Health Behaviors of Centenarians are Worth Attention

Editorial

In contemporary society, it’s important to prevent and minimize the impact of non-communicable disease [1]. Health behaviors, such as physical inactivity, smoking, obesity, poor diets, and alcohol misuse are among the most common causes of disease and premature deaths in the world [2,3]. With the development of the economy and the level of medical and health care, the proportion of the elderly population is becoming big, and the number of centenarians is increasing both in China and many other developing countries.

The elderly people are facing a lot of health problems. The increase in the incidence of disease and disability, the reduced quality of life and increased mortality, and many health related issues. The health status of centenarians is not an extension and development of the young old. Centenarians’ physical and mental quality is different from the younger elderly people. Most centenarians study aimed to clarify the cause of longevity. Revealing longevity mechanism helps to improve the level of medical care and provide academic guidance for the elderly health and longevity.

Study the health behaviors of centenarians contribute to solve a variety of health problems, and can provide valuable information for health promotion and health education. In my opinion, it’s important to summarize the experiences of centenarians’ health and longevity, propagandize and popularize good health behavior (such as centenarians’ exercise, diet, sleep and other lifestyle of centenarians. These experiences help to the prevention of chronic diseases.

1. Maher CA, Lewis LK, Ferrar K, Marshall S, De Bourdeaudhuij I, et al. (2014) Are health behavior change interventions that use online social networks effective? A systematic review. J Med Internet Res 16: e40.
2. Narayan KM, Ali MK, Koplan JP (2010) Global noncommunicable diseases--where worlds meet. N Engl J Med 363:1196–1198.
3. Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, et al. (2012) A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380: 2224–2260.