60 Minute Video Analysis

In the “60-Minute video” watched in class, there was a study that focused on a questionnaire for a selected group of people of 1981 living in Laguna World Retirement home in California. Researchers wanted to see who (from the retirement home) were still living and how they were still living. The primary focus of the study was people aged 90 years and older. During the study, the results indicate that although genes contribute to longevity, they are not everything. They found that smokers died earlier than their non smokers peers. They also found out that people who exercised as little as 15 minutes a day (45 minutes) outlived those who did not exercise; even exercise as long as 3 hours didn't beat 45 minutes. For every hour spent doing activities

(social, cognitive, memory, etc) back in 1981, older people increased their longevity.
In the study, they also found out that it did not make a difference in longevity for the older adults whether or not they took vitamins. Older participants who drank alcohol (not just red wine) tend to live longer (10-15% reduced death) than older people who did not drink alcohol.
In addition, drinking 1-3 cups a day was also beneficial to older people. As one ages, older people who were a little overweight or average weight outlived their peers who were underweight. In addition, high blood pressure for people 90 years and older lowers the risk of dementia.
In this study, Dr. Claudia H. Kawas states that the chances of getting dementia doubles every 5 years starting at the age of 65. In order to further investigate this, Kawas studies the brains of the 90+ aged participants who were willing to donate their brains when they die. They observe that although plaques and tangles could be found in brains for people who have dementia, it's not always the case. People could have tangles and plaques and not have dementia and vise versa.