CLEAN LIVING AND A LONG LIFE

Better medicine, an emphasis on clean living and spirituality are all contributing to making older Americans the healthiest humans at their age in the history of the world, argue two UC Davis human-development scholars in a new book.

“What jumps out at you, after reviewing all the studies, is that people who watch their nutrition, avoid toxins like cigarettes or alcohol in excess and who exercise are living long, healthy lives,” says Carolyn Aldwin, co-author of Health, Illness and Optimal Aging: Biological and Psycho-social Perspectives (Sage Publications).

Traditionally, people who study healthy aging have said the key ingredients to a long life include maintaining good physical health, being active mentally, having a zest for living and being integrated into a supportive community of family and friends with regular social activities. However, an essential variable not previously recognized in medical models for aging gracefully is the importance of spirituality—through organized religion or other means of inner strength, such as meditation, Aldwin and co-author Diane Gilmer say.

In the book, Aldwin, a specialist in adult development and aging, and Gilmer, a public-health nurse and gerontologist, examine a large array of national studies that have analyzed how aging affects health and illness.

“We’re finding that people are living a much longer time with fewer disabilities,” Gilmer says. Thanks to medical advances, people are recovering from illness and injury more quickly with fewer long-term health problems. In general, people are physiologically 10 to 15 years younger than their parents were at the same age.

But Gilmer and Aldwin also saw a troubling class and educational divide. People with more resources are able to find the leisure time to exercise regularly, pay for smoking cessation classes or afford more expensive health treatments, for instance. And college-educated Americans are more knowledgeable about good health habits and tend to be more motivated to adopt them.

They also noted several health risks that are on the rise, including obesity (leading to diabetes, heart problems and cancer), higher levels of divorce (breaking down support networks), delayed child-bearing (resulting in an increased incidence of breast cancer and hypertension) and anxiety (which affects cardiovascular health).

“Highly anxious women who don’t work outside the home have an eight-fold risk of sudden death,” Aldwin said.

SAFTER BREECH BIRTHS

A study at UC Davis Medical Center has found that mothers are better off scheduling the C-section because a vaginal breech delivery can be dangerous to the infant. “It’s been debated for some time which type of delivery is safer,” said William Gilbert, professor and vice chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC Davis Medical Center and lead author of the study. “And what we found is that no breech baby should really be delivered vaginally.”

Gilbert’s research examined more than 3.2 million births in the state of California from 1991 to 1999, which included 100,000 breech presentations (3 percent). The majority of women underwent C-sections, but 4,952 women delivered vaginally. All infants included in the study were of normal birth weight and did not have birth defects.

Previous studies had found that vaginal breech deliveries were probably not safe, but Gilbert further refined his group. “We know that first babies are a little more difficult to deliver than second, third and fourth babies,” said Gilbert. “Other studies found that infant mortality increases with vaginal breech delivery, but we found that this risk is significant only if it is the mother’s first baby.” But in all cases, babies were more likely to be injured during a vaginal breech birth.

He added, “I hope this study will put a nail in the coffin of those arguments that say we need to do vaginal breech deliveries.”

BIGGER BOOK BILL

Average annual cost of books and supplies for a UC Davis student (figures are provided by the UC Office of the President).

Alumni, be glad your textbook-buying days are over. Costs have risen steeply in recent years—considerably faster than other goods and services (from $165 in 1970 to $1,162 in 2003, compared to other goods, which went from $165 to $781, according to the Consumer Price Index). Nevertheless, students can look forward to some relief—when they sell back those books. The UC Davis Bookstore is making that more convenient by extending its end-of-term buyback program and setting up purchasing tables in the residence halls. And there’s good money to be made: for books still being used on campus, the bookstore pays 50 percent of the cost of a new book (even if the student originally bought the book used). “Buyback makes textbook purchases almost a rental,” says Jason Lorgan, book department manager.

NAMESAKES: GILMORE HALL

World view. John Gilmore’s life at Davis was one of continuing dedication to students, especially those from other countries. He built a house on the east side of campus that consisted mostly of living room, planned as a gathering place for students. His encouragement of foreign students to take part in campus activities led to the founding of the International Club at UC Davis.

Professor Gilmore’s interest in foreign students and other countries was evident in his first position after graduating from Cornell University in 1898—assistant superintendent and organizer of agricultural schools in Wuchang, China. Over the next few years he served as adviser and teacher in India, Hawaii and the Philippines, always living close to the people and traveling in out-of-the-way places—by bicycle wherever possible. In Hawaii, Gilmore worked to secure more equitable and humane treatment of the native people, engaging in numerous public debates with officials and always guided by the moderate and liberal philosophy he acquired in China.

Gilmore joined the University of California in 1913 as professor of agronomy. During his tenure, he continued to work with foreign governments and educational institutions in Chile, Santo Domingo and Mexico. As a teacher, he particularly wanted to know his students and to help them think things through, and his students regarded him as someone whom they could always turn to for help and guidance. When he died in 1942, on the eve of his retirement at age 70, tributes to him noted that he would be remembered not only for his knowledge of agriculture but also “for his lofty spirit of service and his intense love of people”—someone about whom it could indeed be said that he was “kindness itself.”