Fortune cookie wisdom

This is a little long for a fortune cookie... it was on a piece of paper that came with a pedometer.

This pedometer recommends, 'for a long life' 10,000 footsteps a day. This makes some sense. I exercised vigorously all my life, running five days a week for 30 years and it doesn't appear to have helped my heart or my circulatory system. But avoiding a sedentary life is probably good advice.

Read a 1,000 words a day. Well, maybe. I find reading is fun. For people like me, fun is rewarding too.

Write a 100 words a day. Why? I write many hundreds a day, because it generates the two following items. That may be a good reason for me, but not for many others.

Interact with 10 people a day. This is flat out good advice.

There have been few genuine competent longitudinal studies of ordinary people. There are a few done in Denmark that I consider reliable. The only other one was done in Oakland California, in the 1960's, with 5,000 people. I was involved in it. The study found that having more friends, real friends who interact with you in everyday life, was good for mortality and morbidity. Social people are healthier and live longer. Which is almost a truism. Since people are social animals.

Lastly, do 1 good deed a day. Yea. I'm strongly in favor of that. Only trouble, from years of doing it, you can never be confident that a 'good deed' will have positive outcomes. Most foundation grants have negative consequences. Helping other people is only good when they want your help. All acts have multiple outcomes, most unforeseen.

So much for fortune cookie wisdom.