Citter

சித்தர்

Dedicated to Human Progress & Wellbeing

CITTER HEALTHY
AGEING PROGRAMME

Living longer in Better Health is the Mantra!

A Personon average will live ten more years in medium or poor health, impacting the ability to live life fully and leading to increases in care & dependency.

These are real and profound challenges.

We focus on the potential of an aging world but also recognize the challenges ahead. Given these challenges, we recognize that we must examine healthy aging through a lens that encompasses all four dimensions of health: physical, mental, social, and spiritual. The importance of a more holistic approach to health has been demonstrated in practice at Citter Health & Wellness Care. This concept of health extending beyond physical attributes resonates with older adults. We are working on ancient formulations as diet and yogic sciences to ‘target’ and potentially slow down the detrimental effects of aging.

Ancient Tamil Citters are beyond time. Their mastery of play is in the Essence of Existence ...

They are eternally free, spontaneous, in peace and happiness, engaged in the river-flow of existence.

These Divine Masters encoded sacred teachings and folded it into a precious Tradition to spread by way of divine poetry.

Their verses pertain to obstacles faced by humans, big and small; healing of diseases and more profoundly in imparting the sacred knowledge of a grace lit path for an individual to journey back HOME!

Healthy Ageing Programme

‘Citter’ is a modern restoration of the Ancient Citter System of Health & Wellness of Body, Mind & Spirit and Lifestyle Management, reported to be the world’s oldest system of natural practices for Human Development, Human Progress and One's Wellbeing in Ones’ Life’s Journey.

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We focus on the potential of an aging world but also recognize the challenges ahead. For example, the need for greater levels of care will increase, driven by both increases in life expectancy and rates of neurodegenerative diseases, with more than 150 million people globally expected to suffer from dementia by 2050. Informal and formal caregivers and health systems will face increased strain, exacerbating the critical shortage of home health aides and personal caregivers. Similarly, the cost of healthcare globally will rise, from 8.6 percent today to a projected 9.4 percent of GDP by 2050. This economic impact could be magnified by potential reductions in global GDP due to years lost to disability, as well as premature death from age-related diseases.

Given these challenges, we recognize that we must examine healthy aging through a lens that encompasses all four dimensions of health: physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

Understanding today’s older adults

The four dimensions of health are shaped by social and personal influencing factors that support a holistic view of health (Exhibit 1).

The importance of a more holistic approach to health has been demonstrated in practice. For example, the Okinawa Centenarian Study, a population-based study of 100-year-olds and other older adults in Okinawa, Japan, found that longevity and health reflected physical activity; a balanced, healthy, and calorie-restricted diet; a sense of belonging and rituals; a supportive social network (moai); and having a purpose to begin each day (ikigai).

This concept of health extending beyond physical attributes resonates with older adults. A recent survey found that the majority of older adults think all four dimensions of health are important.

Notably, perceived health and quality of life do not necessarily decline with age, underscoring the idea that individuals’ perception of personal health extends beyond the physical. While respondents over age 65 were more likely to have one or more health conditions, two-thirds reported good or very good perceived overall health.

The burden of aging in older adults

The burden of aging in older adults could be improved through preventative lifestyle interventions.

A key focus is improving brain health, which includes strengthening cognitive function, improving mental health, and effectively preventing and treating mental, neurological, and substance-use disorders. Mental and neurological disorders contribute a substantial portion of disease burden in individuals over 65. The likelihood of individuals requiring improvements in brain health as they age only increases as people live longer lives with more years spent in less-than-optimal health.

To protect brain health as individuals age, we must look across all dimensions of health—mental, physical, social, and spiritual—for both risk and protective factors. Risk factors for cognitive decline include some mental- and physical-health conditions, such as depression, high blood pressure, and diabetes, as well as some medications. As individuals live longer with these conditions or more years in poor health, the risk of these conditions negatively affecting brain health increases. Addressing inactivity, social isolation, and loneliness may help prevent cognitive decline, and individuals who maintain hobbies, reduce or better manage stress, keep a daily routine, and have sufficient sleep may have improved brain health. These elements act as pillars for optimal social and spiritual health.

To prevent the potential for dramatic increases in disease burden due to less-than-optimal health and aging populations, we must address mental, physical, social, and spiritual factors, with an eye toward preventing and treating brain health.

In the United States alone, the cost of informal caregiving for the elderly exceeds $500 billion annually.

Six shifts for healthy aging are needed.

Six shifts to support healthy aging globally has been identified that would be needed to see a step change in healthy aging across the four dimensions of health (Exhibit 2).

Citter Health & Wellness Care Target

We are working on ancient formulations as diet and yogic sciences to ‘target’ and potentially slow down the detrimental effects of aging?

In the future, Citter Systems and dietary interventions may be focused on preventive targeting of the modifiable mechanisms of aging. Regulators are beginning to recognize aging as an underlying, targetable condition, generating more focus on and funding for aging research and initiatives.

“There has been a shift in how we have considered aging, from something that we needed to account for and eliminate by statistical adjustment to a causal factor in disease. This shift in thinking is important because it places aging at the forefront of medicine.”

“Medicine right now is targeting diseases as if they were independent occurrences, and granted, they have their own risk factors, but they also have a common trunk, and the biggest common trunk is aging. As a risk factor, your age is seven times more important than your cholesterol level concerning your risk of a heart attack. Aging used to be considered unmodifiable, but now through research, scientists have identified several pathways that control the aging rate.”

The ancient Citters have identified and spoken of pathways for immortality.

At Citter we are working on dealing with the pathways narrated by the ancient ones that can change not only life expectancy but also health span, the healthy years of life.

Our programme is about dealing with such knowledge and implementing them.

A new era for healthy aging

At a time of rapid demographic change, it is vital to seize this opportunity to promote healthy aging and participation for older adults. Whether considering one’s own mortality, the aging of family members, or the greying of the workforce, it’s important to ask: How can people live longer in better health? Citter, in its focus on “adding years to life and life to years,” believes healthy aging is imperative. People should expect and demand an extended health wellness span in their older years and will need to decide on how to use this capacity.

Increasing years spent in good health is possible if all stakeholders embrace both the potential and the challenge. Together, Citter seeks to engage with leading organizations globally to catalyze practical action on the most pressing challenges facing the aging world today.

We know what is possible. Together, society can create a world where older adults and societies can expect a longer and higher quality of life.

We at Citter use the Ancient Tamil Citter knowledge and expertise given to us to innovate for the 21st century, providing Nature based Health & Wellness Care for our clients and 'Skilling' as a profession in Yoga & Citter Therapy for our students.