Keys to Living a Long Life

Read Time / 2 Minutes

Theme / Wise Living

I read that the oldest person in the world is 112 years old.  Compare this to the average length of life in the United States: 74.5 years for men and 80.2 years for women.  Scripture teaches us that “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures” (Psalm 90:10).  The question then is, “How can we promote enduring strength in our lives?”

In Mitch Anthony’s book, The New Retirementality, he writes, “Many factors come into play in order to age successfully.  The physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual aspects of our being must be attended to equally if we hope to hold back the hands of time.”  He offers five questions for us to answer (using a scale from a low of 1 to a high of 10) that will provide us a roadmap towards building a strength that endures.

1.       How connected am I to those people who energize me and are energized by me?

2.       How much intellectual and physical challenge do I have in my daily life?

3.       How focused am I on growing and expanding my knowledge?

4.       How much creativity/enjoyment do I have in my life?

5.       How much of myself (time, energy, resources) do I give towards helping others?

If you need ideas on how to improve your low scores, consider this input I found on the web from people who have lived beyond 100 years.  They were asked their keys to living a long life.

·       Having a devout faith and eating pork (including pigs’ feet and ears)

·       Doing crossword puzzles and reading the news daily

·       Eating two raw eggs a day

·       Treating people right and being nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you

·       Being blessed with good genes and exercising

·       Eating a nice warm bowl of porridge every morning, and never marrying

·       Eating healthy and doing 5 to 7 push-ups a day

·       Rubbing my body down with olive oil

I’m going with raw eggs, push-ups, and crossword puzzles as my strategy for enduring strength.  I should probably throw in being nice and taking my faith more seriously.  I’ll skip the pigs’ feet and olive oil.  What about you?

Doug Hanson, MBA

Wealth Advisor

208.697.3699

doug@christianwm.com