Wisdom of aging
Santa Rosa cardiologist's oldest patients teach him lessons of longevity
Joseph Dove, 90, left, chats with Gladys Widdifield, 94, at lunch at Pomposh restaurant, owned by the wife of cardiologist Dr. Sanjay Dhar.
MARK ARONOFF / The Press DemocratPublished: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 3:48 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 8, 2007 at 9:00 p.m.
Staying physically active counts. So does happiness and a sense of humor. And, no doubt, there is something to be said for good genes. But why do some people live a long time and do it well while others do not?
That's the question that intrigues Santa Rosa cardiologist Dr. Sanjay Dhar, who has developed an unscientific way to look for the answer.
When one of his heart patients turns 90, he rewards them with a meal at his wife's Indian restaurant in Santa Rosa, regularly gathering a group over curry pizza and chicken biryani while he takes notes on what they've done to live this long.
"I give them lunch and they tell me their secrets," said Dhar, fussing over his 12 guests at a late-summer lunch as if they were favorite relatives.
This was not your stereotypical group closing in on the century mark. As the Indian-born Dhar gave each arriving guest an undoctorly hug, he raved over their achievements. This one still plays the stock market. This one builds furniture. Plus, they all live independently and "are all leading normal, active, energetic lives," said Dhar.
Of course they all have him, they say, to thank for their hearts, but he said doctors can take only limted credit.
"You're all here because of someone else," he said, lifting a glass of iced tea and gesturing skyward.
But being heavenly blessed is only part of it.
It has a lot to do, he said, "with what they have done for themselves."
The cardiologist's approach is different from what goes on at places like Marin County's Buck Institute, one of the country's premier centers for age research. His is anecdotal. Theirs is done in a lab.
But Simon Melov at the Buck Institute, who co-authored a recent breakthrough study on the effect of exercise on the elderly, agreed that everyone, especially at midlife, welcomes any good news about aging.
"You can be a great 80-year-old or a poor 80-year-old," said Melov. "Some age well and some age badly." Determining what makes the difference, he added, "is something everyone can relate to."
Dhar thinks there are a number of variables.
"My patients like to tell me things like, 'Age is only a number' and 'You are as old as you want to be.' "
So there's attitude. And more.
"Maybe it's their own survival techniques and ways of handling stress better. Maybe they have better defense mechanisms."
Lydia Healer, dressed in a buttery silk blouse and at 88 the youngest at the table, said she and her husband, Sam, age 90, "don't know what the secret is."
"It kind of astounds us that we've lived this long," she confessed. "We meet people a lot younger than we are who seem older. We're reasonably healthy. We still travel. We take vitamins and medications for various physical problems. We have a good life."
The Windsor couple married 41 years ago after both were widowed. He was in the produce business and she was an accountant. She still does all the bill paying and he does the grocery shopping.
Ask Sam what keeps him going and he says, "Better living through chemistry."
Lydia credits her Irish husband's sense of humor. "He makes me laugh every day."
The tendency in health studies, said Dhar, is "always to be looking for things to improve life. But we don't look at what already exists that works."
Being happy and content are both important, he said. "If there is no desire to live, you won't live to be 90."
Gilbert Port, 95, a former San Francisco shoemaker on his second pacemaker, claims he eats "anything I want" and can walk up to 10 miles a day.
His doctor adds, "Gilbert's chronological age is 95, but healthwise his biological age is 65. He acts like someone who might have just retired. He looks nothing like 95. He can arm wrestle me."
Maybe it's the wine, said Port, explaining he was born in Italy and drank wine from the age of 3.
"I drank wine all my life, but I stopped a few years ago."
For medical reasons?
"No" he quipped, "I just got tired of it."
Dhar said none of his patients has followed any health crazes, "no vitamin bottled water or anti-oxidant pills."
As for diet, he said, "They don't eat processed food. And most of them don't eat a lot. I tell them to keep doing it. They've lived to be 90. They must have done something right."
Dhar is 44 -- "the same age as my oldest grandson," said Betty Andrews, 90, a former Navy nurse.
Dhar's own grandparents are in their mid-90s. One lived to 102. Maybe the hope that he has some of their long life genes adds to his fascination.
"Some doctors run from the elderly. I run towards them," he said, admitting his approach is "not very scientific.
"What they have in common could be molecular. I don't know. I'm not doing any genetic tests."
Michael Panas, 93, of Santa Rosa, said, "I don't really feel old. I have some aches and pains and sometimes when I take my morning walk I have to pause and rest."
He lives in the house he and his late wife bought in 1969 and his garden is often featured on home tours.
"I was always doing something in the yard and still do. I guess activity helps a lot, although I did wear out a couple of hips."
He temporarily lost interest in all activities after his wife, Elaine "Honey" Panas, died in 2005.
"But one morning I woke up and said, 'You're crazy. You need to get up and get going.' "
The Buck study on exercise showed that muscle tissue can be rejuvenated at any age.
"We all know that exercise is good for you," said Melov, "but what we didn't know is that when you exercise you are actually rejuvenating your muscles and becoming younger."
Dhar said his special 90-somethings "bounce back faster from surgery than you would think. People half their age can take twice as long."
As to why, again he can only surmise.
"Maybe their body is designed in a different way. Or maybe they have a built-in get-well attitude. They thrive. They don't complain about their health."
Ninety-year-old Joe Dove, retired from the Air Force, another Dhar patient, rented a mobile gym for his home. He wanted to give bench presses a try.
Leaning across the luncheon table, he winked and said, "They say growing old isn't for sissies and I say, 'Thank God.' "
Susan Swartz can be reached at susan.swartz@
pressdemocrat. com.
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