Your Life: Live and don't quit living

My mother never took daily jogs, and I haven't lived with pets since my youngest child left home over 20 years ago.

So what are some of the factors found in a person who lives a long life? Recently, my friend Pat Capra sent me an article titled “The Real Secrets to a Longer Life,” an interview with psychologist Howard Friedman about something called The Longevity Project.

In 1921, before most of us were born, this remarkable study began tracking the lives of 1,500 Americans from childhood to death.

The study continues even today, with research teams led by Friedman. They are still keeping tabs on the remaining few who are living and analyzing massive amounts of data to establish what it is precisely about these 1,500 people that led some to stay well and others to fall ill or die at a young age.

A compilation of the findings from this eight-decade research project was published in 2011 in a book of the same name: “The Longevity Project.”