Do You Want To Live To Be 100?

Hi all:

In writing a wellness article for my day job, I came across a free site called "Living to 100." It's run by Dr. Thomas Perls and contains two Life Expectancy Calculators, one for people who are under 49 years old and one for those who are over 49 years old.

[I don't know what you do if you are 49 years old!]

It took me 10 or 15 minutes to fill out my calculator (under 49), which contains questions about your family history, your current eating and exercise habits, etc., confidentially, and then calculates your life expectancy.

If you're not happy with what the calculator projects, the system also gives you personalized tips for each area to increase your life expectancy. It even tells you how many months or years each lifestyle change will add to your life.

Of course, there are many variables that tools like this cannot account for. But I thought it was still a fun exercise, especially the personalized info. at the end. For example, I learned that too much iron can actually decrease your life expectancy, so you shouldn't take iron supplements. Hmmm, and I cook in iron skillets ...

If you want to know more about Dr. Perls before bothering with the calculator, check out this article by CNN's Sanjay Gupta or tune in to CNN on April 14 or 15 at 8:00 p.m. USA Weekend and Time Magazine also featured the calculators.

I hope this doesn't sound like a commercial, I'm not endorsing the calculators, just passing on an interesting wellness site.

BTW, in case you're curious, I'm going to live to be 89. Sounds good to me.

Then my supervisor, who is 6 months younger than me, took it and found out she's going to make 102! Wait a minute now ...

Have fun if you decide to use the calculators!

Of course, keeping it all in perspective:

Psalm 139:16 All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Luke 12:22 Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

hrh