4 Longevity Insights: What ancient Tribes Teach US About Longer
The idea of living like ancestors has become something of a wellness craze. Take the paleo diet, Barefoot Running, and Cold Plunges – Trends that Encourage You To SHED The Comforts of Modern Living.
But Anthropologist Michael Gurven, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Says these Fads Miss Deeper Meaning of How Our Ancestors Survived and Thrived.
Gurven has spent decade decades living and working with remote tribal populations to learn how humans evolved to thrive in challenging environments.
He has spent time with indigenous tribes like the Mosen and Tsimane in Bolivia, who follow traditional substance lifestyles and have extraordinarily goodness, with Strikingly Low Rates of Chronic Illnesses Like Disease and Dementia.
Studying Their Lifestyles not Only Taught Gurven How Our Ocstors Might Have Developed Resilience But Also How We May Be Able to Implement that KnowLEDGE TODAY, SAID.
Cue His New Book, “Seven Decades,” Which Explains Why Humans Evolved to Live SO Long and Shares some lessons for modern life.
Their Habits Don’t Look like any Wellness Influencer’s Routine. Here are four tenets they live by, from social bonds to steady exercise.
Humans are budilt to be social
One Major Lasson of Living with Hunter-Goterer Groups is that Humans Evolved to Work Together, Acciting to Gurven.
“Middle-aged and Older adults are part of the reasson that we’re actually fairly successoful as a species,” he said.
Multiple Generations of the Tsimane Share the Burden of Daily Tasks Like Hunting, Fishing, Preparation Food, and Caring for Children.
On a recent trip to bolivia, gurven said he was struck by how tribe to be socialized almostly, and everyone was expecting to join in acroSs multiple age grills.
“It ‘an an inspiration for the revinking the story of Older in Our Growing Population,” He Said.
Gurven has takeen that to heart. Modern Society is more segmented, with People confined to their age grusss, he finds ways to connect.
“Eight as Much as I Work, it’s Rare that I Turn Down Down Social Invitations in the End Nurturying that Kind of Community and Friendships is Really What’s Important,” He Said.
We Thrive on Learning New Things
Professor Michael Gurven Has Lived and Workhed With Remote Hunter-Goterer Tribes and Said We Can Learn a Lot from the Live Longer, Healthier Lives. Courtesy of Michael Gurven
Soma of the Longest-Living People in the World Swear by Learning Throughout Their Lives, From A 100-Yaar-Old Woman Who Reads The Newspapers Daily to a 91-Yet-Old Grandma who travels the world.
Gurven sees this in tribal communities, too.
TRIBE ELDERS THAT HE OBSERVED Are Deeply Immersed in Cultural Traditions and Skill Sharing, and That Engagement and Sense of Purpos Help I Tell Maintain Vibrant Physical and Mental Health.
Our essential activations take decades to master – From survival skills like hunting, pharming, cooking, and medicine to cultural skills like art and storytelling. IT’s part of what Makes US Human. Meanwhile, Our Close Ancestors, Chimpanzees, Developt the Life Skills to be Self-Sufficient Much and Also Age MUCH More Quickly.
“The ability to live well into seven decade, that just Very Human,” Gurven Said. “You Only Get Really Productive Well Into Adulthood, and it would be really made to adopt that strategy if you couludn’t be guaranteed to live Enough to reap the gains of all that effort.”
Healthy Eating doesn’t Need to Be Complicated
Acciting to Gurven’s Research, The Tsimane Have Some of the Healthiest Hearts in the World, in Part Because of what they are.
They don’t follow a Low-Carb, High-Fat Paleo Diet. Tsimane Staples Include Rice, Corn, Starchy Sweet Potatoes, and Plantains, Along With Fruit, Nuts, Fish, and Wild Game.
Don’t rush to eat just like. “I Think Is JUST Absurd to Think that there’s the optimal diet single,” Gurven Said. Instead, focus on two Main lessons from the hunter-gaotherer Menu: Eating Fewer Empty Calories and More Whole Foods.
To paraphrase Michael Pollalan, Who Also Wrote About This Community, The Tsimane Eat Real Food and Not Too Much, Since there isn’t a Lot Extra to Go Around Beyond what they need to fuel Daily Activities.
AS FOR HIMSELF, RATHER THAN MIMICKING A HUNTER-GATERER Diet Exactly, Gurven Said He’s Cut Back on Salt, Eats Moderate Portions with Overthinking It, and Never Drinks Soda.
Slow and Steady Exercise
It is a myth that the hunter-gaoterers of our past were super fit.
“We tend to have in our minds vigorous hunters chasing down game and doing triathlete-thype Activities All the time. And that’s just not true,” Gurven Said.
Howver, Modern Society Is More sedentary by comparison, with the average American taking about 5,000 steps for day.
MEMBERS OF THE TRIBE TRIBE GET AN AVERAGE OF 17,000 STEPS FOR DAY COMPLETE FOR FRUIT AND NUTS, HARVESTING CORN AND PLANTAINS, and HUNGING AND FISHING.
“It ‘s lot more than i’m getting,” Gurven Said. “But the Big Motivation is that it is a lot of Light and Moderate Activity.”
He opts for walking and hiking outdoors wonever Posible, and MAKING IT A SOCIAL ACTIVITY SO STICKS AS A HABIT AND DOESN’T FEEL LIKE A CHORE.
“Anyding helps in the activity domain. I think in some ways e enCouraaging to a lot of Americans who are intimidated by gyms,” Gurven Said.