10.11 Long Healthy Life - a Prescription

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11. How to Achieve Longevity Here and Now (Update 22 Septr 2021)

Here is instruction to extend your life in best health, the earlier followed, the better.

Measurements to strive for are a Body Mass Index 20 or a little less by age 60 (c.135 lbs avoirdupois, or 60 kgm body weight for a 5-foot, 9-inch, or 1.75 meter body height or, if you do not prefer using the BMI, a waist circumference in a man <100 cm (<39 inches) and in women <86 cm (<34 inches);  an LDL cholesterol 60 mg% or less and lower better; a resting and relaxing blood pressure below systolic 150 mm Hg and below diastolic 90 and lower is better down to 110/60; and a resting heartbeat rate 70 or less per minute and lower is better, down to 50 but with a normal rhythm by EKG.

   Several times a day, before start of chores, do a 30-minute to 1-hour repose, seated or lying down and with no stressful thought.

   Do things slow – no excitement, no jerky fast action.

   Drink 1-liter water, mornings and more during day.

   Walk instead of run or instead of drive: Walk down the stairs holding on to handrail.

   Breathe through nostrils with closed mouth as much as possible.

   Chew food completely. Wear long visor cap to avoid front head bang and protect eyes from sun. To protect from respiratory risk wear nose/face mask, keep social distance, wash hands before and after context and get immunized against Covid-19 and yearly flu and every 5 years against pneumococcus where available.
   Do not strain at stool. If you find yourself straining, use lubricated finger to assist a constipated stool passage. Straining at stool chronically causes hernias, strokes and heart attacks.
   Avoid unnecessary x-ray including CT scans; be critical of advised x-ray, limiting it to necessary emergency or forced requirement. (But always follow instructions by HMO M.D. with reasonable explanation.) Avoid airport x-ray body scan by saying "I want to opt out of the body scan".

Bad Habits to Stop or Never Start: Cigarettes, pipes, cigars includes Marijuana; hard liquor and more than one drink of wine or beer a day (Alcohol is a risk factor for old-age cerebral atrophy.), daily coffee as a habit (occasional cup to stimulate brain OK); cocaine and drug stimulants; ocean bathing and diving; tourism for purpose of beaches, or for eating and drinking or sex tours; furry pets; gay bars and gay lifestyle (Just being gay, OK!); driving cars or motorcycles or mopeds and riding bicycles; physical contact sports, skiing, tennis and rapid running sports.
   Do not express, orally or in writing, your personal opinions openly, without important reason. Realize we live in an at-times brutal, potentially, dangerous, repressive, punishing society, and therefore do not sacrifice personal liberty for unimportant or useless cause.
   But do have basic principles of high culture, personal freedom limited by responsibility to other humans you interact with, and a caring for what kind of society you would like to live in and for your children and other’s and for the Earth including the other animals and flora and even inanimate objects like rocks and air and water. Avoid getting classified ideologically with names like libertarian, liberal, conservative, communist, socialist, capitalist, etc.; do not too obviously identify with religious or racial/ethnic groupings or act on mystical ideas. 
   If you involve in politics, let it be for specific aims and never idealize or idolize a leader or cult or group. Be against cults of personality be they Maoist, Jesus types  or whatever. Do not identify racially or religiously, e.g., Black, Jewish. Be your own person. Do not join movements but do join with others working democratically and scientifically for aims to help the Earth.

Anti-Aging Medication good for a long life: Start by age 50, Beta Blocker – selective type that does not constrict bronchi – and Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I), in minimal dose a day. Start by age 40 a Statin lower-cholesterol, a pill a day and up dose as needed until LDL-cholesterol goes below 60 mg%. Start by age 50, an Aspirin at least 81 mg and not more than 325 mg every day under tongue or chewed.

   Hormone replacement is experimental but I am advising it in older woman with care to use lowest doses and keep close check on risk factors under expert supervision based on blood test documented deficiency of older age. (See the chapters in Notebooks 8).  And based now on my own one-year experience I am advising once a month 250 mg TEstosterone injections from age 80, or even earlier if blood test for Testosterone justifies in it men.

   Immunizations against Pneumococcus and Hemophilus bacteria every 5 years starting at age 65, and a yearly flu shot. And, of course, Covid-19!

   Anti-Fracture monitor (try not to use x-ray) for osteoporosis bone density test from age 60. (Once every few years until stable) Take care against falls in home and outside. In case bone density shows risk for fractures, take Calcium carbonate (Ca) 500 to 750 mg once a day, and with vitamin D. Folic acid 5 mg and vitamin B12 at 500 micrograms orally once or more a day, starting age 40, Vitamin C, 2 grams or more with meals.

Important Screening: For women, for breast cancer. (See chapter on breast cancer warning against regular screening x-ray), also Pap smear regularly till age 60. For all, Upper GI Scopy and Colonoscopy from age 40 every 5 yrs till age 70. MRI of brain at age 65 to 70. Brain EEG yearly starting age 70 to detect brain degenerative disease and tumor (Earlier if indication like migraine).

Organ transplants for vital organ failure are kidney and liver, based on need to live other than just staying alive. Heart transplant is problematic but may be option for one who has very important need (Or society's need) to stay alive. Relating to heart replacement, the balloon angioplasty, coronary bypass and valve replacement could add good years before the need for transplant. Eye surgery led by cataract removal with insertion of artificial lens, and also corneal cell and full transplants when needed can add much to life quality by preserving aging vision. Similarly, surgery for old age hearing loss.

No purely tourist or sightseeing purposes foreign travel.
(More to come as new data show the need)

END OF CHAPTER. To read next click 10.12 Say You Get Cancer? What to do?