Living longer is not hereditary

There is a very interesting article in today’s NYTimes-- Live Long? Die Young? Answer Isn’t Just in Genes by Gina Kolata – regarding studies that show living a long life is not necessarily due to your genes. Therefore, just because your father/mother (or cousin Vinny) lived to be 100, does not automatically make you a future member of the centenarian club. Conversely, if your family has a history of dying young, it does not mean you will too. Studies have shown there are many different factors that are involved in a person living until a ripe old age--- including nutrition.

We all (or at least most of us) want to live until our 80s, 90s, possibly even into our 100s. But in order to do so, we can’t rely on our genes. We need to rely on ourselves. We need to learn how to age healthily and gracefully.

CareTALK can help!

Dr. Ridge wrote a great series about this (which was featured on the front of Yahoo! this past weekend--- see the posting below) in the CareTALK Aging & Caregiving blog on Yahoo! Health about staying healthy during each decade of your life: 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. As you may know already, Dr. Ridge is a board member of CareTALK, VP of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, editorial director for Body + Soul magazine, and assistant professor in the Geriatrics Department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, co-CEO/co-Founder of Auricle Hearing (… among other things. When does he sleep, right? )

Check the series out. It’s a big hit with the readers.