访谈录 2011-03-14&01-16 长寿奥秘

Who doesn't want to live forever?  The Longevity 1 Project is an eye-opening book based on one of a kind study, following 1500 people over eight decades. This book changes everything we thought about how to live a long, productive life. We're joined now by doctors Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. Thank you.  And shall I call you Howard and Leslie?  (Definitely.)All right, thank you, thank you, thank you!

This is just remarkable 2. Howard, first of all, tell us a bit about the study.

Well, this is really a breakthrough study, because it’s the first scientific study that followed people from when they were children -- and that back in 1921 -- throughout their whole lives, when they went through adolescence 3, as they went through young adulthood 4, as they got married, had their own children, went into their careers, aged 5, to see why some people thrived, lived long, stayed healthy, other people kind of fell off the healthy path and succumbed 6 and died before their time.

But to have that body of information, it’s just unheard of. Leslie, is there a best indicator 7 one thing that really stood out why people live long?

The best most consistent predictor was actually conscientiousness 9. So a conscientious 8 person is someone who is dependable, and organized, prudent 10. They think they had their persistence 11. When they start something, they stick to it. That… it might sound like he's a boring person,

these aren’t boring people.

No, no.

We knew, have those qualities, you tend to have more opportunities. You have opportunities to do really cool, fun stuff.

All right, well, let’s have a little “True and False” here, because that will help us get the message across a little bit more. We are gonna start with you first, Howard. True or false? Carefree folks live longer than worrywarts.

What do you think?

I think it’s a little good to worry.

It is. It turns out, right. It's very important...

So it’s false. Carefree people do not live longer than the worrywarts.

Yeah, right. We found, in fact, that you always hear take it easy, don’t work so hard, and distress 12 yourself. We felt people didn’t work themselves to death; they really worked themselves to life. The people who were committed to their careers, worked hard, stayed involved and succeeded in their careers actually stayed healthy and lived long.

Cause how many times that we hear of somebody that they have been working all their life and then to retire, and then they retired 13 and they died soon thereafter. Because they don’t have…

Well, because they lose their social ties. They lose their friends. And they lose their reason to get up in the morning. So it’s really important. If you like your job, keep working.

All right, Leslie, I got a question for you here. Gardening and walking are better for your health than vigorous exercise. True or False?

True, in a sense. We’re certainly not saying that if you love jogging, you need to stop that. Or if you love vigorous exercise, you shouldn’t do it. It’s certainly good for you. But the thing is we know we should be active, and yet so many of us are not active, because we try to do things that really don’t match with our styles. We don’t enjoy it, we get bored, we feel overwhelmed, and so we quit. And so, what we recommend is that people find something that they enjoy, if it’s gardening, or hiking or tennis or wood working, whatever it is, that’s the thing you are gonna be able to do consistently. And the consistency 14 is what really matters.

Do what you love.

All right, Howard. We get a final question for you. Folks who have their nose to the grindstone all the time live longer than slackers. I think we pretty much know the answer to that.

Yes, definitely true. The prudent, hard-working, conscientious people who's stuck with it, that stick to witness factor really is one of best predictors of living a long and healthy life.

All right, well, thank you, Howard, Leslie. I wish we have a little bit more time but we are gonna see you tonight on Nightline and dig into this a little bit more. So thank you very much. And again you can see it, about - learn about living longer, a longer life. Go to ABCnews.com/GMA and check them out tonight on Nightline.