The investment we all need to make right now

Before I get back to writing on money and stock markets, here’s one thought (more important than money and stock markets) that we need to agree on.

I dislocated my ankle late last year, and while reading up on ways to heal faster, I came across Dr Lester Breslow. He was a public health leader in the US whose research gave mathematical proof to the notion that people can live longer and healthier by changing a few habits.

He was a living proof of his study, having lived to the age of 97.

Lester studied around 7,000 people in California over intervals of up to 20 years. He used quantitative analysis to prove that a 45-year-old with at least six of the seven healthy habits he chose as important could expect to live 11 years longer than someone with three or fewer.

In fact, he found that a 60-year-old who followed the seven recommended habits would be as healthy as a 30-year-old who followed fewer than three.

So, what’s on Lester’s list of seven habits for a longer life?

1. Do not smoke

2. Drink in moderation

3. Sleep seven to eight hours

4. Exercise at least moderately

5. Eat breakfast

6. Eat regular meals throughout the day

7. Maintain a moderate weight

Sounds pretty simple, right? But it turns out very few of us practise these very simple habits. We justify our bad health habits by saying things like, ‘No one lives forever’, and ‘If this habit cuts a few years off my life, it’s worth it for me to enjoy the moment’.

I spoke to orthopedic specialist Dr George Owino for his thoughts on Lester’s list, and his recommendations for good, happy living. As far as health is concerned, in a nutshell, he says: “Stop worrying about death. Start worrying about diseases. Death won’t hurt you after it happens, but prolonged diseases can hurt you big time – physically, emotionally, and financially.”

So to keep disease away, you’ve little choice but to take up Lester’s recommendations. You don’t want to be one of the people the Dalai Lama described this way: “... he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.”

More than worrying about where your next money-making investment is going to come from, start worrying about what will happen if you don’t take care of body now. And motivate yourself to healthy behaviour based on the threat of chronic illness, not of dying.