Birdseye: Health Tips from the Blogosphere : longevity

Health through happiness: how living positively makes you more healthy

Birdseye — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Of the 100 ways to live to 100, a large number focus on maintaining a positive mental state by avoiding conflict, living conscientiously and forgiving people easily. Further to this, several studies suggest that those with a positive attitude to life are generally more healthy than those who adopt a pessimistic approach.

Research has shown that not only can optimism increase your life expectancy, but also pessimism can lower it:

Healthy optimism: In one study, those who scored high on optimism in personality tests in the 1960s were far more likely to be alive 40 years later than those who were classed as pessimists.
Unhealthy pessimism: Another study found that those who respond negatively to adverse events, either by blaming themselves or by allowing the events to affect many aspects of their lives, had a 19% higher risk of death than optimists.

How to live positively

For those who do not naturally think on the positive side, the following suggestions, taken from the September 2007 issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You, will help to develop a healthy, optimistic approach to life:

Keep a journal and jot down any negative thoughts you have. Try to replace them with more positive feelings.
Give yourself due credit when something positive happens in your life. Think of all the ways you contributed, both directly and indirectly, to make the event occur.
Don’t beat yourself up when something negative happens. Think of the external factors that could have contributed to the event, and remember that every failure can be a helpful learning experience.

How to live longer and age healthily

Birdseye — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 14:23:00 GMT

What are the secrets of longevity? To celebrate the launch of our free report on ‘100 Ways to Live to be 100’, I have scoured the web for more tips on living longer.

Living Longer: 5 tips from the blogosphere

1. Get a good night’s sleep: Mark Stibich outlines the health benefits of sleep, which include keeping your heart healthy and possibly reducing the risk of cancer. (Mark Stibich, ‘Top 10 Health Benefits of a Good Night’s Sleep’)

2. Live conscientiously: This article from World Articles Net outlines a study in which people who received low scores for conscientiousness died sooner. (World Articles Net, ‘Ten Ways to Live Longer’)

3. Stay connected: This guide to maintaining good health in old age cites research indicating that those who seek out social activities are more likely to live longer than those who do not. (Nancy Montgomery, ‘Healthy Aging 101, Part 4: Staying Connected’)

4. Get a pet: According to this post, people who own pets, particularly dogs, are more likely to survive heart attacks, and normally have lower blood pressure. (ramilcvaliente.blogspot.com, ‘15 Ways to Live Longer’)

5. Drink green tea: Further to this post on Adverse Reactions explaining why green tea is so good for us, this post commends the health benefits of green tea and gives an overview of some of the brands available. (d.i.y. naturally, ‘Green Tea the Superhealthy Elixir’)

10 tips for a healthy lifestyle

WDDTY’s comprehensive free report offers 100 ways to live to be 100. As part of that report we offer 10 tips for a healthy lifestyle. They are:

1. Choose a reasonably vigorous exercise programme you love and stick with it regularly.

2. Do not settle for anything less than challenging work or activity.

3. Try to be of service to others, on or off the job.

4. Reduce the number of poisons you put in your body.

5. Make your home a sanctuary and refuge.

6. Be connected with others and yourself.

7. Cultivate some sort of spiritual connection, whether with a god or a less directed religious entity.

8. Engage in regular relaxation techniques, particularly those which calm the mind as well as the body.

9. Don't hold grudges: cultivate a sense of forgiveness, of your enemies, your family, your parents.

10. Take responsibility for your own health.

These tips are explained here. To claim your full report on 100 ways to live to be 100, click here.

More advice for living longer and living healthily

WDDTY’s archive is packed with advice on how to live longer by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Here is an overview of the articles available.

Tips for a Healthy Diet: Diet is an essential aspect of living healthily. This article provides some excellent diet tips for staying healthy and living longer.

Live long and well - Eat the mediterranean diet: Outlines research suggesting that following a diet low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat and dietary fibre can increase your chances of living longer.

Living Longer: This guide by Harald Gaier, a registered naturopath, homoeopath, and osteopath, explains how to reduce the risk of developing conditions such as angina, respiratory problems and coronary heart disease.

Healthy, Oldest and Wise: Harald Gaier explains the secrets of the world’s longest living humans – the villagers of Silanus in central Sardinia, and the inhabitants of the seaside village Ogimi, on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

FREE REPORT: Discover 100 ways to live to be 100

This special report includes 100 great tips to help you live longer and healthier – right up to the age of 100. This report is available for download right now – and it’s free.

Exercise tips

Birdseye — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:05:00 GMT

While my fellow Blogger at Adverse Reactions prefers to tell the horror stories of the pharmaceutical industry, I have been trawling the web looking for more positive messages from the health community. WDDTY has recently reported that you need less exercise than you think to stay fit and that the best time to exercise is after a meal, so I have been keeping my eye out for any other useful tips about exercise.

The web community has much to say about the role of exercise in combatting specific health problems. Although the role of exercise in treating arthritis has been known for some time, one recent article provides a helpful summary of the main health benefits of exercise for arthritis sufferers. Meanwhile, another report indicates that the amount and intensity of physical activity undertaken by cancer sufferers can play a vital role in their recovery and elimination of future symptoms.

As we have previously reported, regular exercise is crucial to maintaining your physical and mental health, and has been shown to improve longevity. Our recent news item indicating that you only need 10 minutes of exercise a day should reassure those for whom the thought of hours in the gym is a daunting one. But if motivation is still an issue, have a look at this blog post countering the main excuses by those who do not exercise. Another motivational message worth having a look at is '10 Ideas to Get You Exercising'.

If, like me, you find treadmills and exercise bikes a little boring, you should definitely have a look at Starlight's account of the 'Health Benefits of Belly Dance'. This informative post tells us how raks sharki, or belly dancing, is based on natural movements and so does not work against "the body's physical inclinations" like some other dance forms can. Starlight provides detailed information on the other health benefits of this particular form of exercise, which include improved posture and muscle toning, weight loss and stress reduction. It is also good preparation for childbirth, and can aid digestion. You can't get much better than that.