MY 104 YEAR OLD TEACHER

Some days it’s evident I learn more from my patients than they do from me. It’s one of my favorite parts about being a physician – patients of all ages and from all walks of life end up in front of me daily. I’m not at all ashamed to say sometimes it’s me that benefits from the interaction more. After all, we are all here to be each other’s teachers.

 

Today I saw a 104 year old woman, totally with her wits about her, if only hard of hearing; totally mobile, if only a bit slow.

 

She had obviously lived a rich life and had lots to talk about as I examined her eyes. I was dealing with her multiple eye issues – a stroke in one eye that left the eye blind – glaucoma and macular degeneration, helping her figure out how to best get by with her reading and TV watching with just one good eye.

 

Inevitably I asked her the question I ask all of my “impressively elderly “ patients:

 

“WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?”

 

She looked at me with a smile and said simply “I always listened to my mother.”

 

What? No special herb she drinks daily? No set activities or daily exercise minimum? IS she sure she’s not forgetting about a certain vegetable she’s always eaten?

 

I found it very interesting and asked her to please explain…

 

She gave me a look as if to say: “Come on, you know this already.” Then she began to list:

 

 

Dress warm on cold days

Eat whatever you want, just don’t overeat any one thing

Don’t smoke

Don’t do drugs

Enjoy alcohol if you like but don’t drink to excess

In fact, don’t do anything to excess

Know when you need rest. Don’t be afraid to give yourself a rest.

Be grateful for what you have, stop looking at what the neighbors have

 

I will be honest, I was kind of floored by this. How simple! How strongly it resonated with me! What would happen if we all listened to our moms?

 

We would probably not be an obese nation, running up health care costs with medications and surgeries. We wouldn’t harm our bodies by consistently eating foods we know aren’t good for us.

We probably wouldn’t overwork and stay up late hours, exhausting ourselves.

We wouldn’t abuse our bodies with drugs.

Perhaps we’d take more time to listen to ourselves, knowing what we need for our body and our soul.

Maybe then we’d each be in tune with that proverbial sixth sense – our intuition.

 

When we aren’t running around, multitasking, overindulging, running on empty, life is much more clear to us. Then we have the chance to treat ourselves like the beautiful, precious beings that we are.

 

And that’s this woman’s secret to living well to 104.

 

Sure, a lot of it is genetics, which we can’t control. Personally, I’d be happy to live until 84 if it meant living WELL. This woman is only on ONE medication, has only had one surgery (appendectomy), and has never developed diabetes or a chronic inflammatory disease. (That’s better than most 50 year olds I see!) She also tells a good story.

 

There’s no magic pill. – just a general belief in moderation and common sense. One that is really maternal in essence.

 

Even if mom isn’t around anymore, think back and listen. For some it’s a dad or grandparent – but most of us got similar advice from someone.

 

Indeed this is what I wish for everyone this season as we enter the New Year – listen to your mom.