5 Ways Astronomy Can Help You Live To 100

November 12, 2009

You need not look far to see books, blogs, and all kinds of health gurus talking about the latest ways you might live to 100 years of age.

Meditation.  Exercise.  The “Okinawa Diet”.  De-stress.  Keep your mind active, and so on.  All good ideas, no doubt.

But it got me thinking… doesn’t stargazing help you live a healthy lifestyle worthy someone who might live to 100 years old… and beyond?

Hmmm… that got us thinking.  Can stargazing help you live a longer life?  Let’s see… here are five thing astronomy can do for you that match up with the advice of the health gurus…

1. Build Muscle Mass
Scientific studies of longevity say maintaining muscle mass and bone density may help you live longer and enjoy the years you have left.  Makes sense.  While amateur astronomy isn’t exactly the decathlon, it does take a little muscle to drag your telescope and mount around the backyard, or set it up at your favorite dark-sky observing site.

So don’t think of setting up your scope each night as a chore… think of it as a healthful workout.

And if you have a too-small telescope, tell your spouse you need to upgrade to a bigger scope because it’s good for your health.  Hey… it’s worth a try…!

2. Don’t Be A Loner
This one seems to be one of the most important: good relationships are critical to a long and healthy life.

As a hobby or profession, astronomy can be as solitary or as sociable as you want it to be.  While it’s nice to sit alone at a telescope and ponder the stars from time to time, it’s a lot more fun to share your enjoyment with others.  If you’ve ever been to a star party or local gathering of amateur astronomers, you know what I mean.  The positive energy of dozens or hundreds of people doing and sharing what they love is infectious.  At the end of the night, you’re tired but happy.

There are many pleasant opportunities for socializing and establishing friendships around your interest in the night sky.  Take advantage of them when you can.

3. Manage Your Stress
Apparently, pleasure is good for you. Really good. Not only does it counteract stress, it also causes your cells to release a natural antibiotic called enkelytin.  Pleasure from chocolate, coffee, or a dram of fine whiskey can serve as self-medication.

Life is fair sometimes, is it not?

And there’s not much more pleasurable than looking up into the night sky and finding your way to one of the thousands of stunning objects that await your inspection night after night.  If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.

4. Eat Healthy
If nothing else, stargazing will keep you away from the couch, the T.V., and a bowl full of junk food.  And you don’t want to have your fingers in a bag of Cheetos before handling a $400 eyepiece.  Fine optics and greasy snacks do not mix.

5. Exercise Your Brain
Cognitive research shows that boosting your mental horsepower might have as potent an effect on your brain as drugs used for dementia.  For an amateur astronomer, there are endless possibilities for deep thought… from learning how to read a star map to understanding how stars evolve, to figuring out how to take a really good picture of the night sky.

And just try to wrap your mind around how big the Milky Way really is: if the galaxy was scaled down so the Earth was just 1 inch from the Sun, Pluto would be 1 meter away, the nearest star would be 4 miles away, and the Milky Way would span 100,000 miles… almost halfway to the moon.  And the Milky Way is just one galaxy among hundreds of billions!

If that doesn’t get your brain moving, nothing will.

Now we can’t promise stargazing will help you live to the age of 100.  But it will certainly make your remaining years more rewarding.  If you’re new to astronomy and want to get started right, our own Stargazing for Beginners is worth a careful look.  Or if you already know your way around the sky, learn how to see further into the cosmos with Secrets of the Deep Sky.

And it certainly can’t hurt to eat your broccoli.  At least once in a while.

Well, that’s it for today… except don’t forget the Leonid meteor shower, which is supposed to peak early on November 17.  It might be a good show this year.  While the radiant of the shower is in Leo, you’ll can see the meteors anywhere in the sky.

Posted in Miscellaneous



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