what's your secret to good health? - Aging Issues Message Board

jimmyhonda · 10-17-2005, 01:19 AM

I wanted to start this post by asking seniors to share with us their secret to a healthy well-being.

Reading this forum about different people suffering from different illnesses makes me realise how precious, and delicate life is. I want to prevent further damages to my health, because being sick, I now realised that there are so many things I wanted to do and experience in life.

I wanted to start of by saying that:
1. Stress, and anger can cause harm to your health.
2. I don't smoke, nor drink alcohol, so I don't have any illness relating to this.
3.Exercise is important - I lack exercise, and swimming, therefore I notice stiffness in my body. I'm a "home" person - meaning that I sit and burry my head in books, or watching TV - which contribute to poor being.
4. I lack socialisation - which might be the reason for a poor being.
5. diet?

twustudent · 11-11-2005, 01:21 PM

I'm not a senior but I'm 40...is that close enough?! *LOL*
The reason I'm inclined to post is because I look and feel much younger than my age. I believe you've already mentioned the most important things: exercise, eating healthy, emotional balance, not smoking, limited drinking and socialization.

They are all important. Exercise especially reduces the effects of aging.

Lundi · 11-18-2005, 10:16 AM

--Choose your parents carefully.
--Choose your friends and spouse carefully. Steer clear of negative and nasty people. Get a pet if you can't find anybody.
--Choose your country carefully. It's best to live in a country where you have access to good health care, clean water and air, warm shelter, affordable food, decent education, and a good job.
--Choose to treat people with kindness and understanding. Show genuine empathy for others.

6foot3 · 11-28-2005, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimmyhonda

I wanted to start this post by asking seniors to share with us their secret to a healthy well-being.

Reading this forum about different people suffering from different illnesses makes me realise how precious, and delicate life is. I want to prevent further damages to my health, because being sick, I now realised that there are so many things I wanted to do and experience in life.

I wanted to start of by saying that:
1. Stress, and anger can cause harm to your health.
2. I don't smoke, nor drink alcohol, so I don't have any illness relating to this.
3.Exercise is important - I lack exercise, and swimming, therefore I notice stiffness in my body. I'm a "home" person - meaning that I sit and burry my head in books, or watching TV - which contribute to poor being.
4. I lack socialisation - which might be the reason for a poor being.
5. diet?

Not a senior (42) however my key to regaining my health and putting my autoimmune disease in remission is DIET DIET DIET !!My energy levels thrive as when i was in my 20's. Diet allows me to pump iron, play racquetball/basketball etc...Also i have a Zest for living..Exploring Ghost towns, dirt biking,and now im going to Hang glide here in the desert mountains. Thats my take !!

barkingshark · 11-29-2005, 06:35 PM

I think a long lifespan is hereditary.
My grandparents and now my parents and aunts and uncles are hitting the mid eighties. My grandparents and their siblings on both sides of my family hit the 90/90+ mark. I don't expect to make it as long as they did because I smoke and have all kinds of nasty habits that are supposed to kill off a person. But so did they. George Burns smoked cigars until he was a 100 years old and it didn't hurt him much. I don't exercise except for long walks when I go to Las Vegas, I take medicine every day and I'm overweight. I eat red meat with every meal, never eat chicken or fiber foods, hate vegetables. My hair is still without a single grey hair while all my friends are scrambling to color theirs. I don't have any wrinkles, bags or sags. I look like a teenager compared to my spouse who is only eight years older than me and already looks a 100 years old.

None of my sisters or brothers have grey hair and they're older than me. None have wrinkles.

I noticed when I hit the 40 year old mark that I aged. It is only when I look at my hands that I can see myself as being an older person as they are starting to shrivel.

I think diet and exercise as well as lifestyle can make us live healthier but I'm not certain it makes us live longer. Scientists say exercise adds two years to a person's lifespan and then turn around and admit it is because of men working as laborers which causes them to have a shorter life expectancy than women, so I am not sure exercise does all that much.

There's a website called livingto100.com that has a life expectancy calculator with no strings attached. According to the calculator, I will only make it to 73. When I do the test for some other members of my family who are in their eighties or nineties it says they died already

so I am not sure how accurate it is. The website is presented by the Alliance for Aging Research so I suspect they study our answers.

I think by living dynamically we increase the quality of our lives but I am not sure we increase our actual lifespan. I suspect that it is genetic, however, with myself, I think I may have shorted my predetermined lifespan by smoking and that I may very well not make it as long as I would have if I had made a few healthier choices along the way.