• Tom Simek got fit at 59 after being diagnosed with osteoporosis and high cholesterol.
• Now 72, he's competed in "American Ninja Warrior" and won medals in the National Senior Games.
• Getting fit has improved his life in many ways, including by giving him a sense of purpose.

At age 59, Tom Simek was out of shape.

The retired building contractor based in Santa Fe had spent his working life prioritizing his family and business over his health. After he was diagnosed with osteoporosis, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea 13 years ago, he decided to make some healthy lifestyle changes, he told Business Insider.

Simek made small changes at first: he stopped working weekends, ate healthier, and started exercising daily.

"It was gradual," he said. First he started walking, then incorporated bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, crunches, dips, and jumping jacks.

"And then I found a sport that I loved to do: track and field," he said.

Now aged 72, Simek has competed on the TV competition "American Ninja Warrior" twice, is sponsored by Senior Planet, a program that encourages older adults to exercise, and works out for about an hour each day. Some days, he spends the hour doing boot camp classes at his daughter's fitness club, while others he does short sprints and weights in his home gym.

In 2012, Simek entered his first National Senior Games, a state and country-wide competition for athletes over 50. Every year since, he has competed in the long jump and the 50-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter sprints, consistently winning medals for his state, New Mexico.

Simek shared four ways getting fit has improved his quality of life.

1) A sense of purpose

Track and field has become Simek's passion. "And if you're passionate about something, then you will look forward to your workouts in order to improve yourself. It gives me a reason to wake up in the morning," he said.

Spurred on by his 12-year-old granddaughter, he also keeps up his training for "American Ninja Warrior," which he appeared on in 2019 and 2022, in case he's chosen to compete in future seasons. He does bodyweight exercises such as pull-ups to maintain his strength, practices gymnastics, and works on his balance.

Having a sense of purpose has been linked to longevity in multiple studies. In one 2019 study by researchers at the University of Michigan, US adults aged over 50 who had a strong sense of purpose were less likely to die within four years.

2) Making new friends

Simek loves that sports help him meet lots of new people. At track and field competitions, "younger people come up to me because they see my age, and say 'you inspire us,'" he said.

And he's made friends across the country at the Senior Games. "I think it's very important, in the senior years, to stay connected with people," he said.

A 2023 study found that older people who had more social interactions were likely to live longer than those who were more isolated.

3) Better mobility

Because he's fit and mobile, Simek can do activities with his grandchildren, whether playing or competing in track and field competitions alongside his granddaughter. This is particularly important to him because he wants to show her the importance of a fit and active lifestyle as she grows up, he said.

Mobility in older age is a predictor of living longer. A 2017 study published in BMC Health Services Research on 1,005 people aged 65 and above still living at home found that the longer it took participants to leave a chair, the greater their risk of dying within the next 11.8 years.

4) Better sleep

"When you're fit, your mind works better, and you sleep better," Simek said.

In a 2021 study published in Experimental Gerontology, people over 65 who were more physically fit — meaning they were able to perform more actions such as standing from a seated position and doing bicep curls — were more likely to have a better health-related quality of life.

And research shows that being physically active is linked to better sleep quality, according to Dr. Charlene Gamaldo, the medical director of Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep.

• David Martin and Harry Shen are chefs from St Vincent's Care, a nursing home in Melbourne.
• The chefs understand that not all nursing homes have the budget, but they hope to raise standards.
• Their efforts come as nations worldwide are facing aging populations.

David Martin can still recall the conversation that changed his career path.

He was 25 and had spent the past decade working in the restaurant and fine dining scene. The hours were brutal — up to 16 hours a day — and he was on the verge of burnout.

His parents brought up the idea of working in a nursing home. They had a cousin who worked in that industry and suggested he try it.

"I told them, 'Why would I want to go to aged care? That's where people retire. My skills will go to waste,'" Martin recalled. Still, with an open mind, he decided to give it a shot.

He hasn't looked back since. Martin, now 35, is an executive chef manager at St Vincent's Care, a nursing home facility in Australia.

By his side is Harry Shen, 39, a senior head chef who also left the restaurant scene to try something different. They share the same vision: to raise the standard of food in aged healthcare.

Apart from working under top chefs, including Donovan Cooke, Shen had also picked up shifts at Australian nursing homes in the past. It was during that time that he noticed frozen food was often the norm.

So when he saw a job posting from St Vincent's for a chef to elevate nursing home food, it stood out.

"This is something I also wanted to do. To change things," he told Business Insider.

A premium offering

With Shen on board, Martin and his team worked during the pandemic to reinvent meal plans at one of St Vincent's healthcare centers in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne. The facility doubles as an aged care home and a hospital.

It's a more premium nursing home option. According to St Vincent's Care's website, a stay at a standard room in the facility costs 171 Australian dollars a night, or around $111 — almost double the basic daily fee for nursing homes in Australia, which is AU$63.57. The room has an ensuite toilet, and residents can access a café, cinema, and hairdressing salon within the facility.

A typical meal plan at St Vincent's is as follows: In the morning, residents are offered a continental breakfast and a tea cake of the day. For lunch, they have a main with a selected sauce, a starch, and two vegetables.

They end the meal with a sweet — warmed apple coconut strudels on some days and a green tea cheesecake on others — then round the day up with an afternoon tea snack and a generous dinner selection.

"We want to break the stereotype that aged care food is just a lump of food on a plate," Shen said.

Cooking for older residents does come with certain considerations. In particular, the chefs have to look out for residents who have dysphagia, a geriatric syndrome that affects swallowing. According to the Mayo Clinic, 10% to 33% of older adults have dysphagia and can face malnutrition as a result.

As such, the chefs provide a range of options for residents with different needs so that everyone — even those who struggle to swallow — can enjoy a hearty meal.

Nursing home food on the world stage

Martin and Shen wanted to show the world that nursing home food can — and should — be just as good as restaurant food.

In 2023, they decided to compete in culinary competitions together. After placing in several local competitions, they were approached to apply for the International Salon Culinaire, one of the world's top competitions for chefs. Previous winners of the competition include Gordon Ramsey and Michael Deane, a Michelin-star chef.

In March this year, the duo competed alongside top chefs worldwide over the three-day competition in London. Their dishes included coconut rice pudding with crème brûlée and seafood paella — food they can serve at a nursing home.

They emerged with two silver medals. But more than the accolades, they hoped that people would focus on the message they were trying to send.

The chefs are well aware that not all nursing homes have the same luxuries of staffing and budgets to prepare premium meals. Still, it's about setting a standard, they said.

"We want to make this industry better for now and into the future for our parents and grandparents to be respected in," Martin said.

"The main thing is the frame of mind. The chef can be creative, whether it's adding a bit more garnish for presentation or baking things in-house rather than buying," he continued.

A graying world

Shen and Martin's efforts come as nations worldwide are graying rapidly. In October, the World Health Organization called for an urgent transformation of care and support systems for older people. They projected that 1 in 6 people will be 60 or older by 2030. By 2050, this number will double to 2.1 billion.

In the US, the aging of the baby boomer generation means that the number of Americans ages 65 and older requiring nursing home care could increase by 75% by 2030, a recent report by the Population Reference Bureau found.

That's where the importance of food comes in.

Dr. Andrea Maier, a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore's Centre of Healthy Longevity, told BI that raising food quality is especially important in nursing homes, where people are often at the final stages of their lives and need nutrition.

"If they don't have an appetite, they're losing muscle mass, and their health is deteriorating. So food needs to be fun." When food is fresh and well-plated, it gives residents motivation to eat, she added. "It's a double positive."

Then there are the emotional impacts of having a good meal.

"When you're in a care home, life is relatively unrushed. Dining is one thing that I think people look forward to other than engagement activities," said Wee Shiou Liang, an associate professor of Gerontology at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

"So, that experience is even more important."

Martin and Shen now collaborate as co-creative directors on menus in St Vincent's homes across New South Wales and Victoria. They also manage and mentor chefs in the region.

Neither chef intends to return to the restaurant scene. Seeing their impact on their residents has moved them to stay.

Working in end-of-life care, Martin said each meal, pastry, or salad could be the last dish their residents eat.

"And that's big to me because if you can give comfort to someone when they're in serious pain, that is a present to them," he said.

"They don't need to remember your name. They don't need to remember the dish. But if at that moment they realize they were at ease and were comforted by you — that's the heart of it."

• Sally Froelich has aged remarkably well. She still golfs three times a week at 95.
• Froelich gave Business Insider some of her tips for staying healthy and happy.
• They include being sociable and doing exercise every day.

Sally Froelich has been talking about aging for a long time. Which makes sense — she's 95.

She credits that focus as part of the reason she has aged so well: she used to host a TV show where people spoke about reaching age milestones.

Froelich, a New Yorker, spoke to Business Insider to share the lifestyle habits she thinks have helped her reach 95.

Be sociable

"The most important part is sociability. Friends are so very important. You need someone that you can confide in, there's always somebody out there that'll listen to you," Froelich said. "And, if things go wrong, you got to make it right. Do unto others as you want them to do unto you."

Professor Rose Anne Kenny, a gerontologist at Trinity College Dublin, thinks that having good friendships is just as important as eating healthily and exercising for longevity.

In a 2023 study of over 450,000 adults in the UK, researchers found that being socially isolated was linked to a 77% higher risk of death in adults aged 37 to 73 over a 12-year follow-up period.

Froelich herself is part of a study — the SuperAger study of people over 95 from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which looks for inherited factors that could help slow aging.

Do some exercise every day

Froelich started playing golf when she was 24 and now plays three times a week.

On days she's not playing golf, she's still active.

"I do 10 sit-ups. I do stretches. I lift eight pounds on each hand, and then bend over and lift five pounds on each leg, 20 times each. I walk in place very quickly," she said. "And I ride my bike, not as often as I should. But I do something almost every single day."

Experts agree that exercising regularly is one of the best things you can do for healthy aging, especially strength training.

Nathan K. LeBrasseur, director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic, previously told BI that spending 3% of your day exercising, or 30 minutes, can have a "profound impact" on overall health.

Keep busy

"Not everybody can be very athletic, but hopefully, most people can do something to keep busy," Froelich said. "Help people out, do charity work."

She plays canasta and bridge, talks with friends on the phone, and volunteers. After she had cancer, she worked with the American Cancer Society for 38 years to run a Hope Lodge in New York City, where people stay while getting treatment.

She was until recently a board member for a Jewish home for older people, where she redecorated residents' rooms and threw parties for those turning 100.

A 2016 study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience found that busy lifestyles were associated with better cognition in 330 participants aged 50 to 89.

• D'yan Forest is a working comedian at 90, doing gigs in two languages.
• She shared some of her tips for staying fit and funny into her 90s.
• These include having a positive outlook and spending time with younger friends.

It's never too late for a career change — even if you're almost 70.

After a 40-year-long career as a cabaret singer, D'yan Forest, who lives in New York City, became a comedian in 2001. Now 90, she holds the Guinness World Record for Oldest Female Comedian and still performs solo shows in English and French.

"I never thought I'd be a comedian at 90," she told Business Insider. "I make fun of myself and older ladies, and I sing parodies. I'm a little risqué, and the people love it because they can't believe that an older woman still has verve and fun and can say such risqué things."

Forest shared her longevity secrets for maintaining that verve into her 90s.

Keep your mind active

"Being funny keeps my mind working. I change my material every six months, so I'm always learning new things as the culture changes in France or America. What is amazing is that I'm getting better and better every time I perform," she said.

Doing comedy has also helped her look at life with a "fun slant," she said. "It's a mental outlook that keeps me going.

This chimes with what experts have previously told BI: Heidi Tissenbaum, a cancer biology professor who researches healthy lifespans, said that keeping the mind busy is one of the basics of longevity. The authors of a 2023 study on common traits of healthy centenarians recommended staying intellectually active and focusing on the good in life.

Exercise

Forest goes swimming every other day and plays golf three times a week.

"I go out for long weekends, and boy, after the third day, I'm exhausted," she said. "But that keeps me physically active. Not many women my age can walk the golf course like that."

A 2019 study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that adults who exercised consistently into later life had up to a 36% lower risk of dying from any cause over the 20-year follow-up period. The study also found that even starting to exercise in later life is beneficial for longevity.

Eat fresh whole foods

"I just eat pure food, raw vegetables and fruits. I don't like it when food is all artificial. My mother always said during the war, "Eat the fresh fish. Eat the fresh fruit." She wouldn't even cook 'em, just ate them," Forest said.

A 2023 study published in the journal Nutrients on 2,454 participants from China found that eating more fruit and vegetables lowered the risks of cognitive impairment in older age. A 2020 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that US women over 60 who ate more fruit and vegetables were less likely to experience fatigue, poor strength, and illnesses.

Have (lots of) younger friends

Forest goes out for dinner with a different friend every day of the week.

Having a strong community is important for longevity. It may be more important than a healthy diet and regular exercise, said Professor Rose Anne Kenny, chair of medical gerontology at Trinity College Dublin.

"The problem is, when you're 90, that a lot of your friends and family die," Forest said. "And that's why the comedy is good because through that I've met a lot of younger friends who have the same interests that I do."

She's not alone — 102-year-old Janet Gibbs also credits her longevity to having younger friends as well.

• Herlda Senhouse, formerly the second oldest person in the US, died this week at the age of 113.
• She thought lifestyle factors could have contributed to her longevity as well as her genes.
• They included not having kids, eating healthily, and being part of a community.

Herlda Senhouse, born in 1911, appreciated three things about 2024: electric light, indoor plumbing, and having a Black female vice president.

Senhouse, who died at age 113 on Saturday, lived in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She worked as a housekeeper and nanny for white families, and faced racism including being denied the opportunity to study nursing, she told The Telegraph in 2021. Senhouse founded the Boston Clique Club, a group of dancers and musicians who raised money to help educate Black students in Boston.

"I never thought I'd see a Black woman vice president, which is amazing, and I'm so happy," she said.

Senhouse wanted to keep helping others even after she died: she donated her brain to researchers at Boston University, who are studying whether genes help some people live past 100 for the New England Centenarian Study.

As well as her genes, Senhouse attributed her longevity to a few lifestyle factors.

Don't have children to avoid stress

Senhouse often said that the secret to her longevity was not having children, Stephanie Hawkinson, a public information officer for the town of Wellesley told US News and World Report on Monday.

One 2017 study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that people without children didn't live as long as parents, possibly because of the support they received. But Senhouse thought that not having children helped her avoid stress, which research suggests can accelerate aging.

Eat healthily and don't smoke

"I don't smoke or drink. And I don't drink those fizzy waters… no soda. I seldom eat fast food," Senhouse told WBZ News in 2022.

People who followed healthy eating guidelines, including consuming lots of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes, had a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease in a 2023 study. The research involved 119,000 female nurses and male health professionals and was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. These people were also less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise.

Be part of a community

Hawkinson said that Senhouse had a big community of friends, family, and fellow church members.

She also spent lots of time with her best friend, Margaret Robinson, whom she met over 60 years ago. They called each other every day and got their hair and nails done together every two weeks, WBZ News reported.

Researchers carrying out the Harvard Study of Adult Development have found that healthy relationships can lower the risk of dying at any age and help to reduce pain in older age, BI's Hilary Brueck previously reported.

Know when to let go

Do your best to fix issues in your life, but if you can't, let it go, Senhouse told The Telegraph.

Perseverance and focusing on the good things in life are common traits among centenarians, Business Insider previously reported. And longevity researchers who have spoken to over 1,000 centenarians told BI that many centenarians try not to stress about things out of their control.

• Denzel Washington is approaching 70, and he's taking steps to ensure that he ages well.
• For instance, he's almost 10 years sober and has started working out with a trainer, he told Esquire.
• "This is the last chapter — if I get another 30, what do I want to do?" Washington said.

Denzel Washington, 69, knows he's not getting any younger, so he's choosing to prioritize his health.

In an interview with Esquire, the actor — who turns 70 next month — spoke about aging and the steps he's taken to change his lifestyle for the better.

For one, he's approaching a decade of sobriety after having an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

"I've done a lot of damage to the body. We'll see. I've been clean. Be 10 years this December. I stopped at 60 and I haven't had a thimble's worth since," Washington told Esquire.

Wine had been his vice, partially because he had a 10,000-bottle wine cellar added to his house during construction in 1999, he said.

"I never got strung out on heroin. Never got strung out on coke. Never got strung out on hard drugs. I shot dope just like they shot dope, but I never got strung out. And I never got strung out on liquor. I had this ideal idea of wine tastings and all that — which is what it was at first," Washington said. "And 15 years into it: Send me two bottles, and make it good stuff, but just two. And I'd drink them both over the course of the day."

However, he never drank when he was working, he said.

Washington eventually kicked the habit once he realized that it was getting out of hand because he would wake up disoriented, "not knowing what happened."

Apart from giving up alcohol, the "Equalizer" actor is focusing on getting fit and building strength.

His friend, Lenny Kravitz, introduced him to a fitness trainer whom Washington has been working with since February last year.

"He makes the meals for me and we're training, and I'm now 190-something pounds on my way to 185," Washington said. "I was looking at pictures of myself and Pauletta at the Academy Awards for 'Macbeth,' and I'm just looking fat, with this dyed hair, and I said, Those days are over, man. I feel like I'm getting strong. Strong is important."

Part of his desire to adopt a healthier lifestyle is because he wants to live better in his golden years, he said.

"Things are opening up for me now — like being 70. It's real. And it's okay. This is the last chapter — if I get another 30, what do I want to do? My mother made it to 97," Washington said.

In the US, the average life expectancy for males is 74.8 years and 80.2 years for females, per the CDC.

While immortality is still science fiction, there's been a growing interest in longevity and the idea of reversing one's "biological age." Antiaging trends such as IV treatments and red-light therapy are also gaining popularity.

Earlier this year, Alyson van Raalte, a demographer who researches why some people live longer than others, told Business Insider that the length of a person's life is mostly determined by their genes, life circumstances, and things we can't predict.

However, she said that adopting simple habits — including not smoking, exercising regularly, and having a strong social network — can lead to a longer life.

A representative for Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.