Angeline Charlebois keeps a busy schedule.
The 105-year-old Levack, Ont., woman spends Tuesday afternoons in town playing cards with her friends at the golden age club, often bringing home-baked treats to share with her friends. Charlebois is an avid reader and loves to sew. She makes hats for babies at the nearby hospital 91裸聊视频� having picked up knitting as a new hobby when she was 100 years old.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 not someone to just sit down. I91裸聊视频檓 motivated. I do things and I like to do things,91裸聊视频� Charlebois said, sitting in the living room of the two-bedroom town house where she91裸聊视频檚 been living on her own for nearly 30 years.
Charlebois beams when she talks about her big family, and proudly shows off pictures of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the walls of her home, about 50 kilometres northwest of Sudbury.
She91裸聊视频檚 extremely social, and says she likes to have a drink on the weekends with her family. She91裸聊视频檚 partial to beer or rye and water, and she puts Irish cream in her coffee after mass every Sunday.
She91裸聊视频檚 used to people who are astounded by her energy and good health at 105 years old.
91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 really have a secret, it91裸聊视频檚 just good, plain living,91裸聊视频� she said.
Angela Roberts is the Canadian research lead on an international study looking to uncover what contributes to the long, healthy lives of 91裸聊视频渟uper agers91裸聊视频� like Charlebois 91裸聊视频� defined as people 80 and older that have the memory of someone 20 to 30 years younger.
Ongoing research at four American universities and Western University in London, Ont., is examining trends among the 5,000 super agers involved in the study. While a cognitive test would need to be done to confirm Charlebois fits the criteria, the 105-year-old 91裸聊视频渃ertainly sounds like a super ager,91裸聊视频� Roberts said.
Like Charlebois, most super agers report having close, meaningful relationships with friends or family, Roberts said.
91裸聊视频淗uman connection, seeing and being with other people face-to-face, feeding off the emotional exchange is really important,91裸聊视频� she said.
91裸聊视频淲e see this depth of social connection as perhaps being a defining piece of exceptional cognitive aging, and indeed that aligns with research that shows that social isolation is harmful in aging and can lead to dementia and contribute to cognitive decline.91裸聊视频�
Roberts said there is ongoing research to better understand the relationship between social connection and healthy aging, and why the brains of super agers look different compared with their peers. Brain scans of those 80 and older in the study look a lot like the scans of someone in their 50s or 60s, Roberts said, because their brains have not atrophied or shrunk at the expected rate for someone their age.
91裸聊视频淲e know the approximate rate that brains shrink each year, each decade. Our super agers defy that.91裸聊视频�
In many cases, super agers have a section of their brain that is more robust than the average 50-year-old, Roberts said. Scans show that within the arch-shaped anterior cingulate gyrus in the brain, a region connected to emotion and behaviour, super agers have an excess of something called von Economo neurons.
91裸聊视频淰on Economo neurons are thought to be important for social behaviour, though we91裸聊视频檝e rarely studied them in humans,91裸聊视频� Roberts explained. The neurons have been studied in whales and elephants and are believed to be connected to the animals91裸聊视频� social pod and herd behaviour.
91裸聊视频淥ur super agers are really showing us that meaningful social behaviour may be linked to a biology that we see exclusively in our super agers,91裸聊视频� Roberts said.
Roberts said while there is much that scientists still don91裸聊视频檛 know, researchers are considering hypotheses that explore why certain people are biologically predisposed to strong social connection.
George Cooper, 100, who lives in Quispamsis, N.B., about 20 kilometres northeast of Saint John, is described by a local legion member as the friendliest man in town.
The centenarian, who celebrated the milestone in May with seven birthday parties, lives alone in his apartment and loves to play music, chat with neighbours and spend time with family and friends at the legion.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e made a number of violins that I play 91裸聊视频� Just last year I built a cello,91裸聊视频� Cooper said in a recent phone interview. 91裸聊视频淲ait a moment, I need to play it for you!91裸聊视频�
He set the phone down before promptly returning to the call, playing a tune in a deep tenor vibrato. The cello is one of seven instruments Cooper plays.
He takes great joy in the success of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and was overjoyed when his first great-great-grandchild was born last year.
During the summer Cooper spends a lot of time tending to his many vegetables at a community garden plot. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e got 24 tomato plants right now 91裸聊视频�. I grow bok choy, green beans, peppers, radishes, beets 91裸聊视频� all different types of lettuce.91裸聊视频�
Cooper was born into a large family in the small rural community of Connors, N.B., but the family with six children moved about 420 kilometres southeast to Saint John when Cooper was just five years old after his father died.
91裸聊视频淲e had to move. Nobody up there (in Connors) would help us because we were mixed marriage,91裸聊视频� he said, referring to the fact that his father was Anglican and his mother was Catholic.
He started working when he was very young, in farming, carpentry and plumbing before joining the military. Cooper is proud to have been a member of Canada91裸聊视频檚 first parachute brigade, which he joined in 1943, and was deployed to England in December 1944, near the end of the Second World War.
He was married in 1949, and throughout much of the 1950s and 60s he and his wife taught ballroom dancing. He built them a four-bedroom home in 1975 with help from his son-in-law. His wife died in 1992 at the age of 66, which Cooper said left him heartbroken.
He went on to remarry in 1999, and he frequently visits his second wife at a nearby seniors complex. Cooper said she is receiving care for encephalitis and has lost most of her memory.
Roberts said it91裸聊视频檚 very common for super agers to show great resilience in the face of life91裸聊视频檚 challenges and losses.
91裸聊视频淪omething we see across all of our research sites is that super agers have a high sense of personal resilience. They have not had easy lives, and they are incredibly resilient in the face of challenges,91裸聊视频� Roberts said.
91裸聊视频淥ur super agers are really showing us that meaningful social behaviour may be linked to a biology that we see exclusively in our super agers,91裸聊视频� Roberts said.
When asked what91裸聊视频檚 his secret to longevity, Cooper quickly responds with a joke: 91裸聊视频淚 have good genes and I wear them well.91裸聊视频�
He said he gets asked about his secrets for a long life. 91裸聊视频淚 say: don91裸聊视频檛 walk slow, walk fast. And do a lot of singing. And learn a new language. I don91裸聊视频檛 care what language you learn, but learn a new language and keep your mind active. Always read.91裸聊视频�
Charlebois insists there is no special trick to making it to 100, and credits healthy habits and cooking for her longevity. 91裸聊视频淚 eat well. I make my own stuff, I make stuff from scratch, and I eat well every day. I sleep well. And I91裸聊视频檓 a person who looks ahead.91裸聊视频�
Every morning after her oats-and-berries breakfast, Charlebois sits at her dining table to play four rounds of solitaire.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 my start of the day,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淚 see if I can beat him or not, if my day is going to be good or not.91裸聊视频�
104-year-old Lina DeBray from Langley, B.C., about 50 kilometres southeast of Vancouver, says that even as her eyesight deteriorates, she keeps up with reading and writing. She sends cards throughout the year to keep in touch with friends and family.
DeBray, who has two daughters, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, regularly plays bingo and cards. She watches Catholic mass livestreamed on TV every day. 91裸聊视频淚 think my faith keeps me going,91裸聊视频� she said.
91裸聊视频淚 keep saying to myself: God doesn91裸聊视频檛 want me now. Just give me another good day. And I pray for all my family and my friends.91裸聊视频�
Roberts said there91裸聊视频檚 evidence that consistent sleep and staying active contribute to the longevity of super agers, but there91裸聊视频檚 one standout answer among those in the study when asked for their secret to a long life.
91裸聊视频淲e ask: what is your superpower? And just about all of them will say they are curious.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淣ow I don91裸聊视频檛 have biology to back this up, but this is what we hear. They91裸聊视频檙e lifelong learners who are engaged in a curious exploration of the world around them.91裸聊视频�
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