Staying Fresh in Mind and Body
You won't ever hear Helen Davies, 81, advocating for early retirement. "Don't retire," she advises. "Particularly, we can't afford to lose women in the system because there aren't enough of us." Davies was the first female faculty member to join the University of Pennsylvania's microbiology department in 1965, where she continues to teach. And she not only teaches but sings. "What I've done is set to music some of the important things that medical students need to remember," Davies says. "There's a lot of [research] showing that you can remember material set to music or set to rhyme. And it works to refresh your memory very rapidly."
During her 12-hour workdays, including weekends, Davies pursues other activities to keep her mind and body sharp. She keeps up on changes in the field of infectious diseases and sends daily E-mails to students and colleagues to keep them abreast of the latest findings.
When she's not exercising her mind, Davies also tries not to overeat. "Longevity is related to low calorie intake. As I got older I got thinner, because it's really much better to stay thinner," she says. When her husband passed away 13 years ago, Davies moved into an apartment in the quadrangle dormitories with undergraduate students "because it was more fun that way." And Davies remains healthier than many of those college students. "The kids around me have been sick, and I have not been sick," Davies says.
This story appears in the June 12, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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