Life, longevity, and a slice of cheesecake

by Amy Meade

Happy News Citizen Journalist

Good news from the science world today: starving oneself will not significantly increase the lifespan of human beings. Starving, or caloric reduction, was recently advanced as a means of lengthening one's life after a study on mice and worms showed that members of those species that consumed fewer calories lived significantly longer than their more hungry counterparts.

A mathematical model, however, shows that starving can only increase a human being's natural lifespan by a maximum of 7 percent. Why? Because calorie intake is only one factor that effects the length of one's life.

In the words of John Phelan of the University of California Los Angeles and Michael Rose of the University of California Irvine, "Longevity is not a trait that exists in isolation; it evolves as part of a complex life history, with a wide range of underpinning physiological mechanisms involving, among other things, chronic disease processes."

Published in Ageing Research Reviews, the study concluded that suffering years of misery to remain super-skinny is not going to have a big payoff in terms of a longer life.

Phelan took the words right out of my mouth. Starving might add an extra five years to one's life, but is it worth living those five extra years if you have to sacrifice the guilty pleasure of an occasional slice of cheesecake in order to achieve them? What ever happened to the theory of enjoying everything in moderation?

Naturally, there are those among us with eating disorders or who need to follow a restricted diet for health reasons. But the starving theory goes beyond food and eating. It's a sign of our quest to live longer healthier lives at nearly any expense. We may be living longer, but are we necessarily living happier? We strive to work more efficiently and productively, not so we can have more leisure time but so we can work even more. We inject ourselves with Botox so we can look in the mirror and see someone younger, not realizing that we can see younger versions of ourselves in our children. We concern ourselves with consuming things like organic vegetables and all the things that go into our bodies but seldom think about things like words that come out.

Life is more than a physiological process; it's a sum of experiences meant to thrill and enlighten us. The birth of a child, the fender bender on the freeway, even something as simple as an ice cream cone on a hot summer's day-all of these things are part of a greater whole. Life is a delicate balance. Take away the bad elements, and a human being will not experience the personal growth that comes with overcoming obstacles. Take away the good, and hopelessness and despair will ensue.

Life is more than just life-it is living.

So take the time today, and every day, to find joy: be it in a cherished memory, a lunch hour spent on a park bench, an email to a lifelong friend or perhaps a piece of dark chocolate (since we've been told it's good for us anyway). Scientists and doctors may be able to improve the quality of life, but our quality of living is entirely up to us.

This story was produced by a Happynews Citizen Journalist.

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