Is struggle needed in a long life?

[jennifer_bloom]

All the long living people I know who are healthy in old age have had to struggle in their youth and the ones who did not struggle in youth, did not live very long. Like my dad had to do manual labour on a farm during the communist revolution and is now almost 70 with very few health problems. My two uncles never visited any farms or factories and both have life threatening health conditions in their 60s. My other uncle also worked on a farm for around ten years, and he is around 75 with the body of a 45 year old, very strong, and recently survived cancer and totally symptom free.

[USLegionary]

Largely depends on things like diet, conditions of work, injuries and length of time doing the manual labor.

My grandfather on my mother's side did a lot of manual labor and had serious joint and back problems because of it. He had a miserable time up until the end.

My grandmother on my father's side did a lot of manual labor working in a hotel as a waitress/cleaner. She was brought up with a poor diet and little food as they were poor and were dragged up rather than raised up like we were. She has a bad back, has had 3 strokes, has arthritis and is basically disabled unable to get out of bed most of the time. She attributes this including losing all her teeth in her 20s to her poor diet growing up.

I think if you look after your health from your childhood right to your later years you will mostly be healthy into old age unless you've some underlying medical condition or are genetically predisposed to cancer, diabetes or heart problems.

So basically exercise, eating right and not over indulgening in alcohol, smoking, sugar drugs etc.

Most health problems in America are self inflicted through obesity. In America we eat to much food and its the wrong food, we take too much sugar and there is chemicals and addivitives in everything, stuff that is banned in most other western countries somehow makes its way into our food. The possibility of basic universal healthcare in this country is impossible because there is too much obesity.

[BCRanger10]

A long life? I don't know. But a meaningful life? Yes.

[BCRanger10]

Thank you for MHO.

[boldlyblu]

A person needs trials and tribulations in life to make them a better person. So I say struggle is needed in life. But, not a long life we don't get to decide that.