Recently on the series Body and Brain overhaul I had opportunity to work with personal trainer Christian Ennor. His story is very typical of what most PT’s, studios and gym owners experience in their business. Thanks to the Personal Training Academy and Christian the segment highlighted the reasons so many struggle to succeed and why we have a high turnover rate of Health professionals in our industry. The following article will identify these key findings.

When we talk about ‘longevity’, what we are really referring to is a delaying of the aging process. Aging is an unavoidable process of nature, but we now know that the rate of its development is variable. The anti-aging arena is now a big business – spending in this area is projected to reach a whopping US$42 billion in 2007. We are now constantly bombarded with marketing messages about anti-aging creams and anti-oxidant tablets and other purported longevity enhancing pills and potions. However, do any of them really work? How much of an influence is our lifestyle on our longevity?

What builds resilience and how can we age-proof our bodies and brains?

Let me tell you a couple of short stories before I delve into the answer.

Madame Jeanne Calment died at 122. Her secret for longevity was complex, but included a kilo of chocolate a week, and never wearing mascara, as she laughed till she cried each day of her life. When she was 90, a lawyer, himself only 47, offered her F2500 a month for her apartment, payable until she died, at which point he would possess the property. He never did, and his widow carried on paying for decades until Madame Calment died.