How I plan to live to 130 Words: Damian LangWhile talking with one of our mechanics about the importance of changing the oil and keeping equipment greased, a thought occurred to me. These simple maintenance habits keep equipment running smoothly and help prevent breakdowns when you can least afford them. Any contractor worth his salt knows that taking care of equipment is just common sense. After the mechanic assured me that he always maintains the proper levels to keep the equipment running for years, it hit me: Why don’t we treat our bodies the same way?Lately, I’ve been reading and researching longevity: how long we can expect to live and how much longer we might live if we take better care of ourselves. One fact stopped me in my tracks: In the 1800s, the average person lived to about 42. Today, life expectancy is closer to 83. In just over a century, we’ve nearly doubled it.And here's the one that really got my attention: some researchers believe advances in science and medicine could eventually allow people who are under 50 today to make it to their 150th birthday! I don't know if anybody is really going to live that long, but even if that number is off by a wide margin, the direction is clear. We have more tools and information to help us live longer, and better, than any generation before us.So I have set a goal. I'm planning on living to 130.Here's where the oil change comes back in. Think about what happens when you put good gas in your truck's engine. It runs clean, it runs strong, it does the job you built it to do. Now think about what happens if you mix that gas with water, or some other junk that doesn't belong in there. The engine sputters. It knocks. Eventually it quits on you altogether, usually at the worst possible time, usually on the worst possible day.Your body runs on the exact same principle. Fuel it right, with real food, the kind your great-grandparents would recognize, and you’re giving it what it needs to do its job. Fuel it with too much sugar, fried food, a steady diet of cookies and junk, and you're doing the same thing as pouring water into your gas tank. It might not quit on you today. But it's deteriorating toward a breakdown, and breakdowns in the human body are a lot more expensive to fix than a blown engine.I've started taking this seriously enough that I go through a full-body evaluation every year at a place called Fountain Life. They don't just check your cholesterol and send you on your way. They look at everything: the condition of your brain, your arteries and veins, your heart, your liver, your lungs and more. They can actually show you a picture of your own brain. By looking at your whole body instead of just a few numbers on a chart, they can tell you your odds of developing cancer, an aneurysm, Alzheimer's, or other serious problems years down the road, while there's still time to do something about it.And that's the whole point. Isn't it better to know now, while you can still change course, than to wait until you're lying in a hospital bed wondering how you got there? I know right now that I don't have plaque or buildup in my arteries. I know my risk of cancer or a heart attack is low, at least for the foreseeable future. That's not luck. That's knowing what's under the hood before it becomes a problem, instead of waiting for smoke to come out of it.Now, I'll be honest with you: not everything they found was good news. I've always had trouble with my balance, going back years, and when they tested me for it, I scored a 37. That's low enough that I'm at real risk for a fall if I'm not careful. My doctor at Fountain Life gave me a simple fix: stand on one leg while I brush my teeth every morning. That's it. No equipment, no gym membership, just two minutes a day. I've been doing it for a while now, and I can already feel the difference. I'm literally practicing my balance and coordination, the same way you'd train a new hire to run a piece of equipment correctly. Repetition builds the skill.I've got a buddy who's always joked that the way to live is to drink, smoke, and stay out all night right up until you have your first heart attack, and then, and only then, start listening to what the doctor tells you to do. I laugh every time he says it, because I know plenty of guys who've lived exactly that way. But I don't want to run my life, or my body, like a piece of equipment I never maintained until it broke down on the job. I'd rather check the gauges now.So here's my tip this month, and it's a simple one: get your oil changed regularly, on your vehicle and on yourself. Know what's going on under your own hood before it costs you a lot more than a set of test results. I'm aiming for 130. I'd love to see some of you out there try to catch me.___Damian Lang is CEO of Lang Masonry Contractors, Wolf Creek Construction, Buckeye Construction and Restoration, 3 Promise Labor Services, FlexCrew, and EZG Manufacturing. To view the products and equipment his companies created to make job sites safer and more efficient, visit his website at ezgmfg.com. To receive his free e-newsletters or to speak with Damian about his management systems or products, email dlang@watertownenterprises.com or call 740-749-3512.About: Contractor Tip of the Month
