"I mind my own business," "and I don't eat junk food."
This is her secret for her long life.

What kind of medical sense her statements do make ?
That is my question.
We can understand not eating junk food would help us live longer.
But what about the statement, "I mind my own business."
In my opinion it also makes good medical sense.
We all know how fast being the president of USA speeds up the aging process?
It's well known that any responsible job being a doctor or other professionals or
being in higher governmental or business company positions would do the same.
In other words, the amount of stress involved has everything to do with longevity.
Stress is the original culprit, the original sin, of all ailments and the most critical determinant
of the human longevity.
There are numerous ways dealing with stresses, we know.
And "minding my own business," I believe, is one way dealing with it.
I often tells my elderly cardiac patients not to watch CNN or other world news on TV
in order not to stress themselves unnecessarily.
This is, I believe, consistent with what this lady is saying, "minding my own business."

A good advice by her and you, sun-bae-nim.

Human life span is getting longer and longer.
No wonder Korea has many seminars how to
deal with aging -
    to 100 years last year, this year? 110 years.

But they have to Retire in mid-50?
Any advice here, sun-bae-nim?

Dr. Lee, tell me all about it about the "minding my own business."
A webmaster is the worst job to keep minding his own business.
I routinely interfere other people's writing and get hated for that !!
So, obviously, I am not doing myself favors to live longer.

But since interfering (or minding) other people's business is my business,
I am technically still minding my own business.
Then, where do I belong?
The best solution in this dilemma may be "Not to worry about being hated, but just enjoy my business."

As long as you enjoy, WM,
Longevity is Guaranteed.

We need you here too.
God knows that -
  you're doing for others.

I agree, WM.
You have a stressful job.
But you know many wise ways to deal with it so that you won't lose a day in your natural longevity, I can bet.
We all say we strive for an optimum amount of stress for our daily living.
That optimum amount is for each of us to find and keep it.
Our own body and mind do tell us that.
We only need to learn to hear the message.
I believe you know better than any of us  in that of art listening to the message.

Medically speaking, there is a trend that shows
nice people do die sooner and nasty people do tend to live longer.
It has to do with our immune system being less than up to par when nice people care too much about
other people's problems.
One of my hobbies is to study hundreds of Catholic saints' lives.
Most of them have died young. Only very rarely some of them lived long.
I explain this along the same vein.
I've engaged in discussion about this subject with a couple of long time patients and priest friends.
So let me reassure you, WM, in that
the more people hate you, the longer you may live.
I certainly don't mean you are the nasty fellow.
Don't get me wrong on that.

I've been interested in this subject for decades of my career.
Some twenty years ago, I was making late rounds in the critical cardiac care unit at the hospital,
may be around 7 o'clock in the evening. As I was sitting at the nurse station, I realized that
some ten of patients, seriously ill with heart ailments, turned out to be simply nicest people you'll ecounter
 in your life. I realized that indeed nice people do finish last and die sooner.
I rounded up a few of the nurses taking care of my patients and asked them if they agree with me
so and so are indeed exceptionally nice persons, etc.
They all agreed.
For many years now one of my frequent advices for these cardiac patients is that
they should learn to be nasty, they should learn to say no when their companies and bosses dump more and more
work because you keep saying yes, etc. etc.

To make a long story short
my message is that every one of us needs to be a good student to learn this art taking care of our own body, mind
and spirit and gain the necessary wisdom, otherwise we go sooner.
I believe that's the way it is.
No wonder I decided to pray to HIM all the time because I don't know anything.
I really do not know anything. None of us knows anything. We are only creatures and creations.
All these advances in science and medicine, are nothing but a laughing matter from the perspective of Creator.
We humans certainly think it is a big deal. I don't think so.

I love your saying, "the more people hate you, the longer you may live."
Now, I remember an old Korean proverb of exactly the same meaning.
Why didn't I think of that?

To be honest, I do not consider my job to be stressful at all.
I never felt it stressful. I do it because it's a challenge, and I enjoy it.
To make it better, it is totally voluntary and there's no money or pay involved
that certainly may make a lot of people anxious.

Looking back, feeling "consciously" and "subconsciously" stressful are different thing.
One may not know the other.
When I was in my busy practice, I enjoyed my job, and I had never felt conscious stress.
However, after even a simple surgical procedure (as a surgeon) that I could have done with my eyes closed,
I always found my BP way up high when checked in the recovery room.
After a few episodes like that, I was convinced that there must be a subconscious stress that I do not feel consciously.
It was one of the reasons I retired as soon as I could.
The moral of this story is that, though one may not feel stressful, there may be hidden subconscious stress.

Anyway, as you said, we can figure this out and then adjust our life accordingly.
In addition to that, some stress and challenges may be essential vitamins of a good and healthy life.

Well said, WM.
We alumni are blessed with an ideal WM, a godsend, free of charge.
You know things like air and water that cost us nothing are critically important for life.

I agree with your view.

Thank you for your comment, Dr. Bang.

In case you didn't come across, there is a paper back, called "Blue Zone."
This is a book that studied the life styles of people over age 100.
Some 20 scientists sent to four or five places where people live long and physically active
and many of them are older than 100 years of age.
National Geographic sent these scientists to examine the life styles of these people.
Out of these expeditions came the book, called "Blue Zone."
Okinawa, Japan, Loma Linda, 60 miles east of Los Angelus where 7th day adventists live,
one Italian village, and one village in Dominican Republic were chosen.
None of these people eat junk food and they all physically active, as I remember.
You may find it interesting if you care to read it.

운영자님, 이선생님, 방선생님!
여러분들의 좋은 많은 글을 보면서 저도 Stress해소 많이 합니다.
물론 선생님들의 의견에 전적으로 동의하지요.

"죽음 직전까지 갔을 때의 스트레스"는 육체의 고통이었습니다.
"수술받고 살아난 다음 아무것도 못하고 있을 때의 스트레스는 아무것도 못할 거면 왜 살아났나?"입니다.

이제 좀 움직일만 하게 되고 나서의 스트레스는 "무얼 할가"를 찾아 두리번 거리는 것입니다.
빨리 ㅡMy own business-를 찾아야 스트레스를 줄일 것 같습니다.

불행한 이야기 하나는 우리나라의 많은 노인들의 스트레스는 돈입니다.
이 스트레스는 참 도망가기가 힘듭니다.