Your Health

BIZ 120

In Jewish tradition, it is customary to wish someone a long and healthy life. The Jewish version of the Vulcan “Live long and Prosper.’ is the shorter “Biz 120” which means “May you live to be 120 year old.” The reference is to Moses whose death is described in the Bible as:
“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” Deuteronomy 34:7
So, the Jewish blessing is not just for long life, but full health to the last second.

What instigated this blog is the fact that people are now getting closer and closer to the Moses target.
In Okinawa and pockets in Italy and elsewhere, there are so many healthy and active centenarians that they have been the focus of scholarly research and documentary coverage. Just recently, the media had extensive coverage on the death of the oldest surviving U.S. soldier from WW1 – at an active 110. Similarly, in the Canadian Jewish News (Feb 24, 2011, page 17) there was an article on a woman, age 104, who still cooks and bakes for her family and grandchildren.
Moreover, according to Maclean’s (March 21, 2011 pages 42-43) new research has found that centenarians in good health have 2 characteristics: elevated levels of so-called good cholesterol and a tendency to have their bodies ‘reprogram’ cells with fewer ‘errors’ that lead to cancer and other health issues -- an ongoing process called methylation.
The over 500 individuals in the Longenity study had diverse weights – including obese, many smoked and drank or did little exercise, but the above 2 factors (and possibly others yet undiscovered) have allowed them to actively carry on into their 2nd century.
As anyone can increase their good cholesterol levels through diet choices, and the discovery that some new anti-cancer blood drugs can reverse defective cell production during methylation, Maclean’s is optimistic that a longer and healthy lifespan will soon be upon us.
So there is much on the upside of aging to celebrate and look forward to.
May we all be ‘biz 120.”