The best way to prevent an emergency is to avoid them in the first place. Be a defensive driver, avoid dangerous situation, etc. But no matter what we do accidents can and do occur all the time.

I, along with many other people, are under the belief that everyone should have basic first aid and CPR training. Watching it on tv does not count. You have to get in a classroom and practice the necessary skills. If it has been a number of years since you have taken the course then perhaps it is time you took a refresher course.

(Disclaimer: While I offer some of the basics here, reading about this stuff can never replace actually practicing it.)

So some people watch CPR happening on tv and actually believe they can do it in an emergency situation without proper training. They think that CPR is just blowing air into a person’s mouth and pounding on their chest. This is foolhardy at best and dangerous at worst.

The easy way that we all remember how to do CPR (or at least used to) is by minding our ABC’s. First comes Airway, then Breathing, and finally Circulation. If you haven’t taken a class in a few years then you won’t know that the guidelines changed a bit. It is now CAB. Circulation comes first because recent research has shown that circulating the blood to the brain is more important than getting more oxygen in the blood by breathing. Again, please go take a class, even if you took one 10 years ago.

2010 CPR Layman Guidelines – 2010 CPR AHA Scientific Guidelines

In a situation requiring CPR you should ALWAYS call 911 first! Only then can you proceed to CPR. If your workplace has a defibrillator you should know how to use it. Then proceed to do CPR.

The American Heart Association has shown through its research that a “hands only” approach to CPR is still much better than doing nothing, and almost as effective as managing the the airway and breathing for the person. If you go into panic mood and all else fails simply doing chest compressions fast and hard will prolong a person’s life, hopefully long enough till emergency responders can get there.

The other part of being able to respond to an emergency situation is to have a first aid kit AND first aid training.

You should have some basic emergency supplies in your home, car, and place of work. The type and amount in each kit will just depend on where you are traveling and what type of work you do. Your home emergency kit should be well stocked as well.

So when it comes to what you have in each kit it is good to think about the function it will serve instead of actual specific items. For instance, when you need pain relief you should have some ibuprofen or aspirin.

You should have things to clean wounds such as antibiotic ointment and a syringe to irrigate the wound with water. If you think about it, it is always good to have a bottle of water just to stay hydrated.

You need to have something that can stop bleeding, bandages, gauze, medical tape, all the way up to a large trauma pad.

You should also think about having things that can relieve burns, reduce allergic reactions, keep you warm, and well hydrated. The types of things you carry with you will all depend on the most likely situations you will face.

Having good knowledge about first aid will help you buy and build the best kit possible. And again I will emphasize the need to take a class and practice this stuff. Reading it here should only spark your interest. Right now you should be saying to yourself, “Maybe I should go sign up for a CPR and first aid class”. I can guarantee you won’t regret it!

This is our 27th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

Changing things up…

Whatever your workout routine is, your body will eventually adjust to it. If you lift the same amount of weight all the time you will never get bigger or stronger. If all you ever do is run 3 miles a couple times a week, then you won’t get faster or be able to run longer distances that well.

As far as weight lifting goes I was making steady progress in the big 3 powerlifting moves (bench press, deadlift, squat). I didn’t change up my routine at all and after a few months my squat started really lagging behind my deadlift. After reaching a max on my deadlift that I was proud of I went back and worked on my squats. Better technique, using lighter weights to go lower to the ground, focusing on positioning, etc. After a few months of work there I finally hit a new max in the squat.

What is interesting is that the exact opposite happened to me in the bench press. I reached a max I was proud of and stopped working on it. Instead I worked a lot on my shoulder press and some other complementary movements. What happened? I came back and increased my max by 20 pounds overnight!

What I have noticed is that 3-4 months is the optimal time to try something new. Nothing too drastic, but just something that might have a big impact on your performance.

Weight lifters often focus on the big movements, but forget that some of the complementary movements can help them increase the amount of weight they can move in the big movements. Power cleans help the deadlift, shoulder presses help the bench press, lunges help the squat. Sometimes it also pays to lower the weight and increase your reps while working on your form.

Runners can benefit from sprint intervals and hill running. Runners also benefit a lot from doing pace work. Running their race pace in shorter distances.

Athletes in every sport can benefit from cross training. Swimming is a much more intense cardiovascular activity than practically anything out there. Volleyball or basketball can improve the power of your legs as can biking and hiking. Various activities can help your performance in your chosen sport, but it pays to learn about what can benefit you and what really doesn’t help.

No matter what, whether you play a sport or just practice an activity for your health, it pays to mix things up a bit. See what works and what doesn’t. It is better than constantly wearing down your body in specific areas and not improving at all. A balanced workout routine will keep you healthier in the long run.

This is our 26th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

Sometimes I wonder if the only limits the human body has is the mental limits we set upon it.

Take Roger Bannister for instance. For a very long time people thought that running a 4 minute mile was impossible. Maybe it was improbable because no one had ran a mile that fast up to that point, but certainly not impossible because on May 6th, 1954 Roger Bannister proved it could be done.

We are now reaching another milestone in running history. Since 1908 the world record for the marathon has dropped from 2:55 (breaking 3 hours was a big deal then too) to an all time low of 2:03:38 set by Patrick Macau on September 25th, 2011. We are now close to seeing a sub 2 hour marathon which many people thought would have been impossible up to recent times.

Another amazing person is Wim Hof. He has set many records associated with extreme cold including a 1 hour 44 minute ice bath. He has also run a full marathon in -20 degree temperatures in only shorts, and ran a full marathon in the desert without water. He attributes his amazing abilities to his meditation techniques. Keep in mind that any three of these records he holds would probably kill or severely injure someone else, if they could even finish them.

This just includes what people can do with their bodies alone and not technology. With technology we can do so many more amazing things. One of my favorite daredevils is Jeb Corliss who is known for “flying” dangerously close to the ground in what we would call a “flying squirrel” suit. One of his most famous videos is called Grinding the Crack where he flies off a mountain and down through a canyon hence the name, “Grinding the Crack.”

I don’t mention all these people to inspire you to do similar things or even to achieve similar records. I mention all these people to inspire you to achieve the goals you set for yourself. Maybe you just want to get in shape or lose a few pounds. Maybe you just want to be able to be healthy enough to participate in a sport or hobby. Your mind can lead the way.

Read their stories… Be inspired… Get out of your house and do your thing, whatever it may be…

This is our 25th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

Your metabolism is primarily based on the amount of Fat Free Mass (FFM) you have. This only differs slightly from Lean Body Mass (LBM) in that LBM also includes some essential fat that is mostly around and in your organs.

If you have had a an accurate body composition test done then your Basal Metabolic Rate with be an amount closely related to the amount of your Lean Body Mass percentage. Basically this means that the more muscle mass you have the higher your metabolic rate will be in relation to someone your same weight, height, and gender.

Before we move ahead let’s go back and examine what your metabolism really is, before we worry how high or low it is, and if you can change it.

The majority of your metabolism revolves around simply staying alive. Your organs use up anywhere from 60-75% of the daily energy you consume. Men generally have bigger organs than women which accounts for their slightly higher metabolic rate. That and the fact that men generally carry more muscle mass than woman. Your body also has to stay within an optimal temperature range to function well. These factors make up the vast majority of what we call a metabolic rate.

When we say someone has a fast or slow metabolism what we are really saying is that “the devil is in the details.” Does this person have more or less muscle mass? Do they exercise more than we do? Do they eat more or less than we do? What a minute. I think what we are really saying is that they have a faster or slower metabolism than us. Doesn’t it make sense that a 220 pound man will have a higher metabolism than a 120 pound woman? Of course that makes sense, but we really don’t think about that when we are explaining away our own thinness or thickness.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that your metabolic rate has very little, if any, relation to how fat you are. In fact, the fatter you are the more likely it is that you have a higher metabolism than you should have. How can that be possible? Every pound of body weight you have requires some maintenance. That maintenance costs some energy. Every additional bit of energy cost your body has increases your metabolic rate. Now muscle mass burns somewhere around eight times as many calories as fat mass does, but each bit of mass has a cost nonetheless.

So if metabolism has nothing to do with how fat someone is, then what is the real reason a person becomes fat.

Appetite.

But let me digress for a moment and also mention that each bit of food you digest has a cost to it. Meaning that a bit of food could amount to 200 calories of energy, but cost you 30 calories to digest it, leaving you with 170 calories left for future use. Some foods have a higher energy cost than others. For instance, celery is known to have a negative net cost to it. Meaning that the cost to digest celery is more than the calories it provides you in return.

So back to appetite…

Generally speaking, when you eat more calories than you use up in a given day you gain weight. This is why people think they are fat because their metabolisms are low. They blame calorie output for their fatness, instead of calorie input.

Going back to celery example. Certain foods such as celery that are high in fiber help you lose weight and keep the fat off. Why? Because they cost a lot of energy to digest and give you little energy in return. Highly processed foods are super easy to digest and give you a ton of energy in return. See the pattern? Carbohydrates are easier to digest and give you a lot of energy in return. Fat is hard and slow to digest, but gives you a ton of energy in return. Protein is very hard to digest, and gives you little energy in return, specifically because protein is used as a building block rather than an energy source in many areas of the body.

All that to say that there are other factors to consider in how fat or skinny you are than just the rate of your metabolism.

This is our 24th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

My goal with this whole Better Health Challenge is to educate you on the current research science and inform you what the best of science has to share with us. Not all science experiments are created equal and a lot of what passes as science is actually pretty wishy-washy. It takes some critical thinking to discern what is good science and what is bad science, and unfortunately a lot of the major news networks pass around a lot of bad science.

In any case, I will give a few brief thoughts of my own on these myths and potentially write longer articles on certain ones in the future. But here are the 10 Stubborn Exercise Myths that won’t die…

Myth 1: No Pain, No Gain (My thoughts… To much pain could mean you are producing too much cortisol, which is our major stress hormone. Too much cortisol means absolutely no gains to be made at all. End of story.)

Myth 2: Soreness After Exercise is Caused by Lactic Acid Building Up in Your Muscles (My thoughts… As the article says soreness is created by the microscopic tears in your muscles. Lactic Acid is long gone by the time delayed muscle soreness sets in a day or two later.)

Myth 3: Exercise Takes Long Hours/Is Worthless If I Can’t Exercise Regularly – (My thoughts… Great benefits can be seen from exercise that is as short as an hour or two a week. Exercise doesn’t have to seem like “exercise” either as I explained in my article last week about walking.)

Myth 4: You Need a Sports Drink When Exercising to Replenish Your Body’s Electrolytes/Minerals/Etc (My thoughts… Whenever you hear BS like this you know someone is trying to sell you something. Just ask yourself what we did before sports drinks were invented. Unless you are running a marathon or working out for hours on end, you don’t need anything to replenish yourself. A simple breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack after you exercise is all you really need. Wait, you do that anyhow? Then you are covered.)

Myth 5: Stretching Before Exercise Will Prevent Injury – (My thoughts… Oh stretching. What can I say about you? The article perhaps says it best that people often confuse “warming up” with stretching. I have always liked the advice to never stretch before your muscles have been warmed up which kind of prevents this confusion. I believe strongly that people should add in some “mobility work” to their workouts, but not necessarily stretching. This seems to be an area we need a whole article on so…)

Myth 6: Working Out Will Only Build Muscle, Not Help Me Lose Weight – (My thoughts… This one almost makes me want to pull my hair out. Working out is a great way to lose weight, but you have to do it intelligently. Certain exercises are better than others for fat loss, but in general a well designed workout plan along with a well designed eating plan will help you retain muscle at the same time you lose fat, which is the body composition you are looking for. Simply losing weight means you are probably losing fat and muscle at the same time which isn’t exactly the best case scenario.)

Myth 7: Exercise Will Help Me Lose Weight Quickly – (My thoughts… This goes hand in hand with the above myth. Here is a hard and fast rule folks… “More exercise = more hunger = more eating = less weight loss” Make sense? If you are obese you can lose weight very quickly with a well designed exercise and dieting plan, but the closer you get to the optimal weight for your height and gender, the slower you lose weight.)

Myth 8: You Need to Take Supplements to Build Muscle – (My thoughts… I love Whey Protein and Creatine, and all the amino acids, but you really don’t need them to build muscle. Again, it’s like sports drinks, someone is trying to sell you something. Do they work? Yep. Will they work for you? Maybe. Should you just buy a few more steaks instead of whey protein? Probably.)

Myth 9: If You Don’t Exercise When You’re Young, It’s Dangerous When You Get Older – (My thoughts… First off, don’t met anyone tell you what is and isn’t dangerous. Hopefully you can decide that for yourself. Exercise is almost imperative when you are old so that you can retain most of your abilities into old age. But again, it should we a well designed intelligent program. Can old people get hurt? Yes, but so can younger people. In any case, the benefits to exercise for the elderly outweigh any dangers they pose.)

Myth 10: Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym is Better than Working Out at Home/Working Out at the Gym – (My thoughts… Does it really matter as long as you are doing a well designed exercise program? What is well designed since I mention it so much? A well designed program is one in which you get the results you desire. End of story. You can achieve the results you want anywhere. This is just one more excuse for people not to exercise.)

These things really get me going, but they are worth talking about. It is hard to believe people still think these things are true, but I hear them all the time. You need to do this, or that, or the other thing. Just try some things out and see what works for you and what doesn’t. Take some time to do some research and bring a critical mind to the subject matter.

This is our 23rd challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

Human beings are designed to walk. We are actually designed to walk pretty far. In our “hunter-gatherer” days we often had to walk long distances to gather food. And even when we became an agricultural society we still had to do a lot of walking out to the fields, around the fields, and back from the fields to plant, water, and harvest the crops.

Now in modern society we get to sit at a desk all day and type away at our computers. We hardly move from one spot at all. When we leave work we go and sit in a car, then we go home and sit down. We never really walk that far at all. Is it any surprise that our middle sections are a bit thicker than we want them to be?

This article was inspired by some of the latest studies coming out about how sitting all day is killing us. Here is an awesome “infographic” entitled, “Sitting is Killing You”

Here is just one telling statistic from that infographic… “Between 1980 and 2000 the amount of exercise people were doing stayed the same, sitting time increased by 8%, and obesity doubled.” I think this statistic also has to do with what we were eating in that 20 year time span, but sitting down a lot more sure didn’t help.

Another statement that struck me as odd was that… “Of those that sit in front of the tv 3 hours per day, those that exercise are just as fat as those that don’t.” Folks, those couple of hours you exercise a week just don’t make up for all the other bad habits you do during the other 95% of your hours.

So if sitting down is bad for us, shouldn’t we simply just start standing up more often? Actually that is what a lot of people are starting to do in their offices. David Teten just wrote a great blog post on the 4 Hour Work Week blog called Reinventing the Office: How to Lose Fat and Increase Productivity at Work. It is some interesting stuff.

And you can do all that, but I would recommend that your simply get your body moving by walking.

It doesn’t have to be much. A lot of doctors recommend a simple 30 minute stroll after dinner. You can talk to a friend or loved one who walks right beside you, or maybe just spend 30 minutes with them on the phone while walking around the block.

You see it isn’t hard to do and it has so many benefits.

1. Heart Health – People that walk daily have much lower instances of heart disease. Nothing gets the heart pumping as well as a good brisk walk.
2. Better than Running – Most people know that running, especially on pavement or concrete, is hard on the joints. You can still get all the benefits of running by simply walking for the same amount of time, not necessarily the same distance. If you want to be a fast runner, then by all means go running, but if you just want to be healthy, walking will be your best bet.
3. Bone Strength – Walking is also good for improving your bone density and preserving it into old age. Running can also improve bone density if not overdone, and weight lifting is the best way to improve bone density, but walking is perhaps the the healthiest way to keep your bones strong.
4. Fat Loss – Again, walking may be the best way to lose fat. Yes, you can help yourself lose fat with just about any exercise, but you are guaranteed to burn out with most other exercises if you do them everyday. More intensive types of exercise cause an increase in the hormone cortisol which causes your body to repair itself, but also causes your body to retain fat, not lose it. Light exercise like walking will start the process of fat metabolism without causing too much stress on the body.
5. Anyone can do it – And everyone should do it. With few exceptions, everyone can place one foot in front of the other and start walking. You can walk and talk with friends. You can walk to the park, or the grocery store. You can walk pretty much anywhere, anytime. Listen to some music. Think some deep thoughts. Anyone can do it. And maybe there are some hardcore exercisers who think walking is too easy. For you, you can try some hardcore uphill hiking.

But yes, walking is for everyone. I will leave you with a great quote from the Father of Medicine…

“Walking is man’s best medicine.” – Hippocrates, Greek physician (460 BC – 377 BC)

Some of our oldest advice is still the best advice. Now go out and take a walk my friends!

This is our 22nd challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

Don’t just read all this stuff about health…

Go out and do it…

Try it for yourself…

See what works and what doesn’t work…

Don’t Wait…

Start NOW!

This is our 21st challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

For the most part, boosting your estrogen also raises your fertility. The better your fertility the higher your likelihood of having a healthy pregnancy. Everything works in conjunction with everything else.

It is important to emphasize just how important the health of the mother is during pregnancy. The general health of the mother is strongly tied to a number of birth defects that can happen during pregnancy and ultimately affects a wide range of things in the baby after birth including things like eyesight, IQ, ability to digest certain foods, and prevalence for the big three diseases of modern civilization (cancer, heart disease, and diabetes).

The health of the mom is so important that a doctor will frequently keep a close eye on a number of factors during the pregnancy.

Top Ways To Be Healthy During Pregnancy:

1. Stop Drinking and/or Smoking – The research on this issue is exhaustive and the effects of drinking or smoking during pregnancy is pretty awful. The likelihood of having a miscarriage or having a baby with developmental issues if very high.
2. Eat More Fat – Contrary to popular belief, fat is not the enemy. Human breast milk is 55% fat, 38% carbohydrate and 7% protein by calories. It only makes sense that a women’s diet should be similar to that ratio during pregnancy. A recent Harvard study also showed that women that consumed low fat dairy products on a regular basis as opposed to those that ate high fat dairy products had an increased possibility of infertility. As I have mentioned before, the best fats to increase in your diet are Omega 3′s, which are found mostly in fatty fish and grass fed animal products. With that being said it is also important to note that late pregnancy and breastfeeding women need up to an additional 700 calories per day in their diet with most doctors setting a bare minimum of 1,800 calories during this time period.
3. Avoid Iron Supplementation – Women are often advised to take iron supplements because of the loss of iron through the natural menstrual cycle. Since women do not have a menstrual cycle during pregnancy they should avoid any iron supplementation during that time period to avoid any type of complications from iron toxicity such as malabsorption of necessary nutrients.
4. Get Folate Into Your Diet – Because of the risk of neural tube defects most women are advised to take folic acid supplements during pregnancy. While folic acid is a decent supplement for preventing neural tube defects, in large amounts it can be detrimental to the mom by masking a possible B12 deficiency or even causing some other complications. It is best to get the more natural form of folic acid which is folate in the diet by eating foods high in it such as liver, legumes such as lentils, foods fortified with folate, and especially making sure you eat enough dark, leafy greens like spinach and kale.
5. Get Your Exercise In – Exercise becomes really important during pregnancy because it promotes all the natural hormone development in the mom that helps pump all the necessary nutrients to the developing fetus. Even if it is just a daily walk of about 30 minutes, it is important to maintain a healthy amount of exercise during pregnancy.

This is a huge topic and I found out a lot of interesting stuff in doing the research for this article. When I get around to writing the book on health I am sure this topic will be greatly expanded. And I may possibly write a second part to this topic concerning everything that happens after pregnancy, but more on that later…

This is our 20th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

You may already know, or think you know, a fair deal about testosterone, but it is actually a pretty complex hormone involved in a lot of processes in your body.

A lack of testosterone has been linked to all kinds of things. I am sure you know that a lack of testosterone gives you a low sex drive. You may even know that the more testosterone you have the better your ability to build muscle. But did you know that a lack of testosterone can make you more likely to break a bone and will put you at an increased risk for heart disease?

Simply put, naturally high levels of testosterone in men make them less likely to see the effects of aging.

Estrogen has roughly the same effect in women. The more natural estrogen you have going into your golden years the less likely you will see the effects of aging.

There are all kinds of reasons you could have low testosterone levels. An injury, a pituary gland disorder, a poor diet or exercise routine, bad sleeping habits, literally anything can harm your ability to produce testosterone.

So how do we naturally increase testosterone? And I say naturally because there are all kinds of downsides to taking artificial hormone replacements, especially the fact that taking artificial hormone replacements decreases the ability of your own body to produce testosterone.

Natural Ways To Increase Testosterone:

1. Heavy Compound Movement Weight Lifting – This is probably the best way to increase your testosterone levels. Squats, Deadlifts, bench presses, etc. The more muscle mass you can engage in the workout the better. Squats are probably the king of all exercises that will help you produce the most testosterone naturally.
2. Get More Zinc – Zinc has been touted as the most important micronutrient when it comes to increasing testosterone. Zinc prevents testosterone from being converted into estrogen by inhibiting the enzyme aromatase. Foods high in zinc include oysters, liver, low fat roast beef, pumpkin seeds, and dark chocolate.
3. Eat More Omega 3′s – Omega 3 fatty acids keep popping up as important. The best sources of it are flaxseed oil or fish oil supplements although eating fatty fish a few times a week is a good way to get what you need.
4. Eat Plenty of Good Food – Any type of calorie restriction causes a reduction in testosterone, but that doesn’t mean you can go crazy on the donuts. Eating too much sugar also decreases the amount of testosterone you have.
5. Eat Cruciferous Vegetables – Broccoli and Cabbage are two great vegetables to eat that include DIM (Diindolylmethane) which reduces the amount of estrogen in your system.
6. Get Your Sleep – The better rested you are, the less cortisol you have, the better your testosterone levels will be.
7. Avoid Alcohol – Alcohol definitely lessens your body’s ability to produce testosterone.

There are other ways to produce more testosterone by becoming more sexually stimulated, avoiding soy products, and taking Vitamin C supplements, but the 7 above are the main ones. So getting more testosterone sounds a lot like all the other things we have been talking about. Simply becoming healthier through exercise and diet should increase your testosterone naturally. A few little extra steps here or there will help max out your testosterone production.

This is our 19th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…

So here is just another way to think about health and longevity. I am just going to throw out some stories of the oldest people on Earth and what they attribute their long life to…

Jeanne Louise Calment is the oldest verified human ever to live and she died at the ripe old age of 122. She rode a bicycle up until she was 100 years old and even smoked till she was 117 years old. She attributes her long life to olive oil which she poured on all her food and even rubbed into her skin. She also loved port wine and ate about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of chocolate a week.

Sarah Knauss lived to be 115 years old. Her daughter who lived to be 101 years old said that she was a very tranquil person and nothing ever fazed her. She also loved chocolate, cashews, and potato chips.

George Harris lived to be 112 years old. Besides living over 100 years he was known for his short stature and weighed only 100 pounds. He credits his long life to nature, and a diet rich in pork, eggs, milk, and lard.

Christian Mortensen lived to be 115 years old. He is quoted as saying, “Friends, a good cigar, drinking lots of good water, avoiding alcohol, staying positive and lots of singing will keep you alive for a long time.”

Louisa Shepard lived to be 111 years old and credits her long life to drinking hot milk with a dash of whiskey each evening.

Emiliano Mercado del Toro lived to be 115 years old and credits his long life to his sense of humor.

Flossie Elizabeth Page lived to be 112 years old and credits her long life to living morally, and taking no medication whatsoever.

Walter Breuning lived to be 114 years old and credits his long life to keeping his mind and body busy.

Bessie Cooper who was born in 1896 and currently still living attributes her long life to minding her own business and avoiding junk foods.

Gertrude Baines who lived to be 115 years old loved the simple pleasures in life like bacon and eggs for breakfast.

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper lived to be 115 years old and said that her longevity was due to eating a herring a day and drinking orange juice. And being active.

Joan Riudavets Moll lived to be 115 years old and lived on a Mediterranean diet of olive oil, tomatoes, fish, and bread. Some of his hobbies were playing the guitar, singing, and playing football. And he walked and rode a bike every day till his death.

Moses Hardy lived to be 113 years old and his longevity was credited to a daily meal that consisted of cabbage, corn bread, butter milk, potatoes and Dr Pepper, and the fact that he never drank alcohol or smoked in his life.

John Evans lived to be 113 years old and attributed his longevity to abstinence of smoking, drinking, swearing, and gambling.

Henry Allingham also lived to be 113 years old and credited “cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women – and a good sense of humour” for his longevity.

I hope you are laughing a bit now as you hear all these stories of people that lived to very ripe old ages. There is not much coherence among any of their stories. Some smoked and drank, others abstained and each still lived to be a centenarian.

I think the common theme seems to be that they all enjoyed life as much as they could. So maybe the key to living longer isn’t trying to live a healthier life, but to simply enjoy life as much as possible.

This is our 18th challenge in The Personal Health Challenge Series…