Healthy Insights From Japan's Oldest Physician

Image credit: jiyu

If you asked most people what make them healthy, they are likely to reply: eat well, sleep well and exercise! Any doctor would agree with that, unless if that doctor was Shigeaki Hinohara who sees that there is more to the equation.

Now 103 years of age, Hinohara is one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators. He is currently working at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo where he has been healing patients and teaching medicine since 1941.

Living Long, Living Good was the name of the book Hinohara published that sold over 1.2 million copies. In his book and throughout his life, Hinohara has encouraged others to live a long and happy life, not only by taking healthy diet or exercising alone but also by “feeling good” and grateful. He believes that doctors are role models for their patient. And for that, Hinohara has maintained a healthy lifestyle by eating less and working as if he’s 30 years old.

For decades, his daily breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee, a glass of milk and orange juice mixed with a spoon of olive oil. He recommended olive oil as a remedy that helps maintain a healthy and young looking skin. ”To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff” he said. “I take two stairs at a time, just to get my muscles moving”.

The renowned physician believes that having fun is the best way to forget pain. Music and animal therapy, he said, is are good start. He give example of how a child with a toothache forgets the pain as soon as he or she start playing with other children. Hinohara, hence, have encouraged many hospitals to cater those basic needs of patients, starting with St. Luke Hospital that responded by organising music and animal therapy as well as art classes.

Hinohara also emphasized on planning and time management as integral parts of a healthy lifestyle. He gives around 150 lectures a year to elementary school and business people, yet that never hampered him from performing his duty as a doctor.

The life of anyone who has survived for a century must be full of major incident and Hinobara is not an exception. On March 31, 1970, the 59 years old Hinobara was on-board a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka, when the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. He was held hostage and spent four days handcuffed to his seat in 40-degree heat. The incident, nevertheless, hasn't traumatized him. "As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slows down in a crisis."

Despite his age, Hinohara has no plans to retire anytime soon. When ask why, his argument was that the current retirement age of 65 was set fifty years ago when the average life expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years of age. Today, he said, most Japanese live up to 85 years old and within two decades around 50,000 people will be over the age of 100.

"It’s wonderful to live long", he said. "Until you are 60 years old, it's normal to work for your family and seek after your goals", he added. "But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it".

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