# What are the secrets to living longer and sustaining health later into life?



## Derek Wilson (Oct 28, 2019)

I will list them in the order I think they help the most.


*Using your brain: 
*This is the most underrated part of getting older and living longer. We do not realize how much our brain controls our general health and well being. It?s like a hungry activity monster that needs to be kept constantly alert by being fed daily with information, new challenges, learning and mental exercise. Like any part of our bodies, the less we use our brains, the less it serves us, the quicker we deteriorate, and the more inept we feel, especially for people who just sit in front of a TV all day, and do little else! For example, Stephen Hawking was given just three years to live after his diagnosis, and I am in no doubt that his amazing brain, and the way he actively used it, kept him alive another 50 years, regardless of the relentless deterioration in his body. All the experts recommend we learn something entirely new, like a new language, at least once per week. I try to learn something different every day, and it gives me an exhilarating feeling of knowledge and strength. I find it very strange, this quiet powerful connection between the quality of our bodies body and what w feed our minds.


*Some Exercise:* 
We constantly hear about the importance of exercise to our bodies, but many people don?t really appreciate its benefits. If you are not exercising when you are younger (no brisk walking, dancing, jogging, or simple aerobics to get your heart going), as you get older your muscles become weaker, especially your joints, which is why there are tons of older people who struggle to even walk! There is a definite connection between a sedentary life when younger and a debilitating one when we are older. I was born in Jamaica, where we start to dance as soon as we are out of the womb! Dancing is something natural to us, just like eating and drinking, whatever the age. Over 60 years later, and I am now seeing the benefits of that simple activity. I am still dancing, and I look years younger than my real age. Interestingly, I have never had back aches or any of the usual aches that seem to afflict people of my age, because I also do a simple 15 mins exercise every day (I don't go to a gym, deliberately) as well as my dancing, for the past 30 years, and that seems to keep me as healthy as I can be, given my diabetic complications, which should have finished me years ago. 


*Positive Thoughts:* 
You cannot get the kind of body and long life you seek with negative thoughts, and constant fretting or worrying, because you would not be giving yourself anything to sustain it when things are not as good as you hope. Positivity helps us to put things in perspective, to realise - and accept - that some days will be good, and some days won?t, and to take them equally in our stride. Positive thoughts motivate you to accept your life far more than negative ones will, and that positive acceptance of life is what keeps us going as long as possible, because we don't waste time worrying over what we cannot change. Most important, we?ll enjoy every day in gratitude, rather than whingeing about what we haven?t got, or how old we are getting!


*Find a Passion or Purpose:* 
Aimlessly worrying about getting older gives us a crap life. Ageing is inevitable, but the rate at which we age is down to us, and by having a specific passion or purpose in life can make such a difference to the length and quality of our existence. It means we will always have a goal to aim at; we?ll always have something to do that truly matters to us, ad we won?t have much time to fret about our existence. Getting older gives us the opportunity to do what we have always wanted to do, in our own time, especially when we retire. For me, right now, it is my writing, and it?s just magnificent getting up each day to choose a topic I can write on, or to start a new book. The feeling is nothing short of heavenly. I have so many projects lined up to do, I would need another 60 years to get through them all, because one thing just keeps leading to another, in an unstoppable empowering way. In short, life is never done till we?re done. Thanks!


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## REHH (Oct 28, 2019)

If only it was that easy.....


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## Derek Wilson (Nov 4, 2019)

Yeah, Boss


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