Live Longer . . . But . . . Can You Afford It?
Posted: Saturday, December 24, 2011
by Octavia Hansen
Octavia Hansen
There are a lot of things you can do to extend your life. Some obvious things (like stop smoking, cut back on drinking, eat more fruit, get more exercise) and some things that are equally good for you and readily obtainable, are not so obvious, like:
Surround yourself with happy people. This can be a trick. Most people want to be happy but do all sorts of things that make themselves feel bad . . . staying in a relationship that's not happy, watching or listening to depressing news , going to a church that constantly reinforces you are a sinner and in need of forgiveness, eating things that don't agree with you. Happy can make you healthy, but it's hard to find happiness and to keep it happy.
Drink water. No -- coffee, liquor, fruit juice or anything else doesn't count like water. It has to be water. Drink a lot of water. A LOT of water. It's great for your skin, your digestion, your entire body. You will have to always keep in mind where the next bathroom is, but that's a small price to pay for good health.
Cut out salt. This means lose the salt shaker and ALL processed foods. Everything has a natural salt content, your body will get all it ever needs. By cutting out heavily salted fast foods, soups are also some of the worst salt offenders, potato chips and snacks, and not adding salt to anything you make or eat, your heart, your blood pressure and kidneys will LOVE you and you'll have more energy. You'll probably be able to taste your food better, too.
Now that you have extended your life . . . can you afford it? The average life span is considerably longer, and what you don't have in good genes you can get in medicines and health care -- right? But ask yourself . . . can you afford five more years of rent or house payments? Ten? Twenty? Of groceries? Of car insurance and gasoline? Prices are going up every day, how much did you work in your life? There's always a looming threat that Social Security won't be there when you are ready. Or are you still working? For how long? Retirement, old age or simply living is getting longer and longer and more expensive.
Since the entire country (or at least politicians and rich doctors) is afraid of socialized medicine, you are heading for at least one whopping great medical bill. Did you know the number one reason to file for bankruptcy is medical expenses? And money doesn't mean you'll find a donor of a precious organ at the time you need it. Some people travel for medical procedures (Mexico and China), markedly cheaper but you can't be too choosy.
Being financially well off, or even comfortable, doesn't guarantee good health. You are wearing out. The brain is supposedly made to go on forever but your body takes a thousand shocks a day, on a normal day. If you are involved in a physical altercation or a fall or an auto accident, the older you are, the more you will never be the same. The older you get, the more you will never heal completely so you'll have a constant reminder of what happened and how old you are.
Where you live plays a large factor in your life . . . clean air? Safe housing? A great start in life with healthy parents and growing up clean and well fed is only a great beginning. So much for the first fifteen to twenty years of your life. How old did your grand parents get? Eighties? Nineties? Some people are doing okay approaching one hundred, that means a lot of meals, a lot of heating and cooling, a lot of baths. You have to plan for this.
Recently it was determined that cutting out sugary colas from your life can give you three more years. Great, already my retirement is skewed by my finances, I have to pay for a few more years? And there's that ever looming raising the retirement age -- from sixty-five to sixty-seven, or even to seventy. Right now I'm on the cusp of age discrimination. No company wants to hire and train an older person when they can get a kid for cheap. Obvious as this business practice is, it's almost impossible to prove in a court of law. This is not financially encouraging.
How much does any body not directly working in the investment or banking industry know about their retirement account? Bernie Madoff fooled a lot of people right up until the moment he was arrested. Enron's massive pre-Christmas financial implosion effected not only all immediate employees but every business that had any dealings with them -- from the guy who delivered donuts, the dry cleaners on the corner, and every lunch counter within walking distance lost almost all their business. Some employees lost millions in retirement money. No one has time enough to recover that after a lifetime of employment in one company (I'm no financial wizard but I have always been told to diversify a portfolio!).
I am NOT advocating a definitive "end it all" date in my life (or anyone's), even I'm not liberal or civilized enough to plan my own end. This is also assuming I would be punctual enough to keep this final appointment. It's always just like me to find a sale or a better deal the day before and change everything . . . again. What this means is to think and act on the future, before it gets here. It's easy enough, when watching the Antiques Roadshow to think you're original Barbie or G.I.Joe is now worth $500, but no one takes into account that whoever is selling it now kept it housed and temperature controlled for forty years. That's a lot of storage time and expense, no matter if it's in the attic, a basement, a closet or a storage unit. Which also means it was taking up space, and if that someone moved, there was even more expense involved keeping this little bit of historical plastic in good enough shape as to actually have a re-sale value.
The future is always there. Sometimes it hits a bit sooner for some than others. And as always, it's not over until it's over. Some retired people are finding it's not enough to be retired, there's a lot more to it -- friends? Family? Travel? Health?
Well, the alternative to life sucks (that would be no life or loss of life) so I'm throwing in for the long haul. How many candles are you buying this year for your birthday cake?
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)This is two articles. And I love them both. There are many people however, who are low in salt. Being low in salt can put you in a medical condition really quick. However, you are correct, because modern processing infuses salt where its not expected. Good job.I was trying to go for the idea to be healthy . . . and then what do you do with it. A lot of articles about health are very heavy, I was trying to get past the healthy part . . .
So you recognized the truth. Thanks for reading!Oh, this was excellent. I have no criticism. This is what people need to think about. "Get healthy." "Now that you are healthy, what are you gonna do?" I just thought about the syncope that my wife is subject to due to a low salt condition. That had nothing to do with your article.
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