Professor Tim Spector has discovered a hobby that is “better” than going to the gym. What’s more, the popular activity could help you live longer. The professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, spoke to Dan Buettner, an American National Geographic fellow who has written about communities around the world which are unusually long-lived.
The creator behind the ‘Live to 100’ Netflix series also studied how lifestyles can contribute to healthier and longer lives.
Speaking on the ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast, he said that a common factor in people who live longest is a love of gardening – whether for aesthetic reasons or to grow food to eat.
Buettner said: “Almost everybody who is making it into their nineties and hundreds, not only garden their whole life but continue to do so. And it might be because it’s low-intensity physical activity.
“When you have a garden and you’ve planted something you can’t wait to eat. It gives you an incentive to go out every day and weed and water and harvest and they’re bending over.
“It’s a range of motion. I’ve seen the studies that show that when you’re gardening, your cortisol levels or your stress hormones drop. You get your hands dirty and you wipe your mouth and you’re getting the microbiomes, there’s a little bit of dirt. But I argue that gardening is probably much better than joining a gym. The best longevity exercise you could do.”
However, gardening isn’t the only way you can reach a ripe old age. Buettner explained that the first thing people need to do is “shift away from the ‘silver bullet’ mentality”. He recommended taking a scattered approach and implementing multiple healthy lifestyle habits.
He said: “I wrote a book called the Blue Zone Challenge, where I aggregated about 40 or so evidence-based ways for you to set up your kitchen, your bedroom and your home so you mindlessly move more, eat less and eat better, and socialise more.
“In your kitchen, I’m a big believer that we’re all on a see food diet – we eat the food we see. So if on your counter in America, if we start eating a bag of chips [crisps], we don’t finish it, we put a clip on and we put it on the counter. Bad idea!
“Instead, you go out and buy yourself the most beautiful fruit bowl you can afford and put that in the middle and keep that full. So when you walk through the kitchen the default is the fruit rather than the chip.”
