Longevity: Who Will Live Longer?

Aesop got it right.

You remember the old fable of the Grasshopper and the Ant? It was attributed to Aesop who, according to tradition, was a slave back in ancient Greece.

The story involved a Grasshopper who wasted time fiddling around while the dutiful Ant laid in stores for the coming winter. When the cold winds blew and the snow fell, the lazy Grasshopper had nothing to eat. The industrious Ant, however, by virtue of his foresight, planning and persistence, was able to spend the winter cozy and well-fed.

The moral of the story was similar to the admonition in the Book of Proverbs: “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest” (6:6-9).

Parents used the fable as a way of impressing on their feckless children the importance of a whole range of behaviors that parents are wont to foster in their children – thrift, diligence, hard-work, planning, and “work before play”.

If you don’t remember the fable itself, or don’t attribute it to Aesop, perhaps you are more familiar with the cartoon versions in which Uncle Walt or Uncle Fritz took over the parental role and exposed a whole generation of young to those same virtues.

Maybe you remember Donald Duck (always a feckless, faintly ridiculous duck) and Goofy (the name says it all) playing the role of the Grasshopper and that veritable role-model, Mickey (“Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company. M-I-C see you real soo
K-E-Y Why? Because we like you! M-O-U-S-E) standing in for the Ant.

Or maybe it was the bear (so anti-role-model that he doesn’t even have a name) that you remember as the Grasshopper character and Porky Pig (“T-t-t-t-t-hat’s All, Folks!”) as the Ant.

Well, as it turns out, Aesop, the writer of the book of Proverbs, your parents, Uncle Walt and Uncle Fritz were right. Scientists have now proven that it is better to be the prudent, persistent, and planful. Not just so that you will have enough provisions for winter, but so that you can live longer.

Conventional wisdom has told us that if we are happy-go-lucky – like the Grasshopper – we will live longer. Or if we eat well, exercise, and manage stress, we will live longer. But a study that followed almost 1,500 boys and girls for EIGHTY(!) years, has shown that it is those “prudent, persistent, planful people” who actually live longer.

The study, begun by Stanford University psychologist Lewis Terman in 1921, was taken over by others following his death. Now Health scientists Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin have analyzed the data from all those years and published it in their book, The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries For Health And Long Life From The Landmark Eight-Decade Study.

They found that the happy-go-lucky, bright and cheerful children of this world, are more apt to take risks that shorten their lives. Like the Grasshopper, they don’t worry about the future. They don’t believe that anything bad could happen to them, so they take chances that, in the long run, often don’t pan out. They tend to become heavy-drinkers, smokers, and aficionados of dangerous hobbies. Not good for longevity.

The Ants, Mickeys and Porkys (aside from the dangers of overweight) of this world live longer because they worry a little about what could happen if…so they don’t take as may risks. They may stress (a little) over their lessons in childhood or their jobs in adulthood. But if they find their studies interesting or useful and if they find their work meaningful, the stress doesn’t hurt them.

Turns out, these conscientious people tend to develop better social relationships and accomplish more at work. Because of this, they “get nice opportunities in life, and so they went on to live some of the most exciting and interesting lives of anyone in the study.”

Even in terms of exercise, the cautious have it over their more gung-ho, grab-the-gusto confreres. If we push too hard, too unwisely, we are prone to injury. No-pain-no-gain, it turns out, is a formula for a lot more pain than gain.

It is more important, Friedman and Martin point out, to find an activity we love and keep at it steadily than to burn ourselves out at the gym.

And, if you’re thinking (maybe with a sigh of relief) that you’re too old and set in your (sedentary) ways to change now, think again. It’s not too late. In middle age, Friedman says, “if you can pick up some activity you like — it doesn’t have to be going to the gym every morning — that really has a big impact on the rest of your life.

“We’re really talking here about the difference between people who become sick and die in their 50s and 60s,” he says, “versus those who thrive into their 70s, 80s and 90s.”

That’s longevity.

Aesop had it right.