The challenge of Spanish longevity: Live longer and better

Longevity can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as genetics, lifestyle, health and the environment in which the organism lives, says Dr. Débora Nuevo, specialist in Internal Medicine and head of the Longevity and Health Unit. head of the Microbiota Unit at Olympia Quirónsalud. It is not about living longer, but about living them better, she Nuevo highlights.

Life expectancy in Spain has increased, both in men and women, “and we all want to live longer and better,” he points out. «We want to remove the pejorative connotation that aging has, which seems to assume that you have to be worse. Obviously, many functions worsen, but a very good quality of life can be maintained,” said Dr. Nuevo in a Conference Organized by Olympia Quirónsalud and ABC Salud.

Olympia is the new Quirónsalud medical-surgical center in the Caleido Tower, specialized in personalized services for the prevention and recovery of diseases, with a focus on physical, mental and emotional health, divided into three centers: Sport Center, Lifestyle and Medical .

Health systems have improved greatly and the ability of medicine to cure and treat diseases, transforming them into chronic diseases, has made people live longer, says Dr. François Peinado, head of the Men’s Health Service at Olympia Quirónsalud. But, he clarifies, “the big problem our system has is that it is reactive; We treat when the patient is sick. “What we intend with this unit is to give quality of life to those extra years.”

The new Olympia Quirónsalud Longevity Unit is organized into health optimization programs, “because our intention is to optimize the patient’s health to prevent disease.”

In reality, adds Débora Nuevo, “we want to get ahead of the disease” and that “if it appears, it should be as late as possible and in the mildest form.” Likewise, it is about responding to “many patients who, without being sick, are not completely well.” It refers to the fact that not having a certain disease does not mean that you are in your “optimal state of health.”

They are people who feel tired, with insomnia, with digestive discomfort and do not have a specific illness. “All their analyzes or tests are within normal ranges, but there are many more things that can be done for them.” An example is hormonal decline, which begins between the ages of 30 and 35. Menopause and andropause are already addressed in consultations, but “reaching menopause in a good state is not the same as reaching menopause in a worse state.”

“When you fall ill you only have one wish, which is to be healthy,” says Peinado. The good thing is that today “we have tools and the ability through these units to improve quality of life years; We are not saying that you are not going to get sick, but we are going to try to ensure that when you are 80 years old you can walk, do not have fractures, etc. All this can only be achieved through a unit made up of multiple specialists. But you have to think about it at least 15 years in advance.

For Dr. Gema García Gálvez, head of the Women’s Health Service at Olympia Quirónsalud, what must be promoted is lifestyle medicine: “It is the philosophy with which our center was created.” In her case, she continues, «I don’t understand caring for women except from a global, holistic vision. Each case is a specific woman, in a specific stage of life, with a specific personal, work, and relational map. García Gálvez assures that until now health has focused on the symptom, on the disease: “when it hurts, we are arriving late.” For this reason, she is committed to “changing the chip.”

In her case, she continues, “I don’t understand caring for women except from a global, holistic vision. Each case is a specific woman, in a specific stage of life, with a specific personal, work, and relational map.

García Gálvez assures that until now health has focused on the symptom, on the disease: “when it hurts, we are arriving late.” For this reason, he is committed to “changing the chip.”

Thus, says François Peinado, we specialists have often “focused on our own thing and have not seen the patient in a comprehensive way. The objective of this unit is to integrate all this, is to give a complete holistic response to his situation. As this expert says, «we doctors are facing our future. I always say it, I am faced with what is going to happen to me and I often think about what I will be like when I am 85 years old; That’s why I try to make sure it doesn’t happen to my patients.” He recalls that the leading cause of death in the Western world is cardiovascular diseases and they are preventable. «Why don’t we do it? That’s why doctors have to get much more involved.”

For Gema García Gálvez, it is “a paradigm shift in how to care for health, the state of health and well-being of people.” She recognizes that “doctors have been trained in a very organic way, specializing according to systems, reproductive, digestive, respiratory.” In her case, she says, “I am not your typical gynecologist and, furthermore, after completing the master’s degree in Sexology, I go further by addressing sexuality and its connotation in women’s health. “That more humanistic vision is what we are rescuing in these units.”

In this sense, Alfonso Carabel, head of the Nutrition Service at the same center, points out that our lifestyle has changed a lot and that there is a very important factor that is sometimes omitted: stress. Carabel warns that there are many aspects of health that are not normally observed, such as the quality of sleep, the type of sport practiced, key to “muscle mass and, therefore, bone mass in the future,” or ” cardiovascular capacity.

Scientific evidence

In a society in which there are many antiaging gurus and miraculous solutions for aging, this new Unit is characterized by being based on science.

As a specialist in Internal Medicine, Dr. Nuevo has the global ability to evaluate multiple diseases. «We are not talking about specific medicine, to take away the pain and that’s it. This is medicine for the future; It is to establish changes in lifestyle habits for the future and that do not last a certain time. In reality, she-she emphasizes, there is no medication in the world that is more effective than exercise and nutrition in preventing diseases. If we could put them in a pill, they would be the anti-aging polypill. The problem is that we have sometimes become a little comfortable.

The Unit works in a coordinated manner, addressing aspects such as sleep, stress, nutrition, supplementation, hormonal balance, exercise and the emotional-sexual sphere. In addition, it promotes an expert patient who takes responsibility for his or her treatment. It is a joint effort between the doctor and the patient, who must commit to her daily well-being.

Alfonso Carabel points out that his treatments use specific menus and nutritional guidelines for each patient’s objectives, whether they are digestive health, metabolic or changes in body composition. Likewise, he informs patients that sport is essential to improve health and requires time and interest. He highlights that “an informed patient is more aware of the importance of his active participation in the treatment.”

Many times, doctors can foresee health problems and warn patients in time to change their lifestyle. Problems such as erectile or sexual dysfunction often indicate future health problems that can be modified.

Dr. Nuevo highlights that it is not just about treating numbers in analysis, but about improving the patient’s general well-being. Sometimes normal values ​​are wide and people may not feel well even though they are within normal ranges. The Unit carries out exhaustive analyzes and correlates the results to offer a more complete vision.

biological age

The concept of biological age is important, since it measures how aged the organism is at the molecular and cellular level. Knowing biological age allows us to infer susceptibility to diseases related to aging.

Diet and microbiota play a crucial role in this process. The microbiota, made up of millions of microorganisms that live with us, provides benefits and performs vital functions. The interaction between us and our microbiota is bidirectional, and can be restored with prebiotics, probiotics and supplements. Maintaining the balance of the microbiota depends on nutrition and exercise, which is related to longevity.

In older populations, people over 100 years old have a microbiota similar to that of people over 40 years old. Maintaining a young microbiota contributes to living longer and better. It is crucial that patients commit to their diet. Stress control and the emotional sphere are also essential. Stress alters the microbiota, hormonal balance and sleep.

Finally, Dr. Peinado concludes that patients must be proactive in taking care of their health. Dr. Nuevo emphasizes that not being sick is not the same as having the best state of health and she advocates for four P medicine: personalized, preventive, four P medicine: personalized, preventive, participatory and proactive.