The McKinsey Health Institute developed a test with 53 factors that could lead to great health as we age and then they asked thousands of older folks which factors they believed had the greatest impact on their health. How might you answer that? For me, I’d probably say my top 5 might be (before looking at the results below): having great relationships, feeling a sense of purpose, focusing on my nutrition and my exercise, staying curious and learning something new all the time, and having mindfulness practices.
What would be on your list?
Here are the top 19 of the 53 factors:
-Chip
P.S. Happy 100th b’day to Jimmy Carter this week who’s said he wants to stick around to see a woman in the White House. Many of you know the longevity math, I talk about at MEA which is the fact that our average age compadre is 54 and the #1 age they think they’ll live to is 90, so they have as much adulthood behind them as ahead of them, based upon adulthood starting at 18. Jimmy Carter left the White House at age 56 and is now 100 so, although he probably didn’t know it at the time, President Carter had 54% of his adult life ahead of him when he left office in 1981. And, he’s done quite a bit with that time – quite an encore! He’s a true modern elder, whether you agree with his politics or not.
P.P.S. Many of you who’ve come to an MEA workshop know that we occasionally offer a Poetry and Lyrics session that can be emotionally powerful as art can be a pathway to the soul. Last week on MEA Rising Circle Ranch Santa Fe Campus where Karen Jones Meadows just graduated with a Mindful Management certificate, Karen performed an impromptu excerpt from her award-winning play, Harriet’s Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman It’s worth a watch! https://karenjonesmeadows.com/