The Los Angeles Times On The "Longevity Commandments"

The Los Angeles Times sent actor / radio producer Charlie Schroeder to visit UCLA brain-aging expert Dr. Gary Small, and he reported back about what he learned ...

(Small's) anti-aging algorithm is this: Happy life + healthy life = long life. It's a simple formula, but it stymies plenty of Americans. How else to explain a self-help industry constructed of common sense? Eat less and exercise more, the book doctors tell us. Replace bad habits with good ones. You can't change what you don't acknowledge.

At least "The Longevity Bible," Small's third in a series of brain fitness titles, fortifies its commandments with reams of persuasive scientific research. Studies show that visiting "a house of worship" once a week, meditating, laughing, being married, living near a park, "eating a diet rich in antioxidant fruits and vegetables, olive oil and monosaturated fats" and owning a pet can add years to our lives. That's funny, I'm thinking as I thumb through the pages, the thought of owning a pet makes me want to kill myself.

... and how he tried to put it into practice, working on his relationship with his wife (not so difficult) and improving his diet (hard!). After a follow-up visit with Small, Schroeder seems a little ambivalent about it all:

I wondered what Cruz Hernandez, believed to be the world's oldest living person, drinks. She celebrated her 128th birthday in May and, according to news reports, sleeps most of the time. Me, I'll happily call it a day as soon as I lose the will to pretend I'm as sharp as ever.