Our Sept 2006 cover

Our second annual health issue is all about how to live long and at the same time, to live well. Just like it is said, “War is too serious a business to be left to generals alone,” our health is too important to be left in our own hands. In an age of information overload, individual health is often at the mercy of hit and trial experiments or quick fix formulas. In order to get any benefit from advances in medical sciences and research, we need advice from the experts about managing health and lifestyle concerns.

But along with doctors, nutritionists, dieticians and exercise specialists, some of the best tips on how to live long and live well, come from those who have been able to do it themselves.

One of the most exciting sections in this special health issue is a meeting with some of India’s ‘super-old’. India has a staggering 1.5 million centenarians. We interviewed some of them to learn the secrets of their longevity. The centenarians we met had an appetite for life. They were all alert, active and refused to think of themselves as ‘old’ or ‘aged’. Gerontologists are trying to study the life patterns of those who live well past 100 years to see if there are any lessons that the rest of us can learn from.

But we have to realise that none of the centenarians faced the kind of stressful environment that India’s urban professionals do today. The change in India’s living and working patterns has led to an explosion of lifestyle diseases like cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart and respiratory problems. For the first time, more Indians—53 per cent—are dying of these diseases than conventional illnesses. As life expectancy rises, Indians have the opportunity to live long but are selling themselves short due to bad health habits.

Our cover package, put together by Deputy Editor Damayanti Datta, is a comprehensive guide on how to manage the demands of a modern worklife and at the same time, pay that much-needed attention to health.

As the oldest of our centenarians, 127-year-old Habib Mian of Jaipur, whose teeth have fallen and grown back three times, says, “You treat the body well, the body treats you well, too.” Simple wisdom worth remembering.

Index