How to tell if you're going to live a long life!

I was watching the Channel 9 Today show not so long ago and they had an interesting segment on that caught my attention. Lisa was interviewing a doctor on his expert view on longevity and he had 4 key points that will determine if we'll live well into our nineties of course not counting any unexpected accidents.



They were:

* Be the life of the party! It's been proven that extroverts or people who enjoy life and have no trouble mixing with others live longer. If you're the stay at home type who'd much prefer to curl up with a good book than connect with others (and you can be forgiven for that surely, many of us may prefer that) then it may be time to bring some balance into your life. It's our connection with others that lifts our spirits, encourages laughter and usually extroverts are born leaders.

* Embrace Technology! This is also a call to stay connected. The members of the older generation who show a willingness to learn how to text, to email, to surf the net and join social networks and not be afraid of the new techie world are also showing signs of serious longevity.

* Run 40 minutes a day! This is a crucial one. As we age and as illness creeps in, it can be very hard to actually run for 40 minutes a day and I'm not sure you'd want to take it literally. What he meant was, that at least for 40 minutes a day, we need to so something that will make us sweat and puff. A vigorous walk, a cross training session of jog and walk and some resistance training every day no matter what our age is key advice.

and finally....

* Have a flat belly after menopause! Too many of us believe that middle age brings middle aged spread. That is so the wrong way to think. Even the famous Dr Oz has told us that if women have an expanding waistline or one that's over 90cms it can have the same affect on her as if she had breast cancer. Girls, your waistline is so important. If it's on the expansion trail, shapewear will help us to a degree, but that'll only mask a spreading middle. It's vital to work on it and get it down.

So how did you go? Have you answered yes to all those points and feel confident you're heading into a healthy old age? If you've only managed to answer yes to one or two, then make it a goal to keep working on the rest.

More about longevity in future posts. Feel free to leave a comment, I'm always open to hear about what women find helpful as my mission is to help women to become empowered about ageing. I don't beleive for a minute that we have to age the way our mothers or grandparents seem to expect to age with disease as an inevitability. The way we age will be completely up to us as many diseases happen by choice.