When I will be old, everything will be fine 

(Hachette), Antoine Piau, delivers four tips to resist the ravages of time.

According to him, the way we age depends "on two thirds of our way of life", the rest being left to the discretion of genetics.

It is therefore possible to actively work towards healthy aging. 

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Stimulate your brain

The first thing you need to do to get through the healthy years is to get your brain working.

In this regard, "we often talk about making sudoku to stimulate our intellect, but before that we have to have friends and talk to people," says Antoine Piau.

"The greater the number, intensity and quality of your social relationships, the longer your healthy life expectancy. It is as important as the result of your blood test."

On the other hand, "talking about the weather with your neighbor is not enough, you have to find the contradiction."

Reduce the number of medications when possible

Prone to many illnesses, older people often have to take a variety of medications on a daily basis.

If this part of the population is the first beneficiary of advances in medicine, it is also the first victim, according to the geriatrician.

Taking too much medication is "the leading cause of preventable hospitalization in France among those over 75," he points out.

So to sort out what is essential and what is not, it is up to "general practitioners to do a work of synthesis, of prioritization" between all these products.

However, "they often find it difficult to impose themselves against specialists in an organ who do not necessarily pay attention to other treatments taken by a patient."

However, "they are the ones who are right," he says. 

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Pay attention to undernutrition 

Often considered to be our first medicine, food naturally plays a fundamental role in healthy aging.

“With advancing age, there is sometimes a dietary imbalance that sets in, but also an undernutrition that goes completely unnoticed,” says Antoine Piau.

"They eat in a

presumably

normal way, but in reality they lack protein and carbohydrates."

And this factor is all the more important "that at one point, it surpasses everyone's risk of metabolic disorder". 

Stay seated as little as possible 

In addition to a good diet, it is also necessary to "remain seated as little as possible", adds the doctor.

“The body is not made to lie down, nor to sit,” he insists.

So you have to move, especially since "the mere fact of getting up from your chair once every 30 minutes can potentially reduce the risk of stroke". 

And if walking isn't on your hobby list, don't make it your business to take the 10,000 steps a day recommended by health officials: "They're infeasible for most people."

Antoine Piau recommends rather to "start from oneself and always do a little better at one's level".

"I can start by going to the baker on foot, then I will do a mile, etc. When the resolutions are far-fetched, we know it doesn't work."

Should you buy a connected watch to monitor your activity? 

To progress each day in your physical activity, having benchmarks can be useful.

Therefore, should we buy grandpa or grandma a connected watch, which allows in particular to calculate the number of steps or to monitor the heart rate?

"In theory yes", replies Antoine Piau.

"But there's no point in measuring anything and everything if there's no one [a doctor] to analyze the data."

Especially since "the current care system is not too made for that", it is therefore necessary to wait for "a certain change" for these connected objects to reveal all their usefulness, according to the geriatrician.