Advice from a 101 Year Old Doctor..!

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara , Japan, turns 101 on 4th October 2012

As a 97 year old Doctor he !as intervie!ed and gave his advice for a long and healthy life.

Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-sering ph!sicians and educators" Hinohara's
#agic touch is legendar!$ Since 1%41 he has been healing patients at St" &uke's 'nternational
Hospital in (ok!o and teaching at St" &uke's )ollege of *ursing"


He has published around 1+ books since his ,+th birthda!, including one -&iing &ong, &iing
.ood- that has sold #ore than 1"2 #illion copies" /s the founder of the *ew 0lderl! 1oe#ent,
Hinohara encourages others to lie a long and happ! life, a 2uest in which no role #odel is better
than the doctor hi#self"

Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara"s main #oints for a long and ha##y life$

3 %nergy comes from feeling good not from eating !ell or slee#ing a lot. 4e all re#e#ber
how as children, when we were haing fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep" ' beliee that we can
keep that attitude as adults, too" 't's best not to tire the bod! with too #an! rules such as
lunchti#e and bedti#e"

3 All #eo#le !ho live long regardless of nationality race or gender share one thing in
common$ &one are overweight. 5or breakfast ' drink coffee, a glass of #ilk and so#e orange
6uice with a tablespoon of olie oil in it" Olie oil is great for the arteries and keeps #! skin
health!" &unch is #ilk and a few cookies, or nothing when ' a# too bus! to eat" ' neer get
hungr! because ' focus on #! work" 7inner is eggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week,
100 gra#s of lean #eat"

3 Al!ays #lan ahead. 1! schedule book is alread! full until 2014, with lectures and #! usual
hospital work" 'n 2018 ''ll hae so#e fun, though$ ' plan to attend the (ok!o Ol!#pics9

3 'here is no need to ever retire ()t if one m)st it sho)ld (e a lot later than *+. (he current
retire#ent age was set at 8+ half a centur! ago, when the aerage life-e:pectanc! in Japan was
8; !ears and onl! 12+ Japanese were oer 100 !ears old" (oda!, Japanese wo#en lie to be
around ;8 and #en ;0, and we hae <8,000 centenarians in our countr!" 'n 20 !ears we will hae
about +0,000 people oer the age of 100"""

3 Share !hat yo) kno!. ' gie 1+0 lectures a !ear, so#e for 100 ele#entar!-school children,
others for 4,+00 business people" ' usuall! speak for 80 to %0 #inutes, standing, to sta! strong"

3 ,hen a doctor recommends yo) take a test or have some s)rgery ask !hether the doctor
!o)ld s)ggest that his or her s#o)se or children go thro)gh s)ch a #roced)re. )ontrar! to
popular belief, doctors can't cure eer!one" So wh! cause unnecessar! pain with surger! ' think
#usic and ani#al therap! can help #ore than #ost doctors i#agine"

3 'o stay healthy al!ays take the stairs and carry yo)r o!n st)ff. ' take two stairs at a ti#e,
to get #! #uscles #oing"

3 -y ins#iration is =obert >rowning's poe# -/bt ?ogler"- 1! father used to read it to #e" 't
encourages us to #ake big art, not s#all scribbles" 't sa!s to tr! to draw a circle so huge that
there is no wa! we can finish it while we are alie" /ll we see is an arch@ the rest is be!ond our
ision but it is there in the distance"

3 .ain is mysterio)s and having f)n is the (est !ay to forget it. 'f a child has a toothache,
and !ou start pla!ing a ga#e together, he or she i##ediatel! forgets the pain" Hospitals #ust
cater to the basic need of patients$ 4e all want to hae fun" /t St" &uke's we hae #usic and
ani#al therapies, and art classes"

3 Don"t (e cra/y a(o)t amassing material things. =e#e#ber$ Aou don't know when !our
nu#ber is up, and !ou can't take it with !ou to the ne:t place"

3 Hos#itals m)st (e designed and #re#ared for ma0or disasters, and the! #ust accept eer!
patient who appears at their doors" 4e designed St" &uke's so we can operate an!where$ in the
base#ent, in the corridors, in the chapel" 1ost people thought ' was craB! to prepare for a
catastrophe, but on 1arch 20, 1%%+, ' was unfortunatel! proen right when #e#bers of the /u#
Shinrik!u religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the (ok!o subwa!" 4e accepted ,40
icti#s and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit the#" Sadl! we lost one
person, but we saed ,<% lies"

3 Science alone can"t c)re or hel# #eo#le. Science lu#ps us all together, but illness is
indiidual" 0ach person is uni2ue, and diseases are connected to their hearts" (o know the illness
and help people, we need liberal and isual arts, not 6ust #edical ones"

3 1ife is filled !ith incidents" On 1arch <1, 1%,0, when ' was +% !ears old, ' boarded the
Aodogo, a flight fro# (ok!o to 5ukuoka" 't was a beautiful sunn! #orning, and as 1ount 5u6i
ca#e into sight, the plane was hi6acked b! the Japanese )o##unist &eague-=ed /r#! 5action" '
spent the ne:t four da!s handcuffed to #! seat in 40-degree heat" /s a doctor, ' looked at it all as
an e:peri#ent and was a#aBed at how the bod! slowed down in a crisis"

3 2ind a role model and aim to achieve even more than they co)ld ever do. 1! father went
to the Cnited States in 1%00 to stud! at 7uke Cniersit! in *orth )arolina" He was a pioneer and
one of #! heroes" &ater ' found a few #ore life guides, and when ' a# stuck, ' ask #!self how
the! would deal with the proble#"

3 3t"s !onderf)l to live long. Cntil one is 80 !ears old, it is eas! to work for one's fa#il! and to
achiee one's goals" >ut in our later !ears, we should strie to contribute to societ!" Since the age
of 8+, ' hae worked as a olunteer" ' still put in 1; hours seen da!s a week and loe eer!
#inute of it"