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The Secrets to a Long Life

Life and death are inevitable parts of life and at some point we all have to come to terms with those basic facts of life as I have discovered only last weekend. My totally wonderful Grandad (We actually called him Gag) passed away on Sunday morning. We were meant to be celebrating his 90th birthday next weekend, which suddenly makes it all much tougher as we have presents and cards already written and a list of party food that each family member was bringing along. Now the harsh reality is that we will be taking it to his funeral instead. However my comfort is that he had energy and good health almost up to the last few days of his life. It was unexpected, but for him he did not suffer which is the biggest comfort of all.


When something like this happens it brings up all sort of different emotions for everyone involved. I have been reflecting on his life and thinking about his secrets to great health. This is my conclusion… He had a healthy balanced diet all his life. No processed junk! He hardly drank or smoked, but of course would on occasions of celebration! He walked everywhere (Fast pace!) and he lived in Marlborough, which has plenty of hills for endurance workouts. The over all winning factor and the key to his successful life was his overwhelming optimism for life, positive attitude, deep routed beliefs, happiness, laughter and continuous sense of fun and the most incredible love and integrity for others. He was always positive, even though he had some serious traumas in his life. He was in the RAF during the war, and lost many members of his family during and after. 


He fought and survived lung cancer in 1981, but was never gloomy or down about it, remaining positive throughout. He had literally hundreds of friends around him constantly and was involved socially with many people on a daily basis during his working life and in retirement. He took time out for each and every grandchild and great grandchild loving them all unconditionally. He has been going into his local school for years every week giving the children history lessons, and everything he did, he did with love and compassion for others. Of course this is lovely for me to be able to write all these wonderful things about my own Grandad, but I am actually trying to make a point. 


Studies have shown that engaging in joyful activities involving other people create feelings of happiness, love and joy. This is because it activates areas in the brain in the Limbic structures that are responsible for creating good feelings. Therefore these feel good chemicals support emotional and physical well being, increase motivation for life and create good memory and brain function.


Chemicals are released in the body when we are doing things that we love such as endorphins, endogernous morphine and dopamine. Who needs drugs or alcohol to feel happy when we can produce these natural highs ourselves just by joyful experiences and surrounding ourselves with people we love and make us feel great. Not only do these natural highs make us feel motivated, but also they act as the perfect immune defense, ward off depression and anxiety, help ease pain and greatly improve our memory and vitality. It's official, love and pleasure and being part of a community, sharing deep bonds with others, hugging, smiling, kissing and laughing are the key to health, wellbeing and a wonderful long life.


Go and do something special for someone today and see how it makes you feel.


Denise Kelly is a BANT (British association of Nutritional therapists) registered Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist. 
She writes Nutrition Programs for a variety of organisations and has a private practise in Chichester, West Sussex and is the founder of K4 Fit Kidz. Tel: 01243 528040 www.denisekelly.co.uk