Well into her seventies, my Polish granny would think nothing of getting up onto her porch roof to fix her tiles. The final time she did it, her ladders fell down while she was on the roof.
She was too embarrassed to shout to a stranger, so she waited for an hour, sat up there, knowing that my uncle would be coming to visit later.
Not afraid to actually get up on the roof, a woman who was nearly eighty. But too proud to let someone know she got stuck.
I have just returned from a holiday in Poland, so my Polish granny was often in my thoughts. I would consider her the ‘original unbreakable’.
While I was there, a guide was telling us about the war, and I found myself talking about my Polish heritage from Granny. Thinking about the hard life she must have had in Poland, and how that made her the person she was.
The Granny Babcia era
Granny lived to a ripe old age of 97. We thought she would go on forever. Her death in April 2017 marked the end of an era.
Granny Babcia grew up in extreme poverty in pre-war Poland, and it never left her (just to note, ‘babcia’ is Polish for grandmother, so essentially, we used to call her ‘granny granny’). ‘Waste not, want not’ was how she lived.
Granny picked up elastic bands and hair pins she found in the street. She saved plastic bags, jars, margarine tubs and cloth.
After the war, Granny came to England as a wartime refugee. She started a new life, met my Grandad (he died when my mum was young, so I never knew him), and brought up her three daughters.
Granny’s attitude was one of resourcefulness. She did everything for herself if she could. She worked long hours, especially after my Grandad died, and found ways to get by.
When I was born, Granny was in paid work, as she was 49 years old and approaching 50 later that year, with only herself to rely on for income. But she still worked hard in the home.
Sacks of potatoes, not dumbbells
Granny grew her own vegetables. She tended to her garden on a daily basis.
She walked everywhere. And I mean, everywhere. She was a stubborn old ox, and whenever she visited family, she would insist on walking instead of accepting a lift.
She would only start accepting lifts when it got dark, and when her mobility eventually became limited, though it was a long time into her years.
Her mobility was excellent for the majority of her life, and I think it was because she always stayed active.
She hardly ever sat. Even after retirement, you might find her standing in the kitchen making home cooked food, or under the sink to fix a leak, or painting the bedroom upstairs.
When you knocked at the door and there was no answer, it was often a case of going round the back to see if she was up to her legs in dirt, digging up potatoes.
She would always walk to go shopping, taking her trolley with her, loading it up, and bringing it home.
Of course, she never lifted weights. She never went running. But she lifted sacks of potatoes. She pulled her heavy shopping. She bent and squatted while cleaning her skirting board and fixing her home.
Self-sufficiency
Granny Babcia had an old-fashioned life of doing everything herself. Self-sufficient as much as she could. With that, she remained super fit for most of her years.
In fitness terms, she had both without trying. Walking everywhere kept her cardiorespiratory fitness up, and the carrying, digging and pulling kept her strength up. Large studies show that having both brings a lower risk of dying early.
In one UK Biobank study, adults aged 40 to 69 with the highest fitness and grip strength had roughly half the risk of dying over follow-up compared with those lowest in both (Kim et al., 2018). It’s an observational study of middle-aged adults, so it can’t ‘prove cause’, but it fits what I saw.
From scratch
Health is multi-dimensional, and activity was only part of Granny’s life.
She cooked big meals with the produce that she grew. Her kitchen was a joyful haven of baking aroma and simmering soups. Even though she loved her pies and puddings (and so did we!), they were always made from scratch, not full of additives.
I have fond memories of seeing Granny in her floury apron, the kitchen counter top covered in freshly rolled short-crust pastry, ready to be turned into thick, heavy apple and blackberry pies.
Every day she ate one banana, one apple, one pear. We would love how she would assert this proudly in her Polish accent. “EVERY DAY!” she would tell us with emphasis. She was sure this contributed to her good health.
She would also make big pans of chicken broth, full of veg and barley. I was vegetarian back then, and she would try to ladle me the broth, saying there was “only a little bit of chicken” in it. She never got the hang of vegetarianism.
Granny also never smoked, ever. She was never a big drinker, though she made blackberry wine every year for the family gatherings, using blackberries picked from the local area. Sometimes she would have a Polish vodka for a family toast, or a glass of her wine. Or perhaps an occasional half glass of beer at Christmas, which she would like to have warmed up by the fire first (I know, ewwww?).
In her last twenty or so years, I don’t think she touched a drop.
Badass Granny
Not only was she healthy in body though, Granny was strong in her mind. She was not a pushover, nor was she willing to give up on anything if she didn’t have to. She was badass.
When she did eventually start to slow down (impressively, only when she got into her nineties), she would still insist on walking to the supermarket with her stroller.
The walk that used to take her five minutes now took her thirty minutes; she would be walking an inch at a time. But the thing is, she still did it!
Walking speed is worth noting here. In a pooled analysis of nine studies covering more than 34,000 adults aged 65 and over, faster walkers tended to live longer, and walking speed appears to work as a simple marker of overall health (Studenski et al., 2011).
I remember how surprised she was when ailments started creeping in. She had a pacemaker fitted when she was about 90ish. I was like “Granny, you’re nearly a century old; things are going to stop working like they used to!”
But her attitude was one of disbelief that anything should stop working, when she had lived such a strong and healthy life. And I think this attitude helped keep her going.
Mindset matters. In one study of 660 adults aged 50 and over in Ohio, people with more positive views of their own ageing lived about seven and a half years longer than those with less positive views, even after accounting for age, gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness and health (Levy et al., 2002). Like the other studies here, it shows a link, not a cause.
My Granny taught me to live with determination. She taught me that health must be fought for; you have to work for it.
I still walk everywhere I can, and I know where I learned it. Unlike Granny though, I have a car. So I rely on it at times. Granny didn’t have that option. She walked because she had to. I walk because I like it.
At 56 I’m slowing down, but I still generally outpace my friends, who sometimes shout “slow down!” when we walk together. Granny was always so proud of me for how fast I walked, which makes me laugh now. She used to say “You walk straight and tall, it’s good!”
Not invincible
Granny was the Original Unbreakable. In fact, she never broke a bone. Though in her last couple of years, she did have some falls. It was very hard to see those changes at the end.
But of course, she wasn’t invincible. Age did finally catch up on her, though it was only once she had lived a thoroughly good, long life, with gusto and health, staying busy, active and fulfilled.
When Granny Babcia eventually died in April 2017, it was the day after my birthday. I know I can never prove this, but I am convinced she hung on a day, because she didn’t want to die on her eldest grandchild’s special day.
Granny will always be an icon in our family. She was a source of inspiration to everyone who knew her, and on her actual funeral day, the church was packed. As I am also a funeral celebrant as well as a personal trainer, most funerals of people who died in very late years have very few attending. But at Granny’s farewell, there wasn’t a spare seat left.
I actually delivered Granny’s eulogy that day, which led me into celebrant work. And celebrant work led me into fitness, because there’s nothing like death, and especially, early death, to remind you that aiming for a long life needs more than just a wish and a prayer.
Lessons from Babcia
Granny is just one person, and she likely had very good genes as well as a healthy lifestyle. I can’t tell you what made her live to 97. What I can tell you is how her days looked for most of those years. She walked, carried, dug, bent and squatted, every day, for decades. Her days did the training for her.
Most of our days don’t. So we have to work on strength with purpose. That is why I walk when I can drive, why I train, and why I do the work I do.
Be a bit more like Granny in a modern world
She lived a way that many of us no longer do, but we can all learn from her.
Granny always walked: Park further away from where you work and get extra steps in each day. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Examine with honesty the journeys you drive each week and see if any can be swapped for a walk.
Granny hardly ever sat: She didn’t have a desk job, there’s a chance you do. Get up and move more often. Set a timer to remind you to be active at regular intervals (see my article on prolonged sitting).
Granny cooked from scratch: Swap tinned soup for homemade soup. Have fruit and Greek yogurt instead of sweetened yogurt pots. Cook a jacket potato instead of seasoned French Fries from a bag.
Granny carried her own shopping: If you can, swap an online delivery and make a trip to the supermarket. Bring shopping home in bags, one in each hand, and increase weight gradually.
Granny kept going: Even when age started to show, she still insisted on moving. Walking and getting upstairs was at a snail’s pace, but she still did it. Choose to keep moving, even when you are slowing down.
To note, I am not suggesting these lifestyle adjustments to take place instead of a solid fitness routine. They are just general ideas in line with national guidelines that can make our lives that little bit healthier.
Let’s bear in mind also, that even with my previous cardio queen lifestyle I still ended up with osteopenia. So it certainly isn’t a blueprint for health. But all the tiny things add up. And Granny is a great example of someone who lived proactively with health in mind.
If you do one thing different in the coming week - how about swapping one drive for a walk instead? Let me know in the comments if you will do this, or choose something else?
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Disclaimer:
This content is for educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for medical advice. I am not a clinician. Please check with your doctor before trying new exercises or taking health advice on this page; especially if you have osteoporosis, a diagnosed condition, or any concerns about your health.
References
Kim Y, White T, Wijndaele K, et al. The combination of cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength, and mortality risk. European Journal of Epidemiology. 2018;33(10):953-964. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-018-0384-x
Levy BR, Slade MD, Kunkel SR, Kasl SV. Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2002;83(2):261-270. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12150226/
Studenski S, Perera S, Patel K, et al. Gait speed and survival in older adults. JAMA. 2011;305(1):50-58. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21205966/
UK Chief Medical Officers. UK Chief Medical Officers’ physical activity guidelines. Department of Health and Social Care; 2019. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/829841/uk-chief-medical-officers-physical-activity-guidelines.pdf
What a legend. Blessed to have met her. Xx I love the emphasis on, ' One apple one banana one pear ' EVERYDAY