Image by: Robert Neff
By Kurt Garrity

Who doesn’t want to live forever? OK, I can think of a few people right off the top of my head, but this isn’t about MMA fighters who get into the cage with Anderson Silva. This is about you being healthy and living beyond your expected statistical death date.

Maybe you can live forever – or, for sure, at least a few years longer – if you would just make minor changes to your day. And these methods aren’t dependent on complex formulas, shakes you make, or the latest techno whiz-bang science findings.

These are basic, tried-and-true ways to do better by your body that everybody seems to forget until its too late.

Sunscreen Should Be Your Friend

The sun is awesome, we all can agree on that (those of us who are not albinos or Conan O’Brien). It is the giant burning battery that runs all of this planet … stuff (sorry, I don’t watch Nova). While small amounts of sun is essential to health and well-being, getting yourself too much sun is VERY bad for the body.

Left unprotected, the sun can cook your skin like an egg, leaving your layers burnt, brown and leathery. And then’s there’s that dark disaster known as skin cancer. Yikes.

Bottom line: Slather sunscreen anywhere on your skin the sun shines and keep your birthday suit looking younger and feeling great.

Cook Lighter

Next time your are cooking fish, skip the salt and the butter and go for a nice blend of herbs and spices. Bam! You know, the funny-looking little jars of twigs and leaves you keep in that one cabinet you never go into. Spices have exotic names like rosemary, thyme and paprika.

Befriend them. Get yourself reacquainted. Mix and match. Experiment.

But doing so you will cut down dramatically the amount of sodium and fat that enters your system, thereby reducing cholesterol and inhibiting other conditions that can negatively affect your health and ultimately your lifespan.

Can’t do without salt? Give yourself one week off from the shaker and see how things start to taste better, fresher, cleaner. Once you “detox” from your salt addiction, you can return to using a pinch, not a pour.

When The Urge Strikes You …

If you feel like you have to go to the bathroom, don’t wait if you can help it. Your body is telling you it wants to get rid of this stuff now for a reason. Letting “old” urine sit in the bladder for any extended length of time only increases your chances of medical complications, especially if you are a woman (I know you still read this man stuff).

What’s the big deal about holding it? Well, for one thing, you can damage your bladder if you push the envelope too often. And when bladder issues rear their ugly head, that’s when old folks get into diapers. You don’t want to have to wear Depends in your fifties or sixties do you?

Free the pee!