Are you having enough fun?
The key to longevity if you’re middle-aged is to simply have fun, say experts.
British scientists have found that over-50s who consistently enjoy life cut their risk of dying in the next seven years by a quarter.
A team from University College London tracked more than 9,000 men and women in their 50s and 60s living in England.
The researchers suspect this may be because someone’s general mood can alter the levels of harmful and beneficial hormones in their body.
Simply being happy reduces stress and anxiety hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can be a burden on the heart and raise blood pressure.
Previous studies have found those who are less stressed have lower cholesterol levels, are less prone to inflammation, have a better immune response and higher levels of antioxidants in the blood.
As well as this, if you are miserable, you are more likely to smoke and drink to unhealthy levels.
The findings come after a study published last week by the Harvard School of Public Health found that optimists lived longer.
The scientists found that having an optimistic outlook was linked to a significantly reduced risk of dying from cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and infection.
So what are your views? Do you have a high level of enjoyment in your life? Would you describe yourself as an optimist or a pessimist? Are you generally happy with your life?
What are your views?
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We laugh everyday.
We were so very much in love, just ambling along enjoying what we had together, then BLAMM, it hit us like an atomic bomb, it knocked the stuffing right out of us, Ann more than me, my poor little darling, she should never have been one to have got this devil inside her................
I'm not sure I ever did fun it seems to make me a little uncomfortable ,but I do find some things funny like Fork Handles
Andre Previn and other classic TV moments.
I am content and mostly happy and when I;m not I wallow in some tears and very seldom a tantrum aimed at the cat who flicks his whiskers in disgust and leaves to complain of his lot to our long suffering feline understanding neighbours.Miawow
Far better to watch a fallen leaf float down a stream and bet how far it goes before getting stuck.
I have fun playing my computer games, no grinning there ( unless I slay a super monster).
Different strokes for different folks!
Life to be lived is the mixture we as each human has. But a situation in which one can have great laughter is a tonic. Just as food in the correct balance is fun to make and eat for the health and wellbeing. As children we had what was our fun of innocence, learning and experience. Thinking back to my childhood and teenage life I lived by my wits even then. Down the years since that time life is of little and large packages. Some more difficult to open and live than others. Such is life!!! The hardest part for some that are bearing the scars of life, is to look at them as weighty and unsightly and not let them dwell in the mind and quell a passion for fun moments.
Let's face it, life is not always pleasurable. Suffering exists. I suspect it's healthier to accept this rather than continually strive to be positive all the time.
There's nothing wrong with a moment of quiet, slightly melancholic reflection.
I am disabled and practically housebound. However I am still the optimist, I see the preverbial glass as half full, instead of half empty. My husband who is ten years my senior, is the pessimist and he manages to get out and have fun at least once every fortnight.
I have recently started crocheting and this makes me happy. My laptop is almost always switched on so I can keep in touch with the outside world.
You don't have to leave the house to have fun I suppose. The most important thing for me is to be happy with my lot and for this I am grateful.
Here's a glass ( half full) to you!
My maxim has always been " if you think it, you can make it happen, train your brain".
I have read some good books about this very subject.
My life has been a disaster and if I allow myself to dwell on it, I know I will succumb to depression and who knows what else. Psychosomatic illnesses are sometimes a result of holding onto pain.
I choose to see the bright humerous side of life, there is absolutely nothing I can do about the past. Glass half full kind of person. My health is terrific. Maybe it has got something to do with attitude after all!
I salute your courage and optimism.
It seems so unfair, however I try to deal with life now one day at a time, yes remember our dear love ones yet try to live for today, not worry to much about tomorrow until it arrives.
The clock tics and time is fairly short now, so I guess grabbing every little sun ray of light and happiness is my way of living life to the full. Even on a bad day to look for just one small spark no matter how small it might be brings us warmth, something to smile about and if we are lucky we make some good friends.
The state of dying and I are not strangers, I've seen much of it. But there's one here on SS who has seen much more of death than I.
May I suggest that these days we do not accept so easily what our ancestors knew as a part of life. Death.
May I also suggest we do not any longer understand that contentment and inner joy is the main stay of our existance. May I suggest also that death is not an end, no, it is a beginning; we do not quite see that, but I believe it to be a fact.
Let us rejoice in that we have had the company of these lovely people, these precious animals who have enriched our present lives.
Let us be glad for them, all of them, that they are out of this horrible turmoil which is this century; wars, rumours of wars, pestililence and disease; family break downs and the all pervading assault on everything we know and hold dear.
Let us turn our sorrow to gladness - they do not face the uncertainties of a tomorrow which we do; they are safe from tomorrow.
Be glad, they are safe, as we will be one day.
How much better to understand losing loved ones is in the order of things, the natural order. In time, others will think much the same when we are gone.
If we concentrate only on earthly things, the things of this life, then our grief will always be unquenchable. But look to eternal and unchangeable things and our grief turns to joy.
Joy? Yes, they're out of this horrible mess, oh what joy, and we will soon be in that place too.
Khalil Gibran
You are far to young to give up on having fun. I know we all have a history, some of us its been a very tough past. However please don't give up. There is always something to enjoy, something to make you smile, and if lucky laugh. Its never to late for anything.
My hubby and I are bikers, we have been all our married life. We are now in our 60's and still enjoy a ride out on 1 of our 6 bikes. It's great fun and we will continue to do it for as long as we are able.
She is my little furry bundle of life and love.
Happy New Year
Rachel xx
I have sent out cards & gifts, but very few will come my way. It's very lonely as my daughter is travelling around the world & is in NZ - so it takes a huge amount of arranging to talk to eachother. Sadly my son has cut me out of his life for reasons I do not know - I have reached out to him, left the door open & welcoming should he want to come back. I have just lost a cat who had only just turned 8 which was unexpected - this time out year is awful - 4 family deaths & 2 pet deaths - so my home is not decorated for Christmas, I feel a tad like scrooge I guess - as in it's just another day - for me nothing special.
So Nope! Not having much in the way of fun!
Technology speaking I have a MSc in it - IT/Computing - so that side of it is ok - we also use VOIP on our mobile phones which makes calls seem very close - no time delay.
Judicat, I too have been through this very dark place, a place where all seems bleak - few if any can be trusted, everyone else is happy and enjoying themselves whilst you ... well, you are grieving over so many losses and suffering so much pain, a pain no one may enter into, just you. It seems death is all around, who is next? My cat, dog, or the only friend I have? Sickened of death and funerals. Yet no one wants to know.
I too worked myself silly, driving a truck through two tachos - trucker's speak for working two shifts, illegally - irresponsible I know, but company wasn't something I wanted. Just needed to purge the pain of deaths and marriage break-up. But whatever I attempted didn't work. It takes time, just time. But time wasn't granted me. Whilst hauling 38 tonnes of truck on the M40 a heart seizure occurred. Lost my class 1 licence.
The only work I could find was as a male carer for the chronically ill, geriatrics and those, sadly, terminally ill. In empathising, not sympathising, with these people my personal pain faded.
Their place was far worse than my own; For each person or couple I stayed with there was no way out; the end was already known, just not quite when. And with that came the fear of death. But as I sat with them, holding their hands quite often, a different 'me' was forged. When a death occurred, often in my arms, yes, sometimes I would cry. Men don't cry, right? Wrong! This man learned to cry in those days.
I had been so self absorbed - consumed by what others had done to me, consumed by the hand fate had dealt me.
Please understand Judicat, I'm not saying self absorption is you, but it was me. My inner peace came by reaching out to others less fortunate than myself. Striking out, going against the current, doing the other thing, taking a risk that something very unpleasant was sure to happen.
Keep in contact Judicat, people like you give life to a place like this and you have so much life to give.
May I add the words 'distracting from the present'?
My home is stricken by chronic illness, and yet, even through the bad days, there is a repartee between my wife and I that is fun to us.
Fun is watching my Collies just be dogs when out on a free range run.
Fun is teasing my teen aged step grand daughter - she always responds with something clever and witty.
Fun is that momentary glance between lovers, no matter how old, that moment of frisson.
Fun is that off the cuff remark that sparks laughter, even on dark days.
Fun is that moment when our eyes meet, we know the other's thoughts and break down in hilarious laughter, but daren't say why.
Fun, yes, there's loads of it around. You don't even need to look for it, because it just happens.