(You can find Part 1 of this column here.)
By Loretta Humble/Living Well
Here is Week 2 of my adaptation of AARP’s advice on how to live longer healthier happy lives. I am actually taking some of the advice myself, and maybe you might want to consider the same.
Continued from last week…
16. Get a dog (or a cat, or a canary)
A number of studies have shown owning a pet can reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, even improve the odds of surviving a heart attack. The American Heart Association recommends owning a dog, in particular, in order to reduce the risk of heart disease. Dogs are likely to keep you physically active, and less stressful, they say. (However, cats and birds can keep you going too. You don’t get much interaction with a goldfish, but I guess he might help keep you calm.)
17. Find your purpose
A 2014 study found that folks with the highest sense of purpose were 30 percent less likely to die during the 8.5-year study period. In fact, doing something that matters — whether it’s helping your children or getting involved with a community of like-minded folks — is “correlated with seven extra years of life, according to researchers who study people in “blue zones,” areas of the world where folks live the longest. “
18. Go to church
Regular church attendance has been shown to add between four and 14 years to life expectancy, studies have shown. Don’t belong to a church? Try visiting a few. You will always get a friendly welcome.
19. Don’t get food poisoning.
Even healthy food can kill make you sick or even kill you it you don’t treat it right. You know what to do: Keep your kitchen spotless, wash your hands a lot,, separate raw and cooked foods, refrigerate perishable food right away, and cook done to kill deadly bacteria. (Loretta word of wisdom: don’t hoard old food in your fridge—it could hurt you, plus it makes it hard for you to find the good food.)
20. Head for the Hills
People residing at higher altitudes tend to live longer. Of the 20 healthiest counties in America, many are in Colorado and Utah. Researchers think lower oxygen levels might cause your body to adapt in ways that strengthen your heart and circulation. (This is AARP advice, but personally I think if you stay here and do all the other suggestions they will make up for skipping this one. We would miss you if you left.)
21. Watch more cat videos
Laughter is really, really good for us, reducing stress, and boosting the immune system. It can reduce pain and improve blood flow to the brain. Some researchers report laughter has the same effect on blood vessels as exercise.
32. Get social
Loneliness increases the risk of early death by 45 percent, according to several studies. It weakens the immune system and raises blood pressure while increasing the risk for heart attacks and stroke. On the other hand, , people with strong ties to friends and family have as much as a 50 percent lower risk of dying, according to another recent study. Visit a friend, go to church, join a club, volunteer. And online friends are good too. A 2016 study found that those who use Facebook also live longer, but only when online interactions don’t cut out face-to-face social interaction.
33. Watch your grandkids
Regularly watching the grands can lower your risk of dying by a third, according to a 2016 study. That adds up to an extra five years of life, researchers say. The reasoning is that caregiving gives grandparents a sense of purpose, and keeps them mentally and physically active.
Okay. If I stop now, I’ll have enough good tips to fill another column one of these days. . And I have to leave room to give AARP another plug. You can go to www.aarp.org where you can read the whole article in the form it was before I butchered it for this column. You can also find out how to join AARP. I promise, it is a good investment. And you may not think you are old enough for such a thing, but if you are 50 or more, they will let you in. Which reminds me of a traumatic experience I had on my recent trip to San Antonio with my daughter Liz, and my nearly daughter Cheryl Tidmore, we stopped, as we are wont to do, at a Good Will Store, where we found some great bargains. When I checked out and was given the senior discount I asked the checker if I could pay for the girls’ stuff to get the senior discount for them. She said sure, but then one of them told me they could get their own senior discount. My children are seniors! That was as big a shock as when I discovered I was a senior.