What Can We Do or Not Do to Better Our Odds in Old Age?

[Marie Mallory]

That is when optimism keeps you going.

I disagree strongly with the idea that health and longevity are things that we have no control over. While it is true that doing all of the right things, if we could even figure out what they were, will not guarantee us a long, healthy life, it will do far more towards that end than doing all the wrong things. There will always be outliers, just as I am sure there were people whose cancer went away after they ate apricot pits, or whatever they hell it was they did with apricot pits. You'll always be able to point to someone who lived on fast food, cigars, and beer, yet lived to be a hundred, and you will always find young children, who haven't even had the chance to do any of the wrong things, with cancer. But to suggest that it doesn't matter what you eat, drink, or do, that's not something I can accept. Yes, to a very large extent, we inherit good or bad health traits, but these are not the only determining factors.

I also think we can have an affect on our lives, and if I hadn't smoked for 64 years I may not have lung cancer. Then maybe I would have used another addiction to get me thru, like food or alcohol.

 

[Tony Nathanson]

All the suggestion on health, food, exercise, drink in these posts are good.

You also have to be your own advocate if you should wind up in the hospital. Hospital workers are human, therefore they can and will make mistakes. A few years back while my wife was hospitalized, she was giving the wrong medication. She didn't take it because she questioned what it was. It was listed on her chart that she was allergic to it.

longevity how does it work? I don't know, my father died at age 60, my uncles from both sides of the family there were 10 of which six died at age 62 or less. Out of the six four died age 55 or less.

I am 82 years old, I don't eat vegetables, I will eat salads as long as they don't have cucumbers or onions.

I am a big snack or junk food eater. I love Devil Dogs and Hostess Cupcakes. I generally have a personal supply of candy (Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Butterfingers, Milky Ways) hidden in one of the closets. I usually have a box of the 1 oz bags of potato chips, and a bag of sourdough pretzels, to snack on while I watch TV.

I drink too much soda, even though I have lately been drinking more water.

I do drink 16 oz or more of orange juice with my breakfast everyday, as well as a cup of coffee. About 50% of my breakfast is not healthy. They are some form of bread (some toasted) with butter. the rest of my breakfasts are comprised of cereals or eggs.

My lunches are generally leftovers from the previous nights supper, or cold cut sandwiches. Supper is generally a decent meal, except maybe for hot dogs.

My wife keeps preaching to me that I have to be careful of eating too much junk food because I'm not as active with my bad back. She's right of course and to be honest I don't know how I made it to 82? Could it be the vitamins? I've been taking supplements as long as I can remember, every morning I take things like psyllium husk, turmeric, multi omegas, B complex, vitamin D3, Prostate Essentials, and on and on.

So why am I still here? I've asked my wife that question and she always responds "you have a strong heart." I think that's a possibility.

At my age to increase my odds to live longer would be to eat a lot healthier, however I probably die from depression.Haha

So true. And you have to be one step ahead of your doctor or dentist. A couple of years ago, a visit to my dentist was almost my last day. I assumed my dentist would glance at my chart & see the big red warning on it before giving me the anesthetic for a root canal, especially since he did several others previously & was aware of my allergy to epinephrine & gave me anesthetic without it. Within seconds of the anesthetic, I knew what was wrong; I started convulsing uncontrollably & my heart was pounding & I had trouble breathing. I asked him if he looked at my chart & he said nothing. They wanted to call paramedics but I said, "I'd rather just rest for a few minutes (I had enough of medical people at that point). I was OK in 30 minutes, he did the root canal & I forgave him.

 

[Mary Stetler]

I disagree strongly with the idea that health and longevity are things that we have no control over. While it is true that doing all of the right things, if we could even figure out what they were, will not guarantee us a long, healthy life, it will do far more towards that end than doing all the wrong things. There will always be outliers, just as I am sure there were people whose cancer went away after they ate apricot pits, or whatever they hell it was they did with apricot pits. You'll always be able to point to someone who lived on fast food, cigars, and beer, yet lived to be a hundred, and you will always find young children, who haven't even had the chance to do any of the wrong things, with cancer. But to suggest that it doesn't matter what you eat, drink, or do, that's not something I can accept. Yes, to a very large extent, we inherit good or bad health traits, but these are not the only determining factors.

I wondered about the increase in childhood cancer but then they found melamine from China in baby formula. People don't breast feed much any more. And at the very least, there is high fructose corn syrup in baby food and formula.
George Burns live to over 100 and was still smoking cigars.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

There is a ton of general health information we should have that didn't "come in the owner's manual" - i.e. a lot of us were never exposed to it in life unless we did time as a caregiver.

Nurse Jen here isn't some Hollywood starlet, just a normal person with a naselly voice. But her videos are brief, down to Earth, and to the point. Despite the lack of entertainment polish I think most of us can appreciate her frank delivery and generosity in sharing.

Here's a sample. She covers a lot of such topics, so if you want more check out her YouTube channel. Might be something to "tune in to" with that morning coffee every day.

 

[Buck Bailey]

I think it is a little bit of everything; good eating habits, a little exercise, and some genetics can help a person to be somewhat healthy into old age. Or it can be just the luck of the draw. I think it depends on all the atoms, or rather the stardust stuff that we are made of, whether they run smoothly in our human body, or malfunction and go rogue for whatever reason.

I think people that live into their 100’s have no clue, as to why they lived as long. I have one great aunt left in my family, and she is 101 years old and still lives in her house. She is sharp as a tack and says she has no clue why she is still living.

I heard/read somewhere that the less we worry about it, the longer we're likely to live.