Greece. The Oldest People In The World (Episode 6) | Full Documentary

[Music] there is still some to the right of the house in front of her her spouse grigore zaccario scrubs and scours the yard this old man still lives up to principle of work first fun later in the evening as usual he goes to the village cafe at the age of 100 grigoris can still tell a funny joke to his compatriots and measures himself against a visiting scholar come on come on come on okay enough bravo these phenomena have not been properly explained yet there are places of power and healthy longevity all over our planet local spots with record concentrations of so-called long livers my grandma died at 97. her husband's brother died at 107. people like them were always called caracazoids on the island like the bird caracas that lives up to a hundred what is the secret of these places [Music] why do people here live longer than usual to answer these and other questions russian scientists are going to travel all around the world [Music] [Applause] to live long a person should be a creator this gives him vitality and energy [Music] the purpose of this extraordinary expedition is to study the history habits and places of residence of mankind's oldest using the example of the lifestyle of these amazing people we are going to try to figure out the optimal formula for longevity the centenarian rules of life centenarian rules of life greece the hellenic republic this cradle of western civilization today is the center of attraction for millions of tourists from every corner of the world foreign travelers are drawn not only by architectural antiquities and the ruins of the great hellas greece is a country of thousands of islands there are almost one and a half thousand pieces of land on its territory washed by three seas the aegean ionian and mediterranean [Music] my name is murad min labayev i'm a neurophysiologist and i'm 36 years old [Music] the leading researcher of the mediterranean institute of neurobiology marab min has been living and working in france for 10 years over the last three years the scientist has been doing his studies in russia too together with his colleagues from kazan federal university marat tries to unveil the mysteries of the human brain at the moment we know substantially more about human consciousness than before but this is not enough to say exactly what happens to a person as their life declines in other words we still need to do quite a lot of examinations in order to evaluate the process of aging in humans i would like to conduct a series of tests with long livers in order to assess their level of attention the ability to calculate their brain work to evaluate some spatial visual properties of their consciousness in 2014 the average life expectancy in greece was 79 and a half years it puts greece in 17th place in the world's life expectancy indicator but this is not the main thing the country has its own olympus of longevity [Music] a small island of acaria in the aegean sea according to statistics its population lives up to 90 two and a half times more often than in other european countries for some reason there are places on the face of earth where centenarians are concentrated and it seems to me that this indicates that there's something in this place that helps people live longer this may be the composition of the soil water it may be air food social relationships between people [Music] vicaria owes its name to the hero of ancient mythology according to the legend among these misty cliffs hercules buried the body of the fallen icarus excavations by archaeologists testify the first greek settlements appeared on the island in the 10th century bc modern aquarius two towns and 60 villages inhabited by only 9 thousand people [Music] the village of christos is located in the northern part of the island at an altitude of 500 meters above sea level many streets in this village are real mountainous and covered in concrete despite her advanced age grandma joanna takes this incline almost daily [Music] my name is joanna stomachioproyou i was born on july 11 1911. [Music] this little woman is making such earnest efforts not for the sake of some leisured walks the endpoint of her uneasy trip is a local art center [Music] today the most valuable belongings of ioana's life are stored in the center these old weaving looms are still operational my mother was a weaver she had 13 children i was the 10th child in the family and when my mother sat down to sew she would put me in a cradle next to the machine so i grew up next to her workplace until i was four the weaver devoted almost all her life to her vocation the charming long liver never attended any school like many greek women she married her husband late almost at 30. ioanna buried her late husband in 1970 as time went on her 12 brothers and sisters also passed away [Music] and resentment and my problems i was going through all this on the job now i work much less [Music] once my son came and said [Music] and what i should sit on the porch and watch all who pass by no i would rather sit behind the machine it makes me happy [Music] the owana proyou believes that her labor of love is a primary source of her vitality therefore she gladly accepted the offer of her fellow villagers and in 1995 she mastered one more profession teaching in this small workshop the 100 year old weaver teaches anyone who wants to learn her ancient craft [Music] put two fingers here don't be afraid good wow [Music] now put the other arm there inside [Music] there see how it works [Music] the threads intersect and then you pull it over that's all is it difficult to do that no not at all difficult i'm almost 100 years old and i can do it i like to communicate with the youth and many elderly in their 70s are lying in the bed already they dream only about how to get into bed my nurse often says lay down take rest what for when i'm lying i become sick you should move the grandma from the village of christos roches is a typical example of activation longevity and the reasons behind it are what gerontologists from different countries from all over the world are interested in greece athens one of the first to unravel the mystery of the age-related anomalies of vicaria were greek scientists my name is christina jiresovoli i'm a cardiologist at the athens university first hospital and i'm 46 years old in 2009 a group of researchers arrived on the island from the university of athens and the focus of attention of this scientific expedition were almost one and a half thousand elderly inhabitants of vicaria the oldest of them 110 years old [Music] maybe there are some other specificities or specularities differences between the centenarians and other people probably there are some differences according to the volume of physics that have to do with mental health okay and they also do to the more advanced [Music] occurrence of coronary artery disease and stroke because in the korean people we see the cardiovascular decision struggle coming about 80 years later than the general relation so i'm a neurophysiologist and of course i'm really interested in the mental status of the centenarians the mental status is better in the career and elderly people than the mean levels of the european population maybe we have attributed that to the physical activity because they consume omega-3 fatty oils especially for fish oil [Music] since ancient times the water area of the carrier has been famous for its rich hall thanks to this the ancient greeks called the island ichthyosa a fish island however a hundred years ago and 2 000 years ago seafood was part of the daily diet of all greek island inhabitants but only the ikarians demonstrate the miracles of healthy longevity what makes them different from the residents of other greek territories [Music] it must be a genetic but also genetic environmental interaction as well and also their lifestyle habits they like to uh to live more plain lives and they have lack of stress and also it's a it's something that we have lost in the big cities they do have strong family connections they live all together they help each other very much it may be surprising for nowadays that you see people that have a character that they don't care for everyday stress they don't care for [Music] um reasonableness unselfishness and altruism are characteristic features of the inhabitants of the island one of the main traditions of this community is mutual supportiveness until the present during the harvesting of olives private plots are handled by the whole village in turns as a role the aquarians do it at an easy pace [Music] a man should take care of others and think about the good things not only about money you shouldn't love these pieces of paper so strongly worry about it save it competing you should have enough to live and the rest should help other people she is very cheerful her speed of reaction is striking she answers a question almost instantly although for older people it is more natural to think to choose words with her it's not like this an immediate question has an immediate answer and what is more this answer is on the button this long liver from a mountain village demonstrates striking sanity and speed of mental processing there's no better candidate for the first tests so i will show you some jets okay you have to repeat them okay do do like that like that and now like this okay let's do that again [Music] she was tested for the correct repetition sequence of a movement this test looks simple at first glance you can try it yourself it takes just a few tries and then there is some possibility of mistake [Music] the 103 year old woman has successfully passed the opening stage of the test she repeated what she saw three times at the second stage she needs to repeat all the movements from memory [Music] one more okay [Music] okay okay super again [Music] bravo thank you very much without a single mistake without a single miss she did everything she was asked again and again and it seems to me that this is because of the fact that she worked all her life as a weaver that is you need to change threads you need to unravel some nods naturally this requires concentration and memory in spite inspired the fact that she is more than 100 years old she's been training her brain almost constantly neurophysiologist believes that the 100 year old weaver has performed the difficult task thanks to regular practice her creative work is it really in our hands is it possible for an individual to delay the age-related extinction of their abilities imagine such an example a house you built it you need to use it if you want it to last a hundred years if you do not inhabit it or at least warm it up then small cracks will appear here and there and it will begin to break down it seems to me that you have to do the same with the brain it needs to be used to keep its function for a long time perhaps the same can be said about the whole organism what we do not use will eventually atrophy and disappear [Music] very old age is not a drawback for costa spanos to concern himself with on the main scale of events the old man gets bored of the tv so he follows the news in the old fashion way reading newspapers one more hobby of the long liver is reading the great soviet encyclopedia 1977 edition when these volumes left the printing house the long liver from a carrier was well over 60. my name is costa spanos i was born in 1913 i am 101 years old costa spanis was born and has spent most of his life in the onshore town of dilos this town founded at the beginning of the 19th century was once the capital of the island it was a very poor place and a man had to work hard to earn his own bread life was very severe [Music] fortunately i did not starve because we had a small family and we grew food ourselves grapes almonds wheat by local standards costa spanish received a good education after nine years of school he graduated from the greek analog of vocational school specializing in commerce and finance the future long liver even managed to open a small shop he wanted to expand his business but the second world war got in the way we were fighting in albania with the italians on april 6 1941 on a tuesday i was wounded a mortar shell left me without half of my leg the case of costa spanise is really unique injuries fractures major operations deplete body resources and adversely affect life expectancy despite the severe wound this resilient man stepped over the 100 year boundary [Music] i was always getting along peacefully i knew when enough is enough [Music] and most importantly i didn't give way to worries and emotional stresses you must not be distressed my grandfather lived up to 100 years and he always repeated [Music] whatever happens to you even if your house catches on fire do not worry but say there are worse things that can happen this is a man who weighs up his every move and every word he's rational in everything he does he adheres to a strict diet he doesn't smoke or drink [Music] the long liver from de los is attentive to his nutrition he hardly ever eats any meat he avoids fried food in his daily routine there is always room for daytime sleep and working with financial documents the man still helps his children to do domestic jobs but today he is going to do one of the most difficult tests in the history of our project the visual spatial praxis test is quite a different one i had my doubts as to whether he could pass it this test is about consecutive connection of letters and numbers by increasing a1 1b and so on when we started this test the long liver started to put proper connections together in a dash the visuospatial praxis means a person's ability to perform purposeful actions this complex functional system includes a whole set of thinking processes [Music] memory attention orientation forming algorithms from movements in the end the centenarian couldn't quite deliver because of low concentration [Music] for a person who has lived more than 100 years it is not surprising that he simply switched to something else or simply forgot about the main idea of this test the fact that this test has not been passed doesn't mean anything he reads newspapers he communicates with friends he communicates with his relatives with his son but this unfortunately does not exclude the fact that [Music] some issues will still arise but they will come considerably later i want to keep up with everything that happens in this world and i'm not going to die yet because life is a beautiful thing [Music] acharya can really be called an island of long livers in nearly every populated place there is a centenarian and as a rule not just one to see this it is enough just to take a few steps from the porch of costas his neighbor evangelia is now on the threshold of her 100th birthday [Music] my name is evangelii on march 13th i will be 100 years old [Music] this beautiful woman is the same age as the house she lives in her father built it just before ivan galea was born during her childhood life on the island was simple but rough although de los was the island's capital it rather resembled the village i took care of the animals worked in the field after studying at the school i returned to my duties of caring for the garden growing plants and cleaning the house remarkably enough at the age of 99 this old woman lives alone she keeps her household all alone and does not need daily help i don't need help yet i wash my floor my dishes i go to the store do my laundry with god's blessing i get it all done at home sorry i did not have time to sweep the yard before you came where a lot of leaves had fallen the modest dwelling of this long liver shines with cleanliness there are only the bare essentials in these rooms a tv washing machine some holy images in a corner and a few photos on the snow white wall [Music] this is my younger sister we were three sisters one died at 90 years old [Music] according to the classification of the world health organization long-living people are supposed to be those at least in their 90s it turns out that yavan galiya is not the only long living person in the carnava family [Music] my grandmother lived to be 107 years old she walked by herself washed ate [Music] her son had immigrated to america so she always told me without hesitation about how many dollars he sent her and she was 107 years old i want to live to 120 years old it seems like living a long time is a long-standing tradition in nicaragua to review the history of longevity of a particular region is quite difficult the most accessible way is to visit the town cemetery the burial place of the inhabitants of yfdlos is located almost on the seashore [Music] the cemetery is small with about 200 graves however one in three persons here lived into their 90s within half an hour we found three more long livers older than a hundred years born in 1907 died in 2010 but this is not the oldest long liver in this cemetery [Music] the oldest person in this coastal cemetery was this man [Music] he died at the end of the last century his tombstone says stefanus colombo died at 104 years specifying the exact age is not the only feature of greek burial the everlasting deficit of land on the islands gave birth to an unusual tradition [Music] three years after a person has died they are dug up the grave then passes on to relatives the only way to avoid this is to redeem the land in advance but land is expensive in reality there should be many more graves of centenarians from eukarya the historian and archaeologist katsaras femistokolis graduated from the university of athens since he was a student he has had an interest in the past of his native land icaria has been passed from hand to hand since the roman empire venetians genoise byzantines and just pirates finally the turkish conquerors living on the coast was unbearable the aquarians abandoned their houses and went high into the mountains therefore for a long time this island was considered uninhabited in the mountains everyone had to work hard people cleared the forest cut down the rocks faded everything together they hung out together the first roads on the island appeared only in the 60s until then everyone including the elderly used to walk i think this is difficult life embedded in all icarians a natural health and longevity the secret of which everyone is now looking for [Music] the realm of a calm level life tourist fever bypass this plot of land therefore the local population can afford a siesta and a special attitude to time these people rarely look at their watches even less often they arrive somewhere on time on the island they joke the icarians live very long because they forget to die [Music] my grandma died at 97. her husband's brother had 107. on the island such people were always called caracazoids like the bird caracas that live up to 100 years translated into english caracas means crow in the current capital of the island the town of agyos karikas another greek caracazoid is getting prepared to celebrate his 105th birthday my name is georgius casiotis i'm 104 years old giorgious cassiotis is not an ordinary aquarian almost all of his conscious experience he's been in high-end positions official in the ministry of finance in the war i quickly rose to the rank of captain of the cavalry [Music] even in retirement this man continued to lead people for a long time he was the head of various public organizations today the long liver is still the head in his own house [Music] his wife is 27 years younger than her husband the 80 year old gyorgius once conquered her with his wisdom and thoroughness of his thoughts and opinions [Music] i have a good life i'm beside my beloved wife she takes care of me everything is fine with me [Music] how old do i feel [Music] well i don't feel like 50 of course because i'm not in some flipping age what is worse my vision has deteriorated i have a cataract i'm going to have an operation sooner length to form opacity is the only ailment of this century-old man and the disease almost became an obstacle to the next research of our program the fact is that most of the intellectual tests are written they require good eyesight [Music] we took the montreal test which allows us to assess drawbacks in the cognitive field but due to the fact that this elderly person is already developing cataracts we asked him to name as many words starting with the same letter in one minute as possible a good result for a middle-aged educated person is from 9 to 15 words grapes sabotage more more guard [Music] bravo the 104 year old man stepped over the boundary of middle age long ago nevertheless he has shown a good result to be able to concentrate on this to pick up what is appropriate from memory yes among among these words there were two actual names but i think this is excusable for his age besides after the minute passed he gave a few more words within 10 seconds financier georgia casiotas has always dealt with figures he chooses his words carefully and thoroughly experiments made by gerontologists confirm solving logical problems on a regular basis is an effective way to combat senile dementia [Music] an experiment was conducted where a group of elderly people was divided into two parts one part one group they just lived as they used to watching tv taking walks looking out the window the second group had to solve some tasks every day after some time a test was conducted to track their cognitive function that is the ability to analyze count think of something mental and physical activity gives senior citizens extra years of life moderation and a calm attitude in times of turmoil and a measured rhythm help to avoid stress what other components of longevity can be found on this unusual island [Music] the air here is clean true optimists live here [Music] above all things i miss our festivals with full tables dancing and singing it is no coincidence that the metropolitan long liver has collected the main national habit of the aquarians for hundreds of years his compatriots have lived under the principle that says holidays and fun are never enough pay attention people wish each other the same thing at every holiday long life it's very symbolical for this island it has been estimated if you add together all religious and secular celebrations on the island you will get a fantastic figure 250 days a year back in the old days things were like this people worked all week in the fields many kilometers away from home and on holidays they gathered together ate drank and had fun people would leave their problems at home and forget about their troubles and stress these folk festivals are not just an occasion to have fun and relax they are a real form of social support for example all the meals for these tables are a joint effort and are handed out to everyone including the poor the aquarians eat abundantly but they use or consume many natural products which are all about fiber this is volume but with regard to energy it is not overeating in other words after eating a salad a natural green food we fill the stomach's volume the akari inhabitants call their own meal system a foundation for longevity [Music] 250 kilometers away from this island in the greek capital athens works a man who knows all about the mediterranean diet and its icarian varieties [Music] my name is dimosan espanagotakos i'm a professor of biostatistics of and epidemiology of nutrition at harukopiu i'm 47 years old since 2007 professor panna yotakus has studied the particularities of the diet of the greek island's old timers the ambitious goal of this large-scale project is to calculate the so-called mediterranean code of successful longevity [Music] in the medi-study we have enrolled approximately 2 700 older adults living in 18 mediterranean islands and the major goal of the study is to find determinants of successful aging of living longer but with better quality of life under the context of the medici study we evaluated dietary habits dietary behaviors recent epidemiologic studies have revealed that one of the most important factors of achieving lower cardiovascular disease rates and cancer for more than seven years scholars from athens were peeking into the dishes of the island's inhabitants and then they compared gastronomical data from different regions it was discovered that there are no unique products that would suit the role of the youth elixir in ikaria the key point is that the centenarians eat much less than their fellow countrymen what we have to do just to live longer what do you think it has been estimated that this diet was approximately 1 500 to up to 1 800 calories per day we have to follow a diet close to approximately 2000 calories or less to eat more vegetables greens salads cereals to avoid pasta to avoid meat to avoid sweets we have to eat at least five times per day small portions this will would help our metabolism to act better also we have to include to our lunches water we need plenty of water and finally in my opinion we have to take back to our agrofood industry instead of the industry of the food markets [Music] the aboriginal icarian gregorius zachariah whiles away his life in the company of the wife in 2014 this elderly couple celebrated their 62nd anniversary together at their wedding the groom was already about 40. [Music] my name is grigor zechariah i am the son of philip and yanula i'm 101 years old grandpa grigoris is the oldest resident of the mountain village of mandria he is 19 years older than his wife from his youth this man has earned a living by doing simple labor he still doesn't like to sit twiddling his thumbs i don't do anything special i always take away the garbage myself sometimes i go harvest olives in the past i had to grub along attend the garden raise poultry i also was handling medals selling charcoal i did everything the old timer's daily routine has not changed for decades he wakes up at 8 in the morning has a light breakfast does household chores an inescapable item of grigoris evening program is to visit the village cafeteria that lies a kilometer away from his home this man has extraordinary energy for his age i mean to see a man sweeping the yard when he is over 100 years old is dumbfounding then later in the cafeteria he sits in the thick of it all listening to what he's being told he takes part in the conversation keeps it up he continues the conversation he streams it the cafe is a must all the village news is discussed there important decisions are taken [Music] it's astonishing how this centenarian man still prefers to be in the center of social life although this year's long custom once almost cost him his life [Music] i had been by our cafe for quite a time talking i was tired and lost my focus when i was crossing the street a car hit me [Music] the accident occurred in 2013 as a result of the accident the long liver received fractures to both legs as a rule at his age such traumas lead to disability [Music] within just a year the 100 year old man completely recovered from what had happened today his solid health is just remarkable [Music] so naturally i wanted to find out about his muscle tone and his case just came to hand he is strong even today he is really strong despite all of his 100 years i suppose that his biological age is considerably less well perhaps that of a 70 year old of course age is taking its toll but i always say while everything works life is beautiful we can have fun the high mountain village of mandria is the last point of this scientific journey through ikaria after acquainting himself with five super long livers the russian scientist is ready to wrap up our expedition the first thing is time in ikaria they have a special attitude towards time a clock is not an important thing in a house the carrions live steady going and on an even keel they forget about time and time repays that thus hasten without hurrying the second thing is the food try to eat more vegetables and green food food which is rich in cellulose try to leave the table without eating too much and stay a little hungry and the most important thing is your mind train it read socialize learn something new regardless of your age use it to the full and then it will serve you for a long time the expert has made his conclusions the search for the recipe of longevity continues the next stop on our program is the world record holder for the number of long livers [Music] japan [Music] you

Channel: Science

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Rating: 4.9369526 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, science, centenarian rules of life, how to live to 100, centenarian in greece, greece centenarian, longevity, old age, longevity diet, how to live longer, live longer, how to be healthy, long life, science of aging, health science, healthiest diet, why do we age, how to live forever, reverse aging, slow aging, education show, live to 100, live long, extend life, how to live 100 years, stop aging, aging, how to stop aging

Id: erSmSrLeIvQ

Length: 47min 6sec (2826 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 04 2021