Here's an intriguing fact. In the developed world, everywhere, women live an average of six to eight years longer than men do. Six to eight years longer. That's, like, a huge gap. In 2015, the "Lancet" published an article showing that men in rich countries are twice as likely to die as women are at any age.
Evo zanimljive činjenice. U razvijenom svijetu, svugdje, žene u prosjeku žive šest do osam godina dulje od muškaraca. Šest do osam godina dulje. To je ogroman razmak. 2015., u "Lancet"-u je objavljen članak koji dokazuje da postoji duplo veća vjerojatnost da muškarci iz bogatih zemalja umru prije žena bilo koje dobi.
But there is one place in the world where men live as long as women. It's a remote, mountainous zone, a blue zone, where super longevity is common to both sexes. This is the blue zone in Sardinia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean, between Corsica and Tunisia, where there are six times as many centenarians as on the Italian mainland, less than 200 miles away. There are 10 times as many centenarians as there are in North America. It's the only place where men live as long as women.
No, postoji jedno mjesto na svijetu gdje muškarci žive jednako dugo kao žene. To je udaljena, planinska zona, plava zona, gdje je dugovječnost zajednička i jednom i drugom spolu. To je plava zona na Sardiniji, talijanskom otoku u Mediteranu, između Korzike i Tunisa gdje je šest puta više stogodišnjaka nego na talijanskoj obali koja se nalazi 300 km dalje. Ima 10 puta više stogodišnjaka nego u sjevernoj Americi. To je jedino mjesto gdje muškarci žive dugo kao žene.
But why? My curiosity was piqued. I decided to research the science and the habits of the place, and I started with the genetic profile. I discovered soon enough that genes account for just 25 percent of their longevity. The other 75 percent is lifestyle.
Ali zašto? To me zainteresiralo. Odlučila sam istražiti znanost i navike tog mjesta, pa sam počela s genetskim profilom. Dosta rano sam otkrila da su geni zaslužni za samo 25 posto dugovječnosti. Ostalih 75 posto je način života.
So what does it take to live to 100 or beyond? What are they doing right? What you're looking at is an aerial view of Villagrande. It's a village at the epicenter of the blue zone where I went to investigate this, and as you can see, architectural beauty is not its main virtue, density is: tightly spaced houses, interwoven alleys and streets. It means that the villagers' lives constantly intersect. And as I walked through the village, I could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes watching me from behind doorways and curtains, from behind shutters. Because like all ancient villages, Villagrande couldn't have survived without this structure, without its walls, without its cathedral, without its village square, because defense and social cohesion defined its design.
Što je potrebno da se doživi stota ili više? Što oni to rade? Upravo gledate zračni prikaz sela Villagrande. To je selo u središtu plave zone, gdje sam ovo istraživala i, kao što vidite, arhitektonska ljepota nije njihov najveći adut, već gustoća: gusto smještene kuće, isprepleteni prolazi i ulice. To znači da se životi seljana stalno presijecaju. Hodajući selom mogla sam na sebi osjetiti stotine pari očiju iza vrata i zastora, iza grilja. Jer, kao i sva stara sela, Villagrande ne bi moglo preživjeti bez svoje strukture, bez zidova, katedrale, bez svojeg seoskog trga, jer su obrana i društvena povezanost definirali njegov izgled.
Urban priorities changed as we moved towards the industrial revolution because infectious disease became the risk of the day. But what about now? Now, social isolation is the public health risk of our time. Now, a third of the population says they have two or fewer people to lean on.
Urbani prioriteti su se mijenjali na putu prema industrijskoj revoluciji jer je zarazna bolest postala dnevni rizik. Ali što danas? Danas je društvena izoliranost rizik javnog zdravstva. Trećina populacije kaže da imaju dvoje ili manje ljudi na koje se mogu osloniti.
But let's go to Villagrande now as a contrast to meet some centenarians.
No, u Villegrandeu, suprotno tome, postoje stogodišnjaci.
Meet Giuseppe Murinu. He's 102, a supercentenarian and a lifelong resident of the village of Villagrande. He was a gregarious man. He loved to recount stories such as how he lived like a bird from what he could find on the forest floor during not one but two world wars, how he and his wife, who also lived past 100, raised six children in a small, homey kitchen where I interviewed him. Here he is with his sons Angelo and Domenico, both in their 70s and looking after their father, and who were quite frankly very suspicious of me and my daughter who came along with me on this research trip, because the flip side of social cohesion is a wariness of strangers and outsiders. But Giuseppe, he wasn't suspicious at all. He was a happy-go-lucky guy, very outgoing with a positive outlook. And I wondered: so is that what it takes to live to be 100 or beyond, thinking positively? Actually, no.
Ovo je Giuseppe Murinu. Ima 102 godine i cijeli život živi u sellu Villagrande. Bio je društven čovjek. Volio je pričati priče o tome kako je poput ptice živio od onoga što bi našao na šumskom tlu tijekom ne jednog, nego dva svjetska rata, kako su on i supruga, koja je također doživjela stotu, podigli šestero djece u maloj, ugodnoj kuhinji gdje sam ga intervjuirala. Ovdje je sa svojim sinovima, Angelom i Domenicom, oboje su u svojim 70-ima i paze na svoga oca i, iskreno, bili su vrlo sumnjičavi prema meni i mojoj kćeri koja me pratila na ovom istraživačkom putovanju, jer je loša strana društvene povezanosti oprez prema strancima. No, Giuseppe nije uopće bio sumnjičav. Bio je opušteni veseljak, vrlo otvoren i pozitivnog stava. Pa sam se pitala: je li to tajna života do stote i više, razmišljati pozitivno? Zapravo, ne.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Meet Giovanni Corrias. He's 101, the grumpiest person I have ever met.
Ovo je Giovanni Corrias. Ima 101 godinu, najčangrizavija osoba koju sam ikad upoznala.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
And he put a lie to the notion that you have to be positive to live a long life. And there is evidence for this. When I asked him why he lived so long, he kind of looked at me under hooded eyelids and he growled, "Nobody has to know my secrets."
On je pokazao da nije istina da trebate biti pozitivni da biste dugo živjeli. Evo dokaza. Kad sam ga upitala kako to da je tako dugo poživio, pogledao me ispod spuštenih kapaka i zarežao, "Nitko ne mora znati moje tajne."
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
But despite being a sourpuss, the niece who lived with him and looked after him called him "Il Tesoro," "my treasure." And she respected him and loved him, and she told me, when I questioned this obvious loss of her freedom, "You just don't understand, do you? Looking after this man is a pleasure. It's a huge privilege for me. This is my heritage." And indeed, wherever I went to interview these centenarians, I found a kitchen party. Here's Giovanni with his two nieces, Maria above him and beside him his great-niece Sara, who came when I was there to bring fresh fruits and vegetables. And I quickly discovered by being there that in the blue zone, as people age, and indeed across their lifespans, they're always surrounded by extended family, by friends, by neighbors, the priest, the barkeeper, the grocer. People are always there or dropping by. They are never left to live solitary lives. This is unlike the rest of the developed world, where as George Burns quipped, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring family in another city."
No, unatoč tome što je čangrizalo, nećakinja koja je živjela s njim i pazila na njega zvala ga je "Il Tesoro", "moje blago." Poštivala ga je i voljela i rekla mi je, kad sam propitkivala taj očiti gubitak njene slobode, "Vi jednostavno ne razumijete, zar ne? Paziti na ovog čovjeka je zadovoljstvo. To je za mene ogroman privilegij. Ovo je moja baština." I, uistinu, kamo god sam išla intervjuirati ove stogodišnjake, naišla bih na zabavu. Ovo je Giovanni s dvije nećakinje, Maria iznad njega i do njega je pranećakinja Sara, koja je došla donijeti svježe voće i povrće. Brzo sam otkrila da, u plavoj zoni, kako ljudi stare, a i za cijelog života, uvijek su okruženi obitelji, prijateljima, susjedima, svećenikom, krčmarom, trgovcem. Ljudi su uvijek ondje ili navraćaju. Nikad nisu prepušteni samotnom životu. Za razliku od razvijenog svijeta gdje, kako se našalio George Burns, "Sreća je imati veliku, brižnu obitelj koja te voli u drugom gradu."
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
Now, so far we've only met men, long-living men, but I met women too, and here you see Zia Teresa. She, at over 100, taught me how to make the local specialty, which is called culurgiones, which are these large pasta pockets like ravioli about this size, this size, and they're filled with high-fat ricotta and mint and drenched in tomato sauce. And she showed me how to make just the right crimp so they wouldn't open, and she makes them with her daughters every Sunday and distributes them by the dozens to neighbors and friends. And that's when I discovered a low-fat, gluten-free diet is not what it takes to live to 100 in the blue zone.
Dosad smo upoznali samo muškarce, dugovječne muškarce, ali upoznala sam i žene i ovdje vidite Ziu Teresu. Ona me, sa svojih više od 100 godina naučila kako spraviti mjesni specijalitet koji se zove culurgiones, vrsta tjestenine slična raviolima, otprilike ove veličine, punjena ricotta sirom visokog udjela masnoće i mentom te natopljena u umaku od rajčice. Pokazala mi je kako napraviti pravi nabor kako se ne bi otvorili i pravi ih sa kćerima svake nedjelje pa ih dijeli susjedima i prijateljima. Tada sam otkrila da prehrana niskog udjela masnoće i bez glutena nije tajna dugovječnosti u plavoj zoni.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Now, these centenarians' stories along with the science that underpins them prompted me to ask myself some questions too, such as, when am I going to die and how can I put that day off? And as you will see, the answer is not what we expect. Julianne Holt-Lunstad is a researcher at Brigham Young University and she addressed this very question in a series of studies of tens of thousands of middle aged people much like this audience here. And she looked at every aspect of their lifestyle: their diet, their exercise, their marital status, how often they went to the doctor, whether they smoked or drank, etc. She recorded all of this and then she and her colleagues sat tight and waited for seven years to see who would still be breathing. And of the people left standing, what reduced their chances of dying the most? That was her question.
Priče ovih stogodišnjaka i znanost koja ih podupire potaknula me da i samu sebe nešto upitam, kao na primjer, kada ću umrijeti i kako da to odgodim? Kao što ćete vidjeti, odgovor je neočekivan. Julianne Holt-Lunstadt je istraživačica na Sveučilištu Brigham Young i dotakla se istog ovog pitanja u nizu studija desetaka tisuća srednjovječnih ljudi sličnih ovoj publici ovdje. Proučavala je svaki aspekt njihovog načina života: njihovu prehranu, vježbanje, bračni status, učestalost posjeta liječniku, jesu li pušili ili pili itd. Sve je ovo zabilježila, a zatim sedam godina mirno sjedila i čekala sa svojim kolegama kako bi vidjela tko još uvijek diše. Što je ljudima koji su poživjeli najviše smanjilo izglede da će umrijeti? To je bilo njeno pitanje.
So let's now look at her data in summary, going from the least powerful predictor to the strongest. OK? So clean air, which is great, it doesn't predict how long you will live. Whether you have your hypertension treated is good. Still not a strong predictor. Whether you're lean or overweight, you can stop feeling guilty about this, because it's only in third place. How much exercise you get is next, still only a moderate predictor. Whether you've had a cardiac event and you're in rehab and exercising, getting higher now. Whether you've had a flu vaccine. Did anybody here know that having a flu vaccine protects you more than doing exercise? Whether you were drinking and quit, or whether you're a moderate drinker, whether you don't smoke, or if you did, whether you quit, and getting towards the top predictors are two features of your social life. First, your close relationships. These are the people that you can call on for a loan if you need money suddenly, who will call the doctor if you're not feeling well or who will take you to the hospital, or who will sit with you if you're having an existential crisis, if you're in despair. Those people, that little clutch of people are a strong predictor, if you have them, of how long you'll live. And then something that surprised me, something that's called social integration. This means how much you interact with people as you move through your day. How many people do you talk to? And these mean both your weak and your strong bonds, so not just the people you're really close to, who mean a lot to you, but, like, do you talk to the guy who every day makes you your coffee? Do you talk to the postman? Do you talk to the woman who walks by your house every day with her dog? Do you play bridge or poker, have a book club? Those interactions are one of the strongest predictors of how long you'll live.
Pogledajmo podatke u sažetku, od najslabijeg pokazatelja do najjačeg. U redu? Dakle, čist zrak, zanimljivo, nije pokazatelj dugovječnosti. Liječenje hipertenzije je dobro. Ipak, nije dovoljno jak pokazatelj. Bilo da ste mršavi ili pretili, možete prestati s osjećajem krivnje, jer je ovo tek na trećem mjestu. Sljedeće je koliko vježbate, samo blagi pokazatelj. Ako ste imali srčanih problema pa se oporavljate i vježbate, ovo je malo jači pokazatelj. Cijepljenje protiv gripe. Znate li da vas cijepljenje protiv gripe štiti više nego vježbanje? Ako ste pili i prestali ili ako umjereno pijete, ako ne pušite, ili ako jeste pa ste prestali i približavamo se najjačim pokazateljima, a to su dva obilježja vašeg društvenog života. Prvo, vaše bliske veze. Ovo su ljudi koje možete zvati ako iznenadno trebate posuditi novac, koji će zvati liječnika ako vam nije dobro ili koji će vas odvesti u bolnicu, ili koji će sjediti s vama ako prolazite kroz egzistencijalnu krizu, ako ste očajni. Ovi ljudi, ta šačica ljudi je jak pokazatelj, ako ih imate, koliko ćete dugo živjeti. Zatim me nešto iznenadilo, nešto što se naziva društvenom integracijom. To znači koliko komunicirate s ljudima tijekom dana. S koliko ljudi pričate? Ovo podrazumijeva vaše slabije i jače veze, ne samo ljude s kojima ste jako bliski, koji vam mnogo znače nego, pričate li i sa čovjekom koji vam svaki dan napravi kavu? Pričate li s poštarom? Pričate li sa ženom koja svaki dan prošeta psa kraj vaše kuće? Igrate li bridž ili poker, imate li knjiški klub? Takvi međusobni odnosi su među najjačim pokazateljima vaše dugovječnosti.
Now, this leads me to the next question: if we now spend more time online than on any other activity, including sleeping, we're now up to 11 hours a day, one hour more than last year, by the way, does it make a difference? Why distinguish between interacting in person and interacting via social media? Is it the same thing as being there if you're in contact constantly with your kids through text, for example? Well, the short answer to the question is no, it's not the same thing. Face-to-face contact releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters, and like a vaccine, they protect you now in the present and well into the future. So simply making eye contact with somebody, shaking hands, giving somebody a high-five is enough to release oxytocin, which increases your level of trust and it lowers your cortisol levels. So it lowers your stress. And dopamine is generated, which gives us a little high and it kills pain. It's like a naturally produced morphine.
Ovo me dovodi do sljedećeg pitanja: ako sada provodimo više vremena "online" nego čineći išta drugo, uključujući spavanje, a trenutno je to 11 sati dnevno, sat više nego prošle godine, usput budi rečeno, čini li to ikakvu razliku? Zašto razlikovati međusobne odnose uživo i interakciju putem društvenih medija? To je isto kao da ste ondje ako ste uvijek u kontaktu sa svojom djecom putem poruka, na primjer? Pa, ukratko, odgovor je ne. Nije isto. Kontakt licem u lice otpušta cijeli niz neurotransmitera i, poput cjepiva, štite vas danas i daleko u budućnost. Stoga, jednostavni kontakt očima s nekime, rukovanje ili kad date nekome pet, dovoljno je da se otpusti oksitocin, koji povisuje razinu vašeg povjerenja i snižava razinu kortizola. Znači, snižava stres. Stvara se dopamin koji nas malo oraspoloži i ubije bol. To je poput prirodno proizvedenog morfija.
Now, all of this passes under our conscious radar, which is why we conflate online activity with the real thing. But we do have evidence now, fresh evidence, that there is a difference. So let's look at some of the neuroscience. Elizabeth Redcay, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, tried to map the difference between what goes on in our brains when we interact in person versus when we're watching something that's static. And what she did was she compared the brain function of two groups of people, those interacting live with her or with one of her research associates in a dynamic conversation, and she compared that to the brain activity of people who were watching her talk about the same subject but in a canned video, like on YouTube. And by the way, if you want to know how she fit two people in an MRI scanner at the same time, talk to me later.
Sve ovo promakne našoj svijesti i zato brkamo "online" aktivnost s pravom stvari. No, imamo li svježih dokaza da postoji razlika? Pogledajmo neke dokaze iz neuroznanosti. Elizabeth Redcay, neuroznanstvenica sa Sveučilišta u Marylandu, pokušala je utvrditi razliku između toga što se događa u našem mozgu kada pričamo uživo, naspram gledanja nečega statičnog. Usporedila je funkcije mozga dviju grupa ljudi, onih koji su komunicirali uživo s njom ili s nekim od njenih suradnika u dinamičnom razgovoru, i to je usporedila s moždanim aktivnostima ljudi koji su je gledali kako priča na istu temu, ali u već pripremljenom videu, kakvi su na YouTubeu. Usput, ako želite znati kako je uspjela stisnuti dvije osobe u MRI skener istovremeno, javite mi se kasnije.
So what's the difference? This is your brain on real social interaction. What you're seeing is the difference in brain activity between interacting in person and taking in static content. In orange, you see the brain areas that are associated with attention, social intelligence -- that means anticipating what somebody else is thinking and feeling and planning -- and emotional reward. And these areas become much more engaged when we're interacting with a live partner.
Onda, koja je razlika? Ovo je vaš mozak tijekom prave društvene interakcije. Gledate razliku u moždanim aktivnostima kod interakcije uživo i primanja statičnog sadržaja. U narančastom vidite područja mozga koja su povezana s pažnjom, društvena inteligencija, to znači predvidjeti što netko drugi misli, osjeća i planira -- te emocionalna nagrada. Ova područja više se aktiviraju kada komuniciramo s osobom uživo.
Now, these richer brain signatures might be why recruiters from Fortune 500 companies evaluating candidates thought that the candidates were smarter when they heard their voices compared to when they just read their pitches in a text, for example, or an email or a letter. Now, our voices and body language convey a rich signal. It shows that we're thinking, feeling, sentient human beings who are much more than an algorithm. Now, this research by Nicholas Epley at the University of Chicago Business School is quite amazing because it tells us a simple thing. If somebody hears your voice, they think you're smarter. I mean, that's quite a simple thing.
Ti bogatiji potpisi mozga možda su razlog što su kod zapošljavanja u kompanijama s popisa Fortune 500, kada su procjenjivale kandidate, mislili da su kandidati pametniji kada su čuli njihove glasove, u odnosu na to kada samo čitaju njihove prijave u emailu ili pismu. Naši glasovi i govor tijela stvaraju bogat signal. To pokazuje da smo misaona, osjetljiva, perceptivna ljudska bića, koja su puno više od algoritma. Istraživanje koje je proveo Nicholas Epley u Poslovnoj školi Sveučilišta u Chicagu, poprilično je nevjerojatno jer nam poručuje jednostavno. Ako netko čuje vaš glas, mislit će da ste pametniji. Stvarno, to je baš jednostavno.
Now, to return to the beginning, why do women live longer than men? And one major reason is that women are more likely to prioritize and groom their face-to-face relationships over their lifespans. Fresh evidence shows that these in-person friendships create a biological force field against disease and decline. And it's not just true of humans but their primate relations, our primate relations as well. Anthropologist Joan Silk's work shows that female baboons who have a core of female friends show lower levels of stress via their cortisol levels, they live longer and they have more surviving offspring. At least three stable relationships. That was the magic number. Think about it. I hope you guys have three.
Vratimo se sada na početak, zašto žene žive dulje od muškaraca? Jedan od glavnih razloga je što su žene sklonije dati prednost i njegovati svoje bliske veze tijekom svog života. Najnoviji dokazi ukazuju na to, da ova osobna prijateljstva stvaraju polje biološke sile protiv bolesti i propadanja. To ne važi samo za ljude, nego i za veze primata. Rad antropologinje Joan Silk pokazuje da ženke pavijana koje imaju jezgru prijateljica, imaju i niže razine stresa zbog nižih razina kortizola, žive dulje i imaju više potomaka koji prežive. Barem tri stabilne veze. To je bio magični broj. Razmislite o tome. Nadam se da imate tri.
The power of such face-to-face contact is really why there are the lowest rates of dementia among people who are socially engaged. It's why women who have breast cancer are four times more likely to survive their disease than loners are. Why men who've had a stroke who meet regularly to play poker or to have coffee or to play old-timer's hockey -- I'm Canadian, after all --
Moć živog kontakta razlog je zašto su stope senilnosti najniže među onima koji su društveno aktivni. Zato žene koje imaju rak dojke imaju četiri puta više izgleda da će preživjeti nego samotnjakinje. Zašto muškarci koji su imali moždani udar, koji se redovno nalaze da igraju poker, ili da piju kavu, ili da igraju hokej za starije -- ipak sam ja Kanađanka --
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
are better protected by that social contact than they are by medication. Why men who've had a stroke who meet regularly -- this is something very powerful they can do. This face-to-face contact provides stunning benefits, yet now almost a quarter of the population says they have no one to talk to.
bolje su zaštićeni tim društvenim kontaktom nego lijekovima. Zašto muškarci koji su imali moždani udar, a koji se redovno nalaze, ovo je nešto jako moćno što oni mogu učiniti. Ovaj kontakt licem u lice omogućava zapanjujuće koristi, ipak, sad već gotovo četvrtina populacije kaže da nemaju s kim popričati.
We can do something about this. Like Sardinian villagers, it's a biological imperative to know we belong, and not just the women among us. Building in-person interaction into our cities, into our workplaces, into our agendas bolsters the immune system, sends feel-good hormones surging through the bloodstream and brain and helps us live longer. I call this building your village, and building it and sustaining it is a matter of life and death. Thank you.
Možemo učiniti nešto po tom pitanju. Poput seljana sa Sardinije, biološki je imperativ znati da pripadamo, i ne samo žene. Uvođenje žive komunikacije u naše gradove, radna mjesta, naše rasporede, jača imunološki sustav, šalje hormone ugode našim krvotokom i mozgom te nam pomaže da dulje živimo. To neka bude vaše selo, a njegova izgradnja i održavanje je pitanje života i smrti. Hvala.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Helen Walters: Susan, come back. I have a question for you. I'm wondering if there's a middle path. So you talk about the neurotransmitters connecting when in face-to-face, but what about digital technology? We've seen enormous improvements in digital technology like FaceTime, things like that. Does that work too? I mean, I see my nephew. He plays Minecraft and he's yelling at his friends. It seems like he's connecting pretty well. Is that useful? Is that helpful?
Helen Walters: Susan, vratite se. Imam pitanje za vas. Pitam se postoji li lakši put. Govorite o neurotransmiterima koji se spajaju kad komuniciramo uživo, no, što s digitalnom tehnologijom? Svjedočili smo ogromnim digitalnim napretcima kao što je FaceTime i slično. Važi li i to? Mislim, gledam svog nećaka. Igra Minecraft i viče na svoje prijatelje. Čini se da se dobro povezuje. Je li to korisno? Pomaže li to?
Susan Pinker: Some of the data are just emerging. The data are so fresh that the digital revolution happened and the health data trailed behind. So we're just learning, but I would say there are some improvements that we could make in the technology. For example, the camera on your laptop is at the top of the screen, so for example, when you're looking into the screen, you're not actually making eye contact. So something as simple as even just looking into the camera can increase those neurotransmitters, or maybe changing the position of the camera. So it's not identical, but I think we are getting closer with the technology.
Susan Pinker: Neki podaci tek se pojavljuju. Podaci su tako novi da se digitalna revolucija dogodila, a podaci o zdravlju su zaostali. Tako da još učimo, ali rekla bih da bismo mogli poboljšati neke stvari u tehnologiji. Primjerice, kamera na vašem laptopu je pri vrhu ekrana pa kada gledate u ekran, zapravo ne uspostavljate kontakt očima. Nešto tako jednostavno kao što je gledanje u kameru, može povećati te neurotransmitere, ili možda promijeniti poziciju kamere. Tako da, nije isto, ali mislim da se približavamo tehnologiji.
HW: Great. Thank you so much.
HW: Odlično. Hvala vam puno.
SP: Thank you.
SP: Hvala.
(Applause)
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