How to stay healthy, happy, and smart for a loooooooooong time
The Thinker, buy Rodin
You gotta have stress !
The secret to a healthy, happy, and loooong life seems to be a moderate amount of ongoing stress.
The key word is moderate.
Too little and you become a vegetable.
Too much and you get sick and die.
But just the right amount of stress will help you live longer, and stay mentally and physically robust.
That is why I like this statue by Rodin, and why it is so famous. The "Thinker" is not just thinking - he is obviously under both physical and emotional stress ! And that is why he is 114 now, and still looks good !
There are three types of stress that seem to guarantee you will turn into a smart old fart:
The secret to a healthy, happy, and loooong life seems to be a moderate amount of ongoing stress.
The key word is moderate.
Too little and you become a vegetable.
Too much and you get sick and die.
But just the right amount of stress will help you live longer, and stay mentally and physically robust.
That is why I like this statue by Rodin, and why it is so famous. The "Thinker" is not just thinking - he is obviously under both physical and emotional stress ! And that is why he is 114 now, and still looks good !
There are three types of stress that seem to guarantee you will turn into a smart old fart:
1) Hungry stress
Stay hungry !
All animals from fruitflies on up seem programmed to do better if they have to look for food, and not have too easy a time finding it.
Every animal that has ever been tested from fruitflies up to volunteer Mormon's lives about 30% longer if it is kept just a teensy bit hungry all of the time.
And you get less dementia too !
And you get less dementia too !
2) Physical Stress
Back in our cave man days when the basic human blue print was drawn up we seemed to be created to walk about 12 miles a day to look for our food. And so our bodies work better when they have regular daily exercise. Stalking our food !
The best forms of exercise seem to be those that get your heart rate up to about 60 - 80 % of its maximum for at least as long as it takes to track down dinner - about 30 - 40 minutes daily according to our cave man design specs. ( More for kids, less for geezers.)
Even better is a workout like the above which includes eight or ten 20 second bursts of full bore, 100% exertion.
I have a theory that these 20 sec bursts are because we are designed like cheetahs, to go running for long distances in search of dinner, and then sprint arse-over-teakettle for 20 sec to catch it once we find it. Plus most of our bodies could not stand more than 20 seconds of maximum exertion anyway.
These little "wind sprints" boost testosterone, ,Human Growth Hormone, and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), all of which prevent mental and physical decay over time.
This sort of workout keeps our hearts and lungs in shape, keeps our muscles and ligaments strong and supple, and prevents our bones from turning into Rice Crispies as we grow older. And keeps your mind sharp. ( A demented cave man is never going to catch much food. )
3) Mental Stress
Just as our muscles need chronic mild to moderate stress to stay in shape, so do our minds.
Constant problem solving, mental activity, challenge, and some degree of aggravation seem essential to ward off Oldtimer's Disease and other forms of mental decay.
Doing something that you enjoy is good, but doing something that you enjoy and that is mildly frustrating is even better. Like getting along with your spouse.
People that have intelligent spouses seem to stay mentally sharper themselves. It might be the constant emotional support, or it might be the constant emotional aggravation ! I will leave that one to the philosophers.
Ongoing moderate mental stress also seems to be a treatment for depression and anxiety. Placebo seems to fix about 30% of people, psychotherapy about 40 %, exercise about 50%, and medication about 70 %. But exercise is something you can do for yourself, and this "self control" often makes it the best long term solution.
Although if you are significantly depressed you should give all of the above solutions a try. To do anything less would be ....well, crazy !
Constant problem solving, mental activity, challenge, and some degree of aggravation seem essential to ward off Oldtimer's Disease and other forms of mental decay.
Doing something that you enjoy is good, but doing something that you enjoy and that is mildly frustrating is even better. Like getting along with your spouse.
People that have intelligent spouses seem to stay mentally sharper themselves. It might be the constant emotional support, or it might be the constant emotional aggravation ! I will leave that one to the philosophers.
Ongoing moderate mental stress also seems to be a treatment for depression and anxiety. Placebo seems to fix about 30% of people, psychotherapy about 40 %, exercise about 50%, and medication about 70 %. But exercise is something you can do for yourself, and this "self control" often makes it the best long term solution.
Although if you are significantly depressed you should give all of the above solutions a try. To do anything less would be ....well, crazy !