Living the Good Life

     This morning I read one of those aol stories (doncha hate aol?) that offers ten ways to look younger than you really are.

     Get plenty of sleep . . . check.

     Avoid stress . . . check.

     Get plenty of exercise . . . hmmm, maybe.

     Engage in enough sex . . . not tellin'.

     Don't consume too much sugar . . . darn!

     But it seems that living a longer, healthier life is on the minds of more than the headline writers at aol who can be counted on to overpromise and underdeliver. It's on the minds of thoughtful, substantive Baby Boomer bloggers as well.

     Carol Cassara of Heart, Mind, Soul shows us how to succeed with the latest healthy eating and detox plan. So run over to her blog to read about How to Succeed on the Whole 30, a regimen that eliminates dairy, grains and sugar from your diet -- but apparently allows potatoes, chicken, fish, bison meat and (like every other healthy diet) all the vegetables you can eat.

     And for a checkup of your mental health, you might take a quick look at Who You Are which suggests that who we really are may not be who we imagine we are.

     Another person concerned with mental health is Laura Lee Carter, who in The Lives of Frontier Women and Me wonders about relocation in retirement. The pioneers, she points out, were often going west in order to try to find themselves, or else to try to lose themselves. Sometimes, in retirement, aren't we doing pretty much the same thing?

Living La Pura Vida

     Meanwhile, Meryl Baer and her husband are off on a trip to the land of Pura Vida, or Costa Rica. While her travels, as detailed in her post Exploring the Country of La Pura Vida, might produce enough stress to drive you to an early grave, the concept of Pura Vida, which tells us to take it easy and enjoy ourselves, definitely sounds like a recipe for a long and happy life.

     Rita Robison takes on the negative health effects of violence in the media. In case you missed it, go to Superbowl 2017: Ads Mostly Unremarkable but Violence Takes a New Turn to see her examples: a man gets slapped when he tries to grab a sandwich, people destroy a restaurant in a brawl, aging bikers get in a fight, and a T Mobile ad makes a joke of violence against women.

     I think we can all agree that violence plays no part in a long and healthy life. And so also stay tuned for Robison's upcoming analysis of the current Oscar nominated movies for violence, ageism and sexism.

     Finally, Kathy Gottberg in Happy Relationships Are Key to Positive Aging reports that she and her husband are experimenting with their diets by lowering their consumption of wheat and sugar. In the process she has discovered that one of the great gifts of a good long-term relationship is its positive impact in the areas of life satisfaction and well-being. But don't necessarily believe her, or me. She points to studies showing that happy, connected people have stronger immune systems, better heart function and longer lives, regardless of baseline fitness or other life circumstances.

     But for all of us, no matter what our diets or relationships, no matter how much or little we have in life, maybe we can realize that we are all here together, and life is short, so we can start living it "pura vida" style.