100 Not Out: New study hopes to tap into the secrets of centenarians
It used to be a very exclusive club, but centenarians - people aged 100 years or more - are one of the fastest-growing demographics in much of the western world. Indeed, the number of centenarians around the world is projected to increase to 2.2 million by 2050, compared with 145,000 in 1999. The Office for National Statistics midyear estimates (2006) show that we have 9,000 centenarians in the United Kingdom.
While advances in medical science have long been regarded as the main source of our increasing longevity, recent studies have revealed that several distinctive lifestyle choices are also important to reaching the century mark. Researchers Tina Koch, Pam Smith and Nimmi Hutnik from the University of Surrey are keen to further investigate some of the 'lifestyle secrets' to living a long and healthy life.
Researchers said the aim is to explore the experience of life transitions - the major emotional, environmental and physical changes - of 24 United Kingdom residents who have reached 100 years of age. So they are looking for centenarian volunteers who would like to tell their story about living a long life and are willing to have their life histories documented and published in a book.
It is hoped the study can not only provide the United Kingdom's ageing population with an insight into living a long and healthy life, but also help to prepare the population for the very real possibility that many of us are going to live for a lot longer than we realised.
For further information or to nominate or volunteer someone for the project, please contact Professor Tina Koch, University of Surrey on 01483 684 552 or t.koch@surrey.ac.uk. Professor Pam Smith, University of Edinburgh, can also be contacted on 07881 570 954 or pam.smith@ed.ac.uk.
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Scottish International Symposium for Storytelling as a Healing Art
June 13th to 19th 2010
This is a week long residential course to share ideas and practice on Storytelling as a Healing Art.
