Can we all be as ‘healthy and vigorous’ at 80 as Joe Biden?
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At 80, Joe Biden is already the oldest president ever elected. Last week, he formally announced his bid for re-election in 2024, at which point he will be nearing 82 and smashing his own record.
With a marathon campaign ahead of him, and a job that would exhaust people half his age, how does he do it? And how can we all have the energy to be able to hit the ground running when we’re 80?
A ‘healthy, vigorous’ man: 80-year-old president Joe Biden has announced he is running for re-election.Credit: Photo: Getty Images. Artwork: Stephen Kiprillis
“Ageism will be obvious with the responses of some of the population towards Joe Biden running again,” says Professor Anne Tiedemann, who leads the healthy ageing research at the University of Sydney’s Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. “It’s really important to realise that as people age they become more diverse in their abilities and characteristics, probably more so than at younger ages.”
Tiedmann attributes this largely to the effects of chronic diseases on physical and mental functioning in older age: “So we can’t really generalise about the role of an 80-year-old and what they can still contribute to society.”
The White House doctor’s report, released in February, provides some insight to Biden’s health and how he maintains it.
Although he is currently being treated for atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat), high cholesterol, occasional acid reflux, seasonal allergies, spinal arthritis and mild nerve damage in his feet, the doctor said he was a “healthy, vigorous 80-year-old” who was “fit” to execute the duties of his job. The assessment did not include a cognitive test, despite calls for one from some opponents.
Along with genetics, healthy active ageing, Tiedmann explains, comes down to several key lifestyle factors including physical activity levels, diet, quitting smoking, looking after our mental health and connecting socially as well as getting enough sleep (the recommendation for older adults is 7 to 9 hours).
Grip and TUG
The report revealed that Biden, a father of four (two of whom have died) and grandfather of seven, doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke, and he exercises at least five days a week.
A 2021 article in the Washington Post said that he typically starts his day by lifting weights, often works out with a personal trainer and is a fan of Peloton.
As well as helping to maintain a healthy body weight (Biden is six feet tall and weighs 80 kilograms), improve physical function and control blood pressure, regular physical activity has other benefits.
The muscular system and the neurological share the vascular system, explains Dr Marc Sim, a researcher at Edith Cowan University. So by keeping our cardiovascular system fit through physical activity, we help to keep our cognitive function healthy too.
In fact, a new study lead by Sims found that participants, who were aged in their 70s, had double the risk of developing dementia if they exhibited poor grip strength and were slow to rise from a chair, walk three metres, turn around and sit back down – known as a timed-up-and-go (TUG) test.
He suggests this is because these tests are surrogates for cardiovascular health and because of the overlaps between motor and cognitive function.
By focusing on activities that target balance and control, along with aerobic exercise like walking or jogging, we may be able to minimise both physical and cognitive decline.
These activities might include standing from a chair and lowering very slowly, lunges or push-ups against a wall. Balancing on one foot while either reading or having a conversation provides “dual complexity” which may improve the link between the musculoskeletal and the neurological system as well, he explains.
A ‘basic eater’
Biden’s wife, Jill, has described him as a “basic eater”. In 2016, while visiting the headquarters of an icecream company, Biden stood on stage and said: “My name is Joe Biden, and I love ice cream. You all think I’m kidding – I’m not. I eat more ice cream than three other people you’d like to be with, all at once.”
Though he doesn’t overeat, he is also a fan of chocolate chip biscuits, which he keeps stocked in the Oval Office, lollies, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, orange Gatorade and Coke Zero.
Biden’s preferred lunch is a soup and a chopped salad with grilled chicken, and he enjoys pasta with red sauce for dinner.
Lots of leafy greens, oily fish and minimal processed meats and foods are important for physical and cognitive health as we age, says Dr Ashleigh Smith, from the University of South Australia’s department for Allied Health and Human Performance. But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a bickie or bowl of ice cream if, like Biden, that is what you enjoy.
The same health outcomes could be achieved in different ways, Smith explains:
“For example, the same improvement in health could be achieved by modifying your physical activity or modifying your diet, or modifying a bit of both. This suggests that consideration of an individuals’ preferences, needs and constraints may be the key to the best health.”
A rule for life: time for family
Looking after our mental well-being, through managing stress, connecting socially with others and challenging our brain to learn new skills is another vital piece of the healthy ageing puzzle, says Tiedmann.
Biden undoubtedly stays mentally stimulated each day, and has strict boundaries around his time, scheduling in dinner with his wife each night and, as he has boasted, never misses a call from his grandchildren, who call him ‘Pop’.
Smith says: “The way we use our time has a powerful influence over many different aspects of our life from performance (cognitively and academically), energy and even happiness. Everyone, whether you are the President of the United States of America or a general person in the community only have 24-hours (or 1440 minutes) in each day.”
How we, and he, use that time – whether we are sedentary or active, isolated or social, sleeping or staying up, eating well or poorly (or somewhere in between), working or at leisure – will all affect how “healthy and vigorous” we are at 80.
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