Want to Make it to 100?  Follow Burns' Example.

Sometimes medical news stories are in traditional, scientific publications, and sometimes I find out about them at the newsstand. Two stories appeared this week, one very serious and the other very inspiring.

This week’s Journal of the American Medical Association and New England Journal of Medicine were almost entirely focused on world wide public health concerns about continuing problems managing infections. Here at home as well as worldwide, the problem with the HIV virus is worsening. We’ve had the horrible Ebola scare, and live with the certainty that more such viral outbreaks are inevitable.

Perhaps even more sobering is the problem of growing antibiotic resistance to previously easy-to-kill bacteria such as pneumococcus, one of the common causes of bacterial pneumonia.

When you sense that your doctor is reluctant to give you an antibiotic "just in case things get worse," understand that this is an attempt to help control the problem of infections being resistant to antibiotics due to their overuse.

Well, so much for the dark side. The other major medical news story this past week, a story to get excited about, was the one-hundredth birthday of George Burns. There was a very nice story in The Dallas Morning News last Saturday. I picked out a number of lifestyle related items to review with you. How did George do it?

Exercise - Every day, a swim in the pool (fat burning, aerobic, cardiovascular) and a session of Royal Canadian Air Force exercises (muscle toning and building, higher metabolic rate, better calorie burning). Mr. Burns did a lot of dancing in his Vaudeville days, so he must have had a pretty good sense of the benefits that come from being in shape. However, I would bet that his swimming was nice and leisurely, mild to moderate as the experts say.

Alcohol - It seems that Mr. Burns had a martini or two on a regular basis. Whether or not alcohol is your pleasure, it is a medical fact that one cocktail or glass of wine a day is protective against heart disease. It raises HDL cholesterol. Some researchers say a low HDL cholesterol is the single most important predictor of early heart disease.

Laughter - This was a very funny man! Certainly the stress reducing value of humor coupled with his lengthy, loving marriage to Gracie Allen had a lot to do with a very positive and forward looking life-attitude. When asked what his doctors thought about his remarkable longevity and productivity, Burns replied, "I don’t know. They’re all dead." I can picture the twinkle in his eye and the wave of his cigar as he delivered the punch line.

Nutrition - He ate frequent small meals. This was a man ahead of his time! No question about it, multiple small feedings daily present the best opportunity for your body to burn what you consume, when you consume it. This beats the alternative of storing excess calories from meals as body fat. I frequently ask my patients to close their eyes and visualize their favorite car, pretending it has a very small gas tank, one that needs fueling many times a day. Picture your body as that fine motor machine, and fuel it properly. Go ahead, try it! You’ll feel better.

Great genes and some good luck!

George Burns represents the opportunity presented by aging, instead of the predicament. While it is true that he is now not doing so well, this in no way diminishes the smile I have every time I think of him. He has not been flamboyant. He has definitely been inspirational.

You see, I’m getting ready to be 100. I plan to start playing in a band, maybe to do some composing, when I’m about 80. I used to think that such dreams were just a little mind game.

Now, thinking about George Burns, maybe I’d better starting humming those tunes in my head onto a tape. With some luck and a continued healthy lifestyle, I just might need them later. To Life!
 

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