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People tend to think that nothing is to be done about ageing. However, the manner and speed of aging is flexible, in which our environment plays an important role. Aging is the result of a mismatch between ‘old’ genes and ‘modern’ setting. It’s in our genes to want to eat much and to save our energy. This behaviour used to be beneficial to our survival, but nowadays it provides many aging problems.

On 22 November 2013 David van Bodegom gave a presentation ‘Be smarter than your genes to stay healthy while aging’ at TEDxLeiden.

Artists had a similar life expectancy when compared to the elite, even though they belonged to the social middle class of that time in the Low Countries. Creative activities are known to enhance health via different mechanisms, such as reducing stress, lowering blood pressure and chronic inflammation. These mechanisms are all known to be involved in the ageing process. Hence, Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute studied the historical life expectancy of various groups of artists in the Low Countries to test whether they enjoyed an increased life expectancy. They compared the life expectancy of more than 12,000 composers, writers, poets, sculptors and painters born between 1700 and 1900, to the elite of that time in the Low Countries (the Netherlands and Belgium of today).

Artists born before 1850 had a similar life expectancy at age 50 when compared to the elite of that time. Only painters had a lower life expectancy than the elite, which is most likely due to their exposure to toxic materials.

From 1850 onwards, composers and writers had a lower life expectancy when compared to the elite. However, painters now enjoyed a similar life expectancy as the elite. The reversed observations for artists born after 1850 could result from changes in the living environment during that time.

The results were published in PLOS ONE on January 8th. Click here for the article.

Fereshta Mirzada, Anouk S Schimberg, Frouke M Engelaer, Govert E Bijwaard, David van Bodegom, Rudi GJ Westendorp en Frans WA van Poppel. Arts and ageing; life expectancy of historical artists in the Low Countries.

Hej hej!

This high-pitched greeting was the single most heard Swedish expression during our study trip in Stockholm. The Swedish would greet us this way in the supermarket and cafés, but also at official meetings. We soon integrated the ‘hej hej!’ in our own conversations, which made them sound so much more cheerful.

A short introduction: I’m a Dutch (basic) physician and master student at Leyden Academy, participating in the one-year international master’s programme ‘Vitality and Ageing’ in Leiden, the Netherlands. After a trimester on gerontology (social and biological aspects of aging) and geriatrics (medical aspects of aging), we had a spring break before entering our third and final trimester on healthcare structure. As a delegation from China, Mexico and the Netherlands, we travelled to Sweden during this break to learn about their health care system and compare it to our own. The timing of the trip made it a perfect introduction to our upcoming courses ‘structure and financing health care’, ‘models of care’ and ‘governance’. The only minor drawback was the fact that we travelled north at the end of winter…

So what did we learn about Swedish health care?

Swedish registries
We gained knowledge on their health care structure when visiting Social Styrelsen and Vårdanalys: two government agencies, the former collects, compiles and analyzes data from national registries and develops standards with the information gathered. The latter is doing more or less the same, but then from a patient and citizen’s perspective, aiming at strengthening their position. As we got to know, the Swedish have many registries. This is possible since every citizen has an identity card with a PIN (personal identity number). Showing this PIN card is obligatory before you can make use of health services and this way, all actions are automatically registered and saved in databases. Their health data registers include the ‘national patient’ (on hospital admissions), cancer, medical births and pharmaceutical registers.

Visits
We also visited the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, where we learned about current problems in the Swedish system and developments in for instance technology. We were welcomed in the Aging Research Center, where we were updated on pharmaceuticals in dementia and multimorbidity. Our lasts visits were more clinically orientated. We received an inspiring tour in Silviahemmet, a day care and education institute for people with dementia, where, amongst others, we were introduced to different ways in which you can (and should) approach a demented person.

Lastly, we visited two academic hospitals, the Akademiska sjukhuset in Uppsala and the Karolinska hospital in Stockholm. During these visits, we learned about the ‘physical activity on prescription’ program, which literally makes people move on doctor’s orders. We also learned about the Uppsala initiative ‘doctors on wheels’, where a physician and nurse visit elderly at home when acute care is needed, to prevent many hospital admissions. Striking were also the ‘doctor’ tags, and the special ward for people with confusion.

Stockholm sightseeing
The Swedish are extremely nice and friendly people: their hospitality was without boundaries, and we were welcomed with fika (coffee and sweets) at every visit. Of course, we saw some of Stockholm too; we visited the beautiful Stadhuset (city hall), took nice walks (during which small pebbles – which were on the streets to prevent icy slips- would always end up in our shoes), had lunch in a greenhouse on one of the islands, and went to a Jazz club to enjoy live music. Our hotel was a boat, so the soft rocking made up for the somewhat uncomfortable beds after a couple of (very expensive!) beers. And we sampled traditional foods (oh yes, we tried elk, cooked beetroots and pickled herring). Thanks to my great group of fellow students, this trip, besides being educational, was a lot of fun.

In summary: a broad vision of Swedish health care and culture, and although winter was still showing its tail, the sun was with us the whole time, which made it a great, inspiring trip!

Hiltsje Heemskerk

People don’t normally associate dance and old age with each other. Even now, while people are living longer, it’s still mostly young dancers who are on stage.
The talents of the older person, and the power intrinsic to this specific phase of life are insufficiently recognised and are not made use of by society. The prevailing images of older people, their ability and even their longings need to be transformed not only in dance, but in science and health care as well.
Starting with professional dance, and with partners from health care, science and the business, the Act Your Age Festival aims to overturn the current view of old age. The three day festival offers evocative dance productions with older performers, lectures from top scientists and European opinion leaders, and workshops from various experts on aging. And, of course, the older person will be at the centre of the festival as the expert from the university of life.
People from various disciplines will be brought together in Maastricht, barriers will be broken down and new insights will be acquired. Be inspired by unorthodox alliances, put the festival days in your diary:12-14 December 2013, Maastricht, the Netherlands.

The VITALITY! programme of Medical Delta convened from 31 October and 1 November 2013 a two day workshop at the Delft Art Centre to facilitate the conception of trans-disciplinary project concepts for the impending new European Grant mechanisms. The workshop was opened by Professor Huib Pols, Rector of Erasmus University. During these two days 35 participants of the Medical Delta academic centers as well as representatives of SME’s took part in an orchestrated co-creation process after having been inspired by the needs of society and the opportunities of the application of cutting edge science.

Fleshed out proposals were presented three weeks later to a panel consisting of Professor P. Hogendoorn, Dean of LUMC; Professor E. Voûte, Dean of Industrial Design; Professor R. Westendorp, Medical Delta Vitality Programme Director and Mr J. Wiersinga of the company Silverfit. The event was judged by the participants to be very productive and successful, they particularly valued the opportunity to network across a broad spectrum of disciplines.

The focus on vitality (defined as: getting ambitions and goals which fit the stage of life of the individual and activities towards achieving these) meant that the emphasis of the workshop was to achieve consumer-centric proposals aligned to the objectives of the new European programmes building on the complementary scientific competencies present. The participants had been selected with this aim in mind. The programme consisted of short pitches from the participating scientists of divers disciplines to inspire the discussion sessions. This comprised of contributions of bio-medical sciences, industrial design, ICT and health, health and cognitive psychology,
health economics and in addition, information was presented on the new European programmes and how to forge academic-private partnerships productively.

The five project concepts that were presented to the panel had the following emphasis:
– ‘Personalised’ cancer diagnosis in particular for older patients and
tailored decision making
– Virtual reality for engagement of lonely older citizens
– Self management of joint conditions
– Evidence-based integrated primary care
– History book/online story telling

For more information, please contact Frans van der Ouderaa (vanderouderaa@leydenacademy.nl) or Lonneke Baas (Lonneke.baas@tudelft.nl).

From November 20^th to 22^nd the first edition of the Medical Delta ECE Innovation Challenge was held at the Rotterdam Science Incubator. The challenge is created by the Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship in order to give young students the exiting opportunity to sample the thrills of becoming young entrepreneurs. During a 3-day boot camp motivated and creative teams were asked to develop a solution to a challenging question, presented by the VITALITY! Programme of Medical Delta: How can we encourage and assist the older generation to get the most out of life, and continue to make a contribution to society, despite disabilities?

The challenge was introduced by Professor Rudi Westendorp from Medical Delta-VITALITY! and Xen Buijs from Esri. During the boot camp the teams were given  inspiring talks by Thomas Blekman, lecturer of the Erasmus Center for Entrepreneurship and Anne-Marije Buckens, entrepreneur of 2013 with her company 50Company, which assists the 50+ population to get new jobs adequate for their skills and interests. A further source of inspiration was the recent Medical Delta report Shades of Grey: a market research study on the opinions, needs and desires of the 55+population group.

Experts of the vitality and entrepreneurial field assisted the nine teams from three Dutch universities (Tu Delft; Tu Eindhoven; Erasmus University) to develop their ideas. At the end of the boot camp each team presented a 3-minute pitch to the jury, formed by Frans van der Ouderaa (Medical Delta-VITALITY!), Xen Buijs (Esri), Jochem Cuppen (Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship), Wim Naaije (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and HendrikJan van Katwijk (BraintrainerPlus).

The jury awarded Michelle Corten (Tu Delft Industrial Design) and Anne Hermans (Tu Delft Biomedical Engineering) the ECE Innovation Challenge 2013 prize for their concept FLEX NEST. Flex Nest is a start-up that helps the ‘empty nester’ generation to lease space that has become available due to the offspring flying the nest, to young entrepreneurs who need flexible space for their business. The added benefit of this arrangement is a degree of intergenerational contact. The jury was unanimous in their view because of the originality of the concept, the fact that it could be executed almost immediately and the potential for social contacts between generations.

The judges awarded the concept Extended Family from TU Eindhoven (Laura van den Broek and Sten Verbruggen) the second place, and Sharing & Caring from TU Delft (Jorien Cousijn and Piet de Vries) the third place.

Death rates among middle-aged and older people are higher when the economy is growing than when it’s heading for recession, reveals a long term analysis of the economic cycles of developed countries, published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. But increased levels of work stress and traffic accidents are unlikely to fully explain these trends, suggest the authors.

Life expectancy in the developed world has continued to rise, largely because of the reduction in old age mortality, say the authors. Long term economic growth is an important factor in maintaining this trend, because “wealth creates health,” they add.
As many countries are not only in recession, but also increasing the proportion of elderly people in the population, the authors wanted to know what impact this might have on life expectancy.

They therefore analysed the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita—an indicator of national economic health—of 19 developed countries in Europe, Scandinavia, North America and Australasia between 1950 and 2008.
They then plotted the GDP figures against the numbers of deaths among 40 to 44 year olds and 70 to 74 year olds over the same period. Over the long term, an increase in GDP was associated with a fall in death rates in all 19 countries, but the economic cycles of relative boom and bust told a different story.
When economies were expanding, death rates increased for both middle aged and older people, but they fell when economies were heading for recession.
On average, for every 1 percentage point increase in GDP, death rates rose by 0.36% among 70-74 year olds, and by 0.38% among 40-44 year olds. The effect on women of the same age was similar, but much smaller, rising by 0.18% among those in their 70s and by 0.16% among those in their 40s.

The authors speculate about the possible explanations for the figures, includingincreased job stress, which would not affect older people, and increased air pollution, which is known to go up when economies are thriving, but which doesn’t explain the gender differences in the figures. Unhealthy lifestyles and road traffic accidents increase when economies are in good health, but are unlikely to fully explain the trends.
But changes in social support may exert some influence, they suggest, as higher employment could mean less time for informal care-giving to older people, a factor that is worth exploring further in view of the lack of evidence to substantiate this theory.

Click here for the abstract.

If you understand aging, you can change it!

What?
People tend to think that nothing is to be done about ageing. However, the manner and speed of aging is flexible, in which our environment plays an important role. Aging is the result of a mismatch between ‘old’ genes and ‘modern’ setting. It’s in our genes to want to eat much and to save our energy. This behaviour used to be beneficial to our survival, but nowadays it provides many aging problems.

Why?
David van Bodegom works as an assistant professor at the Leyden Academy, a knowledge centre in the field of vitality and ageing, and teaches at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). During his PhD research on an evolutionary explanation of our long post-reproductive lifespan in Ghana, Africa, he became intrigued by the variety and flexibility of aging.
Elderly Ghanaians enjoy a high status and are active and involved in their society. Physically, they have blood sugar and cholesterol levels of 18-year-olds, a BMI of 18.5. Age-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are practically non-existent.
David decided to devote himself to research on aging, declining to become a practicing physician; ‘I would always have the idea that people would come to see me too late’. He is fascinated by the idea that on the one hand healthy aging is as simple as ‘eat less and sit less’ and that on the other hand behavioral change proves to be so difficult. Billions are invested in angioplasty, stents, operations and drugs, while in principle, we know how we can reach the age of 85 without diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
He does not believe in doctors prescribing people how to age. They can determine their aging processes by adapting their environment in such a way that they automatically make healthier choices. If your everyday routine is good, healthy choices are made effortlessly, and there is room for the occasional indulgence and pleasure. Healthy aging is not only easy, but can be fun too!

When?
Friday 22 November 2013, 13.00-22.00 hrs.

Where?
Meelfabriek, Oosterkerkstraat 16, 2312 SN Leiden

Background
Organizations are constantly in need of new insights and innovative ideas to deal with challenges they face. The Innovation Challenges is a crowd-sources platform where students, startups and professionals develop ideas and solutions for problems companies, institutions and governmental organisations encounter. Next to solving challenges for organisations, the goal is to stimulate new startups which bring the solutions to market.

This year’s challenge
This year, the cases for the ECE Innovation Challenge are provided by Medical Delta and Esri. Medical Delta proposes the challenge of developing an idea, product or service to give an answer to the following question: How to inspire the older generation to get the most out of life and to continue making a contribution to the society?From 2013, the age at which someone is entitled to general old-age pension (Aow) will increase gradually. The Rutte government wants to raise the Aow age to 66 years in 2018 and to 67 years in 2021. The move is necessary as increasingly fewer employed people bear the costs of the Aow scheme. But what if people on pensionable age would remain productive? Medical Delta intends to support the older generation by encouraging individuals to achieve realistic ambitions based on their own abilities and self-management. Medical Delta has conducted research focused on four domains: work, self-management, housing and environment and social connectivity. Results let us see that the number of elder people who are productive is growing. Elder people are willing to remain productive under certain circumstances such as working fewer hours and by taking responsibility of their own health. Can you develop an idea, product or service for this purpose?

Timeline

• 11 November: deadline for sending in your proposition (PDF file max.10 MB) to eic@erasmus-entrepreneurship.nl.
• 13 November: a max. of 30 persons/teams (2-4 persons) will be selected for the bootcamp.
• 20-22 November: bootcamp (applying can only be done upon availability on 20-22 November).
• 22 November: announcement of winning team, which will be awarded with 2.500 euro.

Click here for more information and to apply.

The ECE Innovation Challenge is an initiative of Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship

Hello I am Thijs, a 75-year old former flower bulb grower and the new face of Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing. Very often you can find me on a tennis court or at the gym.

On 11 November 2013 Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing celebrates her fifth lustrum. From that day, my face will decorate the communication activities of Leyden Academy for a year. So I will see you soon.

Best regards,

Thijs