© charleseugster.net
Brilio.net/en - Charles Eugster is 96 years old and probably in the same or better shape than any young person in their twenties or thirties. After recently running at a sprint championship for seniors, he gave an interview to Vice magazine to share his personal experience as a high level sportsman but also his overall interesting point of view about our current society. According to Eugster, who lived through a world war, the Great Depression and many financial global crises, happiness depends on both physical and mental health, and the elderly generation lacks both. Here is a recap of the 3 most important things to live a long and above all, a happy life!
1. Look after your body
It may seem obvious but the importance cannot be overstated: never stop training After being a great sportsman his all life, Eugsters doctors recommend him to slow down on physical activities, to respect his body rhythm that was becoming more fragile with aging. However, at the age of 86, Eugster noticed that the lack of sport actually made him feel even more old and uncomfortable with his body. No more energy and thus no more taste for life: instead of pulling him down, this statement motivated him even more to get back in shape again and start to keep on exploring his bodys possibilities. His advice during the interview is to find an activity you like and stick to it, no matter how old you are and how tired you feel; its all about the rhythm and if you listen to what your body needs, you will realise there is no age to start or quit exercising.
2. Eat a little bit of everything and dont deprive yourself of anything
He especially insists on the fact that fat matters. Not saying that fruit and vegetables arent healthy, far from that actually! Scientifically proven to be unhealthy and an unadaptable diet. Our current constant seek of the healthiest ingredient and the latest trendy superfood has led us to forget a simple statement: the human kind is omnivorous, meaning it needs all different types of food. Fat is part of it, but it is important to distinguish the good fat that can be found in meat or dairy products for example, from industrial fat, present in manufactured products and definitely not needed at all by our bodies.
3. Keep on working and never stop learning
Physical health matters a lot, and mental health is strongly linked to it. One cannot function without the other. Retirement leads to death says Eugster, who explains indeed that when retiring, people start feeling useless, no one need the skills they acquired during a whole lifetime anymore and this is simply wrong, there shouldnt be an expiration date on people. Maybe it would be interesting to start thinking on other ways to organise our life- and workstyle.
(brl/red)
