People always dream of a long, healthy and happy life. They want to stay strong and young until they are very old. And in response to this need, the world invests huge sums of money every year in the study of preserving and prolonging youth.
There is a popular belief that beekeepers live long lives. Many of us are used to seeing beekeepers as tireless grandfathers who live happily ever after.
Is this really the case and what is the connection between beekeeping and longevity?
Factors affecting longevity in beekeeping
If we look at the lifestyle of beekeepers, we see many things that have a positive effect on the body.
1.Beekeepers are constantly stung by bees, and bee venom leads to blood renewal.
2.They breathe the air from the hive – it has healing effects.
3.The connection with nature is good energy.
4.They use bee products to prevent diseases.
5.Beekeepers are constantly studying and learning something new. This improves Intelligence, promotes brain development.
6.There is self-repair of cells in the body – by taking pollen and bee bread.
7.Constant detoxification of the body through the use of propolis.
8.Beekeepers move a lot – for health it is necessary to pass not less than 5 kilometres a day.
9.Bee products contain endorphins, which help to relieve stress.
Examples of long-living beekeepers
If we take a look at the names of famous beekeepers, we can see that many of them lived for a long time.
– François Huber 81 years (1750-1831). An outstanding researcher. Almost blind, he studied the behaviour of bees with his unique observation hive.
– Lorenzo Langstroth 85 years (1810-1895). Langstroth invented the hive with individual frames that could be removed. This was a breakthrough in the development of commercial beekeeping.
– Brother Adam 98 years (1898-1996) Brother Adam (Karl Kehrle) was a bee breeder and developed the world famous Buckfast species.
– Charles Dadant 85 years (1817-1902) He invented the Dadant hive and founded the Dadant & Sons beekeeping business.
– Eva Crane 95 years (1912-2007) Eva Crane conducted bee research and wrote hundreds of books and articles. She founded the Bee Research Association.
– Harry Laidlaw 96 years (1907-2003) He studied bee genetics and optimised methods of instrumental insemination of queen bees.
– Karl von Frisch 96 years (1886-1982). Karl von Frisch conducted research on bees and deciphered the way bees communicate, the so-called waggle dance. For this he received the Nobel Prize in 1973.
Is everything so optimistic about the life expectancy of beekeepers?
Of course you can say that these are only famous beekeepers, and others are not so good with longevity. Much depends on living conditions, ecology, nutrition, genetics, lifestyle, bad habits. Of course, we are all different.
Bee products are undoubtedly of great benefit, but leading an absolutely opposite way of life, I think we should not hope for longevity. Honey alone won’t save you.
And beekeepers are different. Some beekeepers come to the apiary twice a year. And they’re kind of officially beekeepers too.
The beekeepers who live a long life are those for whom beekeeping is a way of life. They live in the apiary all summer long. So they’re always in the fresh air, clean water. They calmly take care of the bees, breathing in the healing apiary air. They do not eat all kinds of food. Such beekeepers live in harmony with nature.
But in general, long-lived beekeepers lead a normal, human lifestyle. And bees are not necessary for that. If bees are a favourite hobby, it is only a plus.
Of course, do not underestimate the benefits of bee products. Real beekeepers rarely get sick.
So there is only one conclusion to draw. If you bought an apiary and now think that you will live to 100 years, then I dare to disappoint you. It’s not that simple.
When beekeeping becomes your way of life, and you have a genuine interest in it, then your health will improve and you will live a long life. And for a real beekeeper money in beekeeping is not the main thing.
But these are all our assumptions. Is there any real evidence of beekeepers’ longevity?
A study on the life expectancy of beekeepers in Malaysia
An interesting study was done in Malaysia on the life expectancy of beekeepers and non-beekeepers. A selection of 30 people who are beekeepers and 30 people who have never been beekeepers was taken. All about the same age and equal health condition.
So this study concluded that longevity is influenced by the length and frequency of bee products consumed. Whereas the duration of beekeeping and the amount of bee products consumed had no effect on longevity.
In other words, it is the consumption of bee products that is important. And as a rule, people who practise beekeeping do it regularly.
How it works
Now there is going to be some complex biological information that I will try to put as simply as possible.
Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are made up of DNA. Chromosomes make up the cells of an organism. In the process of life, cell division occurs, and the DNA information is copied from the old cell to the new cell.
Everything would be fine, but at the ends of the chromosomes there is a section that shortens over time during the copying process. This section is called the telomeres.
The more a cell is copied, the shorter the telomeres become. So the measurement of telomeres gives an indication of a person’s biological age.
Beekeepers who frequently and continuously consume bee products have longer telomeres than non-beekeepers who do not consume bee products.
It’s all about telomeres
Many factors affect the length of telomeres. These include oxidative processes that result from the overproduction of oxidants such as peroxides, free radicals and reactive oxygen species. These are normal processes if oxidants are not abundant. But if there is an excessive amount of them, it leads to cell damage. Accordingly, a defence mechanism is activated that repairs the cell, which leads to shortening of telomeres.
Bee products and Telomeres
Bee products are known to increase antioxidant levels. But how does this affect the rate of telomeres shortening?
We need more studies done on a large sample and involving a long period of human life.
So far we only have a small sample study that tells us that beekeepers who consume bee products on a regular basis have longer telomeres.
Conclusion
Anyway, the topic of longevity of beekeepers and the effects of bee products is very interesting. On the one hand, we see many factors in beekeeping that can influence longevity. On the other hand, we have very little scientific research on whether these factors are very strongly related. Whether there are not other factors in parallel that may affect this.
I think that the topic is not definitively solved and is waiting for new researchers.
