Ben Apfelbaum

NORMAN SWAN AND HIS NEW BOOK : SO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUNGER LONGER ?

At the most recent Dymocks Literary luncheon for his new book SO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUNGER LONGER? Norman Swan did not discuss Covid19 but the topic was about health in a more general sense.

Of all the Sydney medical specialists that were trotted out for the media to discuss the pandemic, Norman Swan was the most effective communicator in conveying the seriousness and future ramifications of this disease that has tragically taken so many lives. 

This effective communication skills was manifested in the way that he spoke to his audience striding back and forth along  a slightly raised platform, making it hard for me to snap a photo of him as he whizzed from right to left which, at times, caused me to match his vigour by my efforts to cover the length of the Four Seasons hotel ballroom.

It was also hard for a lay person like myself to spell or digest the drugs he discussed. Nevertheless I shall try to highlight some aspects of his lively, fascinating and absorbing address.

He commenced with a startling fact. From 1890 to 1950 Sydney’s life expectancy did not increase at all. 

Today the average life expectancy is 83 years old. 

There are a number of reasons for this. Perhaps the most dramatic is the decrease in smoking which leads to less heart and lung disease. There are governmental factors including successful mass vaccination schemes which eliminated polio, smallpox, diphtheria and other diseases that killed large masses of populations before World War 2.

Stricter laws regarding car and industrial emissions have created cleaner air in the cities. Another surprising factor that leads to longevity is if you have had a tertiary education and are born in an affluent suburb. The use of statins has dramatically reduced the number of coronary occlusions and has created a situation where cancer has overtaken heart conditions as the largest killer affliction. 

Much of Norman Swan’s discussion involved the ‘younger’ section of his book . 

One of the greatest quests in the history of medicine is to discover the fountain of youth. Even though we have had youth, looking back at it  has given it a magical glow. 

He gave an example from a scene in ‘When Harry Meets Sally’ when Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in a restaurant to en incredulous Billy Crystal. Upon hearing Meg Ryan’s sensual exclamations the elderly lady said ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ (by the way that woman was the mother of the film director Rob Reiner and the wife of Carl Reiner).   

The scene illustrated that a younger person could experience a more intense and satisfying experience than an older person because they had the the elixir of youth at that stage in their lives.

Dr Swan outlined a number of experiments to see if the march of time could be reversed. One such experiment  involved the injection of younger blood cells into the blood of aged mice. What in fact happened was that the aged mice died more quickly than expected. It seemed that the old blood cells attacked the young blood cells creating a situation where there were more aged cells than prior to the introduction of the young blood cells. 

He also gave the example of the Leaning Tower Of Pisa. Despite all the efforts to straighten it as it was first built, the best engineers can do is slow the progression of the tilt. As to the longer part of the title Dr Swan advocated the Mediterranean diet. However the Mediterranean shores are surrounded by many countries with different cuisines. Of these Dr Swan praised the Greek food and lifestyle. He also praised south east asian vegetarian cooking as he believed that the consumption of red meat should decrease as you age. Due to their emphasis on freshness one should never go shopping at a market with an Italian nonna or a Vietnamese grandmother. You will be there for ages.

As well as suggesting that one should do at least mild exercise, when asked by a member of the audience about alcohol consumption, he said that one could get away with two drinks a day without harmful effects.

A huge queue formed to purchase the book and have the book autographed by the author and some opted for having a photo with him. All this was done with great charm and grace similar to his appearances and his legendary radio series, The Health Report. 

Photos and text  by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborlang. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, United States, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.