Longer Life

Most of the people I know have an interest, to one degree or another, in living longer. New research gives us some old ideas. While the jury is out on the value of any research along this pathway, the researchers admit there are mixed outcomes in the study, leaving everyone to wonder what the real Truth is.

New research, which was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference, has found that moderate drinking is linked to a longer life. Drinking about two glasses of wine or beer a day was linked to an 18% drop in a person’s risk of early death—an even stronger effect than the life-preserving practice of exercise, according to the researchers. (TIME)

Here are some other things it is linked to:

All alcoholics started with one or two (or more) drinks a day. Drinking booze is often the link from which almost every kind of problem develops. People who drink alcohol tend to be linked to more accidents than those who don’t.

Here are some other “links” related to alcohol which often shorten lives:

Driving, bar fights, road rage, boating, flying airplanes, operating heavy machinery, skating on thin ice, fishing, and arguments which escalate beyond name calling. Must I go on?

As for me, I think I will take the path which says I am more likely to live if I don’t drink, than run the risk of all the negative possibilities drinking may cause, so that I can live a couple of years longer.

And hey, I understand the “high” of running (or other strenuous exercise; think endorphins) outweighs the value of a morning-after hangover.

Did I mention the Scripture says drinking alcohol is “not wise?.” (see Proverbs 20:1)

Wise up, young man! Wise up, young lady! Life has much to offer.