So lately I've been all inspired by stories of old folk who are still dancing the night away at 105. Getting college degrees at 92. And I've strengthened my resolve to become one of them. Only I don't know how to make it happen. So I went looking for the manual.It struck me that the anciently elderly all seem to be of normal-to-thinnish poundage. And then it occurred to me that I could use this information to motivate me to get fit and lose some weight. Only it isn't true. While Googling "fat old people" did not prove me wrong, Googling "relationship morbidity weight elderly" did. As it turns out, old folks with a BMI between 25 and 30--that is, the slightly overweight--have a lower risk of dying from cancer and cardiovascular disease. Several other studies show that the pleasantly rotund elderly have no increased risk of dying over the normally weighted. (Pretty much all the studies show that the morbidly obese and the anorexic have increased risk, but yeah, DUH.)
Actually, this makes me feel better. I am not undermining my chances for longevity by steadfastly continuing to resemble a Rubens girl.
I don't know what makes one person live to be a hundred and another die at 76, or how much control we have over it. I suspect (hope) that it at least correlates with living one's life fully, savoring it, being open to new challenges. Though there are plenty of folks I'd put into that category who died young. Ack.
Perhaps we don't have any control over it at all. At any rate, I won't know how old I'll live to be until I die, so it's kind of pointless to even try to manipulate it, no? Though living like I've got years ahead of me is probably a good strategy...more than half a century left to use new languages I'll learn, master the cosmological secrets of the universe, write books, and the thousand other things I want to be and do.
