Friday, November 28, 2008

Longevity





The World's Oldest Person has died....at 115 years of age.


If you were to say the one thing you think helps us keep healthy enough to live a nice long life, what would it be?


z

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

My grandmother (who raised me through the age of five) lived to the age of 98. She told me that old age was over-rated; she'd outlived three husbands, all but two of her children, and every one of her closest friends. She liked German bier.

German bier is healthy because it has the three main food groups: hops, barley, and malt. Plus, if you drink enough of it, you don't really care about longivity.

Maybe equally important is good friends because you want to out live them just to show them you can do it.

Semper Fi

Anonymous said...

Z, interesting question.

I would say, a positive attitude toward life.

Not focusing on what you don't have, but being grateful for what you do have.

Appreciating the people in your life, and letting them know it.

And finally, in the physical realm,
good genes, and a little luck.

The rest is a craps shoot.

Belief in God.


Pris

Law and Order Teacher said...

I don't think there is one thing. But then it becomes what is important in your life. I am a teacher. That is important to me. I am a father. That is important to me. I am a husband. That is important to me. I am a son. That is important to me. I hope that am worthy before God. That is important to me. However long I live, I hope I have measured up to these things.

Robert said...

I think obstinance is a key. I know many people who go to the doc at the first sniffle. It doesn't take much for them to get down and out. I think just refusing to give in to the things that ail us, or should depress us.

The peace of mind that comes from knowing my final destination, whether at 50 or 150, helps alot too....

Average American said...

Moderation! I smoke. I drink. I love sweets. I do all these things in moderation as did many of my relatives who seem to have lived an average of 90 years or so.

Z said...

Good stuff so far:

Beer (Bier, auf Deutsch!)
Good friends
Positive attitude
God
Priorities
Obstinance
Peace of mind
Moderation

Anonymous said...

Experiencing happiness and joy as often as possible, and staying calm.

Stress causes physical illness and hastens our demise.

:hee hee:

this, coming from an exhausted mom of three. yeah, right. ;-)

ZmudasExpress said...

I read abiut her yesterday.
What a nice tribute you have done here. Thank you

commoncents said...

Great post!

Would you like a Link Exchange with our new site COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day??

http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

elmers brother said...

sense of humor...I don't know if it helps you to live longer but no matter how long you live you'll be happier

namaste said...

IMHO, a loving heart and a strong connection to your inner-child.

Anonymous said...

If I had to choose one thing that would make life better, if not necessarily longer, it would be developing the capacity to forgive and never allow oneself to nurse grudges and grievances.


Also, I think it wise to cultivate a live and let live attitude. It is a fine and good thing to hold and maintain high standards for oneself, but probably not a good thing to try to force our personal standards on others.


I believe we should stand up for ourselves when attacked unjustly, but it's better to be dispassionate about it to the greatest extent possible, and avoid feelings of hatred and the desire for revenge.


And while I'm at it, I think we'd all do well to remember that each one of us experiences life from a unique perspective, and most of us have no idea what it is really like to bear the burdens that others must endure. I would hope that awareness might help promote greater tolerance, and open doors to better communication and understanding.


Also, try never to feel guilty about the good things that come your way just because others may not be so fortunate. Every good thing is a Gift from God, and should be accepted graciously. In my view it's a sin not to enjoy the good things in life wholeheeartedly.


And last: Always give others the benefit of the doubt and try in every transaction to be as kind and generous as possible.


As to physical longevity: I believe it is largely a matter of genetics (luck!) and the studious avoidance of self-destructive habits and addictive behavior.


God bless everyone this Thanksgiving weekend, and may the joy and true meaning of Christmas fill our hearts in the weeks to come.


~ FreeThinke

Z said...

More good ones!

A sense of humor
A loving heart
Forgiveness and giving the benefit of the doubt....all good things in FT's post (thanks FT)

and yes, genetics plays a BIG role, doesn't it!

Anonymous said...

I wrote about this over my blog. I can't imagine living that long.
Christopher Hamilton
The Right Opinion, for the Right Wing

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

If you were to say the one thing you think helps us keep healthy enough to live a nice long life, what would it be?

Don't get worked up over nothing, have more sex (although if you're a certain type of insect, you should orgasm without ejaculating), eat in moderation, get plenty of exercise, don't play in traffic, don't wear your pro-Bush t-shirt when you go on a tourist vacation in the Middle East, don't....oh...you said "one thing"?

Papa Frank said...

As an older friend of mine says:

KEEP SUCKIN' AIR!!!

Z said...

OKAY. Papa Frank wins

Let's face it..it DOES help to "Suck Air!"

Always On Watch said...

What provides longevity? Not getting too wound up over things out of our control.

Based on the above criterion, I figure that I may head outta here next year.

Z said...

AOW..for once, I hope you're DEAD wrong....or, maybe I should reword that? (LOL!)

God bless you, dear girl..you've got work to do for this country and we're 100% behind you!!!

Ducky's here said...

Good medical coverage.

CJ said...

Living in accordance with God's laws as outlined in the Bible, including in Proverbs, and having had ancestors who did the same.

What everyone has said here is an aspect of that I believe, and having good medical coverage is one of God's rewards for same.

Z said...

"having had ancestors who did the same"?, CJ? Remember, as some say "There are no grandchildren in heaven"...that is, not due to their grandchild status of a Christian!!?

Ducky...good medical care is very important. Let's hope that it doesn't go social because the care will falter, as it always has.

David Wyatt said...

Trust in Christ alone as your Savior from sin & you'll have ETERNAL Life! Then even when you die physically, you live! For me to live is CHRIST & to die is GAIN! (Phil.1:21) Also Jn.11:25-27. How can you defeat anyone like that?! May the Lord bless you Z!

CJ said...

Perhaps it's your Lutheran experience that makes you differ on this? I'm persuaded that we all inherit a spiritual legacy according to Exodus 20:5 and Deuteronomy 5:9, and I believe that in many cases it's actually something you can trace in a family line. If we all inherit the sin of Adam, and scripture is clear that we do, then we also inherit sin and its consequences in our particular family lines as well -- and of course the less of it in our ancestors the less we inherit. It's a principle of inheritance we can only know about from the Bible.

Since Jesus came we are now judged on our own deeds, but that doesn't change the fact that our ancestors' lives have given us a spiritual legacy affecting how we live and what happens to us on the earthly plane.

CJ said...

Just to be clear, this pertains to the entire human race and has nothing to do with whether one is a Christian or not.

CJ said...

I looked this up online and found a lot of discussion of "generational curses" based on those verses so now I want to say that is NOT what I'm talking about, since that's from the charismatic movement and it gets into some weird exorcisms and the like -- although I suppose it's possible there could be such a thing as an inherited curse as well as inherited sin. I think, for instance, that you could inherit an inclination to the occult or even something like psychic powers because of an ancestor's involvement, and I think this kind of "talent" is increasing in our world thanks to the occultic explosion in the 70s for instance.

But I'm simply talking about the simple inheritance of sin down the generations. We don't merely inherit Adam's sin or we'd all continue to live as long as he did. He died as God said he would but his longevity and that of the generations immediately following him was due to his having accumulated so much LESS sin than later generations. "The wages of sin is death," it says in the New Testament as well as the Old, death, disease, corruption etc.

So I stick by what I said, Z, and I agree with David Wyatt, if we are in Christ, longevity or lack of it in this world is unimportant.

Z said...

CJ, nobody who's a Christian would disagree with David Wyatt.

As for inheriting eternal life, which is what I'd balked at, Lutherans don't teach against the Bible, they're probably one of the few (Missouri Synod, at least) who stick to the scripture and don't interpret 'according to OUR times'......
Yes, we inherit in this manner...but I said HEAVEN, I believe...We simply do not inherit eternal life/salvation, through our ancestors.

CJ said...

Z, I said NOTHING about eternal life in my first post and your answer was not addressed to what I did say so I answered you. Your post is about LONGEVITY not about eternal life and that is what I was responding to. What is the problem here?

CJ said...

I have no idea what you're "balking" at in what I first said in other words, since I said nothing at all related to eternal life so the remark about there being no grandchildren in heaven was completely off the wall, if you don't mind my saying so. You seem to balk a lot at what I say lately. Maybe I should just stay away from here.

CJ said...

And what I meant about referring to Lutheranism was also not about eternal life, it was only to acknowledge that different denominations have different teachings about the inheritance of sin in THIS life. Oh well, this is frustrating.

Z said...

CJ, you said "...having had ancestors who did the same."

So, you're suggesting ancestors who have been faithful Christians might help us stay healthy longer... ?

My gosh, the only thing I said in return is that what you said SOUNDED like you were saying that having believing ancestors will pave one's way to eternal life....I know you'd never think that and couldn't quite figure out how belief would contribute to longevity, but..? Who knows?

Yes, this is frustrating.

I can't imagine what else you feel I've balked at.

CJ said...

Z, I said nothing about being Christian or having Christian ancestors. What I said was:

Living in accordance with God's laws as outlined in the Bible, including in Proverbs, and having had ancestors who did the same.

Living in accordance with God's laws and having had ancestors who did the same is not the same thing as being Christian. Buddhists and Confucians and Hindus and Taoists may live this sort of life. So can simple heathen in some circumstances. General things like honoring your parents, not committing adultery or fornication, not cheating or lying, etc. etc. I also said that what others here had proposed as causes of long life could be considered to be aspects of that general sort of obedience. A contented spirit is in accord with God's laws for instance. You don't have to be a Christian to be obedient in such general ways.

I guess we could have a deep theological discussion about how the heathen may be in accord with God's laws despite being sinners as opposed to obeying as Christians, if that would clarify anything.

CJ said...

Just occurred to me that you might have been confused by my saying "as outlined in the Bible?" I only wanted to define what I meant by "God's laws" -- not to imply that people need to know the Bible to live in accord with those laws. I hope this is clarifying.