Health concerns are never a laughing matter, although if you laugh frequently, you just might be assured a long wondrous life filled with awe and joy, and some pretty fun moments! Sure not easy if life has dealt you some tough calls, but at the end of the day, as you fade into a night of dreams, prop a smile on your face. With any luck it will still be there in the morning to greet you in the mirror as you wash up. If you want to waltz into old age still able to giggle the night away, there are four more secrets to consider.

Booze. Yeah, wine for dinner might seem like a good idea after a long day when you arrive home to your apartment and all you have is your persian cat to consider; but for the long haul this practice will just not do. A glass or two every week, with friends, at that cute wine bar in the sassy part of town, okay, that’s fun stuff, but alone with the kitty, no, just don’t start that. That gets creepy fast.
Which brings me to my next point, food. Exactly what are you eating? Four ingredients is the limit. If your package has a list longer than four, just put it down. My best advice is eat food that is only one ingredient. Like broccoli, not those freezer pastry puffs with some sort of creamed broccoli flavoring. Or pomegranate, not pomegranate cocktail that includes enough coloring to make your fish tank red for months. Eat food you can identify, preferably food that you buy from the gal who grows it and brings it to the farmers’ market every Thursday afternoon. Food that actually does go bad if not eaten. Even in the remote northern world where I live this farm-to-table shopping is getting easier.
And another secret, movement. Not just out of the car in the parking space to the elevator, but really move. As in swim, jog, dance, joust, swing a paddle, bike, blade, whatever you desire, but make your heart and lungs and arms and legs work every day. There are some times when that might mean taking the extra set of stairs or walking the length of the building during lunch instead of sitting and chatting with your BF’s, but do it. You can even talk to yourself or sing out loud too and that added release makes you feel even better.
Lastly, strain that mind of yours. Learn something really challenging. Get involved in your local theater or choral group or reading group. Remember those all nighters spent sorting out a lab report on Beta Vulgaris or a paper on the illusive Virginia Woolf? Follow your passion right back into research and keep using all that brain space.
There might be plenty more to add to your personal list, but these five secrets just might get you to 85 healthy, happy and fit, where you’ll be the envy of all. You will be setting wise trends all over the planet.