by Ted Sherman

Created on: June 09, 2008

I'm tempted to make my five keys humorous exaggerations, with maybe a hint of the scatological tossed into the brew. However, having attained the age of 82 years and nine months, and still in good physical health, I believe it could be more helpful to offer some serious advice. I believe I'm also in good mental health, but you may have to consult with members of my family to determine that fact. Therefore, here is my entry for what I believe are the top five ways, other than to just to keep breathing, to prolong life:

1. Treat your body in every way to keep it healthy. Of course, that can't begin when you're a baby and toddler. You first need intelligent, healthy, loving parents for those first few years when you're totally dependent. When you get to the age of five or six, and have some influence on your health, you should start sensible eating and regular exercise that will last you a lifetime. If you stick to it, a long lifetime. I admit, if your parents start you out by scarfing down Big Macs, fries and sugar drinks, and they force you to spend every waking hour in front of the boob tube, you're already doomed to a short life.

Unfortunately, if your parents are uncaring slobs, and you're a child who's 25 to 50 percent overweight, you can count on a stroke or heart attack by age 35. Therefore, just as soon as you're mature enough to make your own decisions, start a daily regimen of healthy, low-fat foods and hard exercise. Between ages five and 17, run, box, jog, hike, climb, skip rope or do other heavy lifting (of yourself) two hours or more daily. Thereafter, it should be at least one hour, and that means right up into your 80s and beyond. You don't need all those phony TV ads to keep the fat off. Just use the ultimate exercise: push your fat butt away from the dinner table after one small helping.

2. Don't smoke anything. I was a very smart-ass kind of 15-year-old. Since all the other guys were smoking, I bought a pack of cigarettes and puffed them all within about an hour. Boy, did I look cool, until I went around the corner and barfed up my breakfast and dinner from the previous night. I never, never smoked again. I know it sounds too simplistic, but I believe smoking is the absolute prime key to a short life.

I served in the Navy and spent decades in the corporate world, and it was long before people began to wake up to the dangers of cigarettes. At that time, it seemed everyone smoked in their bunks, at their desks, in the johns, at meetings, in restaurants

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