长沙 小学老师:日本妇女的长寿秘诀

在过去的二十年中，日本妇女享受着世界上最长的寿命预期。图片来源：Junji Kurokawa/AP

Eriko Maeda could be forgiven for succumbing to occasional thoughts about her own mortality. But even as she prepares to turn 70, she has every reason to expect she'll be around for at least another two decades.

以现在的年纪，前田惠理子偶尔想到身后之事也不为过。但即使她很快就要过第70个生日，她完全有理由再享受预计至少二十年的生活。1

Aside from an exemplary low-fat diet and regular exercise, she has one other important factor on her side in the longevity stakes: her nationality.

除了堪称典范的低脂肪饮食和规律的运动外，还有一个重要的因素使得前田惠理子能够长寿：她的民族。

Japanese women have enjoyed the longest life expectancy in the world for a quarter of a century, according to government figures. In 2009, they could expect to live, on average, a record 86.4 years – up almost five months from the previous year – followed by women in Hong Kong and France.

根据官方数据，在过去的四分之一个世纪中，日本妇女一直享有世界上最长的寿命。在2009年，她们的平均寿命达到了创纪录的86.4年——几乎比上一年的数据增长了5个月——紧随其后的是香港和法国妇女。

Japanese men, meanwhile, added almost four months to their life expectancy to 79:5 years, although they fell from fourth to fifth place in the global rankings behind Qatar, Hong Kong, Iceland and Switzerland.

于此同时，尽管日本男性的平均寿命排名从去年的第四位下滑到今年的第五名，但是这一数字还是增加了大约4个月，现在是79.5年，排在卡塔尔、香港、冰岛和瑞士之后。

Experts attribute Japan's extraordinary longevity statistics to a traditional diet of fish, rice and simmered vegetables, easy access to healthcare and a comparatively high standard of living in old age.

专家将日本非同寻常的长寿统计归结于传统的海鲜饮食、米饭、煮蔬菜、方便得到医疗护理以及相对而言较高标准的老年生活。

If Maeda is typical, then Japanese women will continue to outlive the rest of us. "I never eat meat and avoid fried food ... with the occasional exception," she says as she nods, a little guiltily, at her lunch of rice and a pair of tempura prawns.

若前田女士的日常习惯是典型的日本式生活，那么日本妇女将仍然会比我们其他人长寿。“我从不吃肉并且尽量避免吃油炸食物……偶尔会有例外。”她一边说一边点头，表情有些害羞，她的午餐是米饭和一对日式炸虾。1

"I eat lots of oily fish, like mackerel and sardines, I've never smoked and I hardly ever drink," she adds between mouthfuls at a restaurant in the elderly shopping and entertainment neighbourhood of Sugamo, in Tokyo.

“我吃很多富含脂肪的鱼类，比如鲭鱼和沙丁鱼，我从不抽烟也从不喝酒。”她在吃东西的间隙补充道，这家餐厅设在东京的老年购物和娱乐中心，隔壁便是有名的特色酒店巢鸭。

Diet aside, Maeda, who lives with her son and his family, attributes her impeccable health, and the prospect of easily outliving her male peers, to a lifestyle that would shame people at least 30 years her junior.

除了饮食外，与儿子一家住在一起的前田女士，将她极好的健康和比丈夫更长寿的预期归功于她的生活方式，即便比她年轻30岁的人也未必能做到这一点。

"I get up at 4:30, do the washing and the rest of the housework," she says. "I make a Japanese-style dinner for me and usually something western for my son's family, and I'm in bed well before 9 pm."

“我在凌晨4:30起床，洗衣服和做其他家务，”前田女士说，“我为自己做日本传统餐饮，并且通常给我儿子一家做些西式餐饮，晚上我在9点之前就上床睡觉了。”

In contrast, Sachiko Yasuhara is almost blase about her diet and confesses to being a regular sake drinker. Yet at 81, she is the picture of health as she shrugs off Tokyo's stifling humidity and sips – of all things – a Coke outside McDonald's.

相比之下，安原幸已经厌倦了她的日常饮食，并且坦率的承认她经常和日本清酒。然而即便是81岁的高龄，她仍然对东京闷热潮湿的天气不屑一顾，而且什么都喝——哪怕是麦当劳门口卖的可口可乐，她看上去非常健康。

"I eat just about anything, but I draw the line at western food," she says, adding that regular exercise comes in the form of outings with friends in Sugamo.

“我什么都吃，但我的底线是西式食物。”安原幸补充道，她的日常锻炼是和她的朋友一起在巢鸭逛街。

According to the health ministry, the upward trend in life expectancy is largely down to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, cardiac disorders and strokes, Japan's three biggest killers.

根据日本厚生省公布的数据，预期寿命延长的趋势主要归功于在诊断技术、癌症治疗、心脏异常和心脏中风方面水平的提高，以往这三大类是日本人健康的最大杀手。

Takao Suzuki, general director of the National Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology in Nagoya, believes that Japan's almost perfect literacy rate is also a factor. "Older people are able to consume a huge amount of health and lifestyle advice in the media," he says.

铃木高雄是位于名古屋全国老年病理和老年医学研究院的社长，他相信日本近乎完美的文化普及率也是一个因素。“老年人会在传媒上花费大笔开销（从而获得）身体健康和生活方式上的建议。”铃木说道。1

"Although women live longer, they experience longer periods of ill-health than men before they die because they lose bone and muscle strength more easily than men. If the government addresses that problem, Japanese women will live even longer."

“虽然女性可以活得更久，但由于她们的骨骼和肌肉比男性更易衰老，因此，与男性相比，女性在辞世之前经受了各种慢性病缠身的更漫长时光。如果日本政府能够致力于解决这一问题，日本女性将活的更久。”

The health of Japan's seniors is not without risks. If left unaddressed, the greying of the population combined with the low birth rate will lead to a pension crisis, ballooning healthcare costs and a labour shortage that could endanger Japan's economic status.

日本老年人的健康问题并非高枕无忧。如果不加以解决，人口的老龄化和低出生率将会导致人口危机，膨胀的健康护理开支和劳动力短缺将危及日本的经济状况。1

"I can see why people like me might be a problem in the future," Yasuhara says. "Look around you; there are too many old people in Japan. We need more children."

“我能理解为什么像我这样老的人群在将来会成为一种难题，”安原女士说道，“你看看周围，日本有太多太多老人了。我们需要更多的新生儿。”