A few months back one of my friends that regularly eschews all health related advice was discussing longevity. Someone pointed out that some simple lifestyle choices may help him live a longer life. He retorted “maybe it wasn’t that he would live longer but rather that it would seem longer.” Meaning of course that he would have to get rid of all the enjoyable parts of life and live a pretty dismal existence just to get in a few more years of life.
The reason I thought about this conversation was that I saw a couple of news articles the other day. One was about a 100-year-old woman who celebrated her birthday by skydiving and the other article was about a 104 year old that drank 3 soft drinks a day.
How is it that some people can live seemingly reckless lives and still feel vital in their later years while others practice control and are careful and may be lucky to reach 70?
Certainly genetics plays a large role in this. Research has shown that some people are not only genetically predisposed to live longer but also may be predisposed to sidestepping certain congenital diseases such as cancers or heart disease.
Lifestyle will of course count somewhat in how you fare in your later years. No matter how lucky you are in the genetic lottery mistreating your body is still a terrible idea and mistreating your body to the point that you cause it severe damage is just a bad overall strategy that may mean that you will not be able to enjoy all the benefits of your body into your later years.
But I suppose the main crux of my friend’s argument is that making sacrifices for the long haul just isn’t so appealing if in the long run you have nothing to look forward to but a bland existence. In that I think he misses the point.
Just because you don’t go out and party every night when you’re young doesn’t have to mean that you are doomed to a spartan existence for the rest of your life. Rather, living a more regulated and moderated lifestyle gives you chances to do more down the years.
I feel lucky that I have survived my younger and wilder years fairly unscathed and that I am now more serious about my health. I look forward to many years of exploiting my continuing health to try out more experiences, do new things, and savor what the future may bring.
Sure I get frustrated when someone on social media posts about a new restaurant or when someone tells me about a hot new bar or whatever place that they went to. I would love to do more of these things. But then again I also hear about their hangovers and having to go to the doctor for stomach problems or having to refill prescriptions that I have thus far avoided. They won’t get to look forward to some of the things that I will get to enjoy later in life.
As long as I can keep my moderated lifestyle going I think that over time I will be the one that enjoys life more.
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