The REAL secret to longevity

Actually there's no secret. Just be one with everything.

For some people, it takes a lifetime to understand this precept. For those rare few, they got the answer 10 seconds I have uttered that sentence. Amen.

Don't be a prescription drug addict

There's something not quite right in the medicine world. It's my personal opinion so bear with me.
During my grandfather's days, medicine was not as plentiful as today. Whatever a man couldn't afford in the old days, he simply improvise.

These days, there's a drug for almost every ailment that afflicts man. The drugs come mainly from the developed countries where giant pharmaceutical companies produce some of the best and most expensive drugs known to the rest of the world.

My friends and I sometimes debate over this issue of prescription drugs. We came to one conclusion - too much dependence on those chemically produced stuff is bad for our bodies.

This conclusion comes from a lifelong experience with these medicines. So my take on this is DON'T take medicine unless you absolutely need them.

If it's just a simple cold, just rest in bed. If you have a slight ache, bear with the discomfort.

Often, city folks just can't stand pain. If there's a slight ache, they reach for the medicine cabinet.

In the end, some of them become dependent on these prescription drugs and begin a lifelong affair with the little pill that may or may not eventually do them in.

The common sense approach towards medicine is: Take only when the situation demands it, not when you demand it.

Life's too short to be wasted on these little boosters. If I may, the best things in life are still free. As you may have realised, prescription drugs can burn a big hole in your pocket.

Don't throw in the towel

The problem of staying healthy and keeping fit is the lack of mental commitment. Frankly, it is the biggest hurdle, as recognised by fitness experts. Some have said that the largest obstacle to staying fit is an individual's reluctance to make that journey from home to gym.

This is true in many instances. People become lazy after a while. Not many has the discipline that could turn them into Seal members. We don't need to be a Foreign Legionnaire in terms of dedication and determination.

A simple "keeping the faith" will do. That means you just go to the gym at the appointed times during the week and work out those flabby muscles.

There's no need to psycho analyse your reason for being there, or reflecting on the overall objective of why you should still be doing it five years from now.

If you can keep it up for five years, you would be a healthier and stronger person, simply because you have kept a promise to yourself and make your ownself proud.

One reason why others have a 10-year advantager over their weaker brethen is because the stronger ones blindly do what they feel is good for them. Why should you think too deeply about keeping fit and looking good.

For a lot of people, just thinking about staying healthy makes them tired. If you are inclined to be so, forget it, Be a couch potato. Many have opted for that kind of approach and happily check into Hotel Hereafter.

Longevity means staying alive as long as the body allows you too. It does not mean you can stretch your existence to 150 years. Why live up to 150 in the first place?

All of your friends and relatives will be gone by then. Nobody you know well will be alive when you are 150. It is not a Highlander thing, if you know what I mean.

The main issue is staying healthy and make good use of your years on year. Living an unreasonably long life is quite meaningless and it puts tremendous stress on medicare for the elderly.

Unless you are one of those mysterious people who look 50 when they are actually 100 years old, then the circumstances are different. If you actually fit into that category, I suggest you keep your age to yourself.

Anyway, life is full of surprises. Be healthy. It is your right. Stay cool under the most dire circumstances and you will be fine. The idea is to do it right every time.

Good luck.

Eat less, exercise regularly and sleep well

Some of the most reasonable suggestions for a relatively sick-free existence consists of doing the most ordinary things.

One of which is to get enough sleep. Why is it that people always shortchange themselves when it comes to sleep. If they are supposed to sleep at 11pm, they would push it to 1am.

When they are not supposed to eat too much, they gorge themselves until they can't breathe. Only the other day, I saw on CNN the hotdog competition where the champion wolved down about 58 hamburgers!

Personally, I thought that was not something to crow over because millions around the world were starving to death. And this kind of activity doesn't reflect the sensibility of a civilised society.

People these days also prefer to be ferried around in air-conditioned vehicles. Back in my grandpa's days, common folks thought nothing of walking a mile or two to visit their neighbours.

Nowadays, you can't even find a guy to lean over the fence to shoot the breeze with you. Walking is one of the simplest exercises ever devised by human legs.

And yet, we prefer to lie down on the couch the whole day to watch the telly. No wonder our human forms are deteriorating faster than you can say "Geronimo!"

Laugh your way to good health

You would notice that people who laugh a lot are invariably happy at most times. How can you stop a laughing person from being unhappy. It's a difficult task.

I am lucky to have a whole bunch of crazy, mad hatters while I was growing up. In fact, even now in my adult years, I have the good fortune of being in the company of people who crack jokes all the time.

Nothing like a happy prankster to chase those office blues away. It was only in the last three decades or so that medical practitioners found out that laughter was indeed the best medicine.

Actually, this is old news. I believe the Bible did pronounce two millennia ago that merriment doth erase those ills that besieged the human form.

If you are born with a crappy face and is not prone to easy laughter, then you should cultivate the art of laughter.

Try to find the funny side of every situation. Imagine you hanging by a thread on a steep slope and the person next to you, also in the same predicament cracks a joke about dropping onto a cushion of air that was deliberately put there to surprise you and your partner.

I know that's a ridiculous proposition but I really don't have a really good joke with me right now. But at least if the ultimate happens, you will enter the next world with a smile on your face.

My mum passed away on her hospital bed with a smile on her face. For that I shall forever be grateful to the Lord. I believe part of the reason why her face was so peaceful was because the priest who gave her the last sacred rites was a family friend, and she half-consciously knew that she was on her way to heaven.

What a way to go. Now on thinking back, I guess the pain and sorrow have gone, and what has replaced that is a feel-good sense of joy, accompanied by some easy laughter of the celestial kind.

Life is so boring when you have a bunch of sour-pusses surrounding you. I always try to get out of such company. I feel I really don't need such people around me because I have had my share of sad people when I was an altar boy serving requiem masses.

Yes, there's a time for sadness and reflection but life in general should be one that rings with laughter all the time.

I recall there was a movie made about Jesus, and it was the kind of Jesus that most of us are unfamiliar with. The story was about a Jesus who was also a bit of a joker. I could identify with that kind of a messiah.

Imagine, Jesus cracking a joke and pulling your leg at the same time. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful. I am sure during his preaching trips around Samaria and near the sea of Galilee and Jerusalem, Jesus must have listened to and cracked a number of jokes himself.

I really can't imagine a Jesus with a serious face all the time. Who would want to listen to a rabbi with that kind of disposition.

Look, if laughter is okay with Jesus, I think you can accept that as well. Just think of it, your shelf life on earth has expired and you meet Jesus at the Pearly Gates, and the first thing he says to you is: "Hey, how was life?" OK, forget that, just come in and join the banquet. We have all your favourite food on the table. The great thing here in heaven is you will NEVER GET FAT!"

So my advice to everybody who bothers to listen to me at this point in time is LAUGH ALL YOU LIKE. Because even if you don't, you will die eventually anyway. A happy face on a corpse is much more acceptable than one who seems to be reluctant to let go of earth.