~Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series on longevity factors.
Recently a psychic told me I was in my "last life." That sounded sort of ominous to me, but she assured me it was a good thing.
"Enjoy!" she exhorted merrily.
I still don't know what to do with that information. What has been more helpful to me is a recent test I took that calculated I would live to the ripe old age of 94.8 years.
Now that was helpful. At least now I know that my financial planning for retirement is truly a joke.
The test used impressive research from the New England Centenarian Study to determine the most salient longevity factors. While many of these factors are a given and not under our control (like our gender -- statistically, women have a 10-year advantage over men when it comes to longevity), there are many we can do something about.
These are the ones I will share with you in this series. They make up a helpful checklist of things to which we can all pay attention to increase our health and life span.
If you can't live near your relatives, you can work to have meaningful and frequent contact. If you are estranged from family, you might want to consider working on a rapprochement.
Now here is the usual but important disclaimer: Check with your physician whenever contemplating any of these lifestyle changes as there may be complications from other medical treatments or conditions.
OK, maybe you don't need to get her permission to wear a seat belt, but such things as aspirin therapy and alcohol consumption should be discussed with your health practitioner.
There are more things you need to consider. Next week, Healthspan will report on six more "longevity factors". This week, I will continue blogging at www.healthspanweb.com daily on the subject of longevity with more information on what we can do to promote it.
~Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh is a Cape Girardeau native who is a licensed clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara and Santa Monica, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.
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