Stress is no problem: I expect it and deal with it.(marilu: eye-opening discoveries on health and fitness)

For fun, my family and I took one of those online tests that predicts how long you're going to live. It involved about 40 questions covering everything from hometown air quality to diet to cholesterol levels to how you handle stress.

My 10-year-old son Nicky's score was 92.7 years, and my 9-year-old son, Joey, scored even higher at 97.8 years. I went next and got a ridiculous score of 114.7! But my brother Lorin's score was a disappointing 69.9. After trying to coax the rest of us to take up smoking and drinking to even the score, Lorin decided to compare tests to see what he's been doing wrong.

Except for the 10 years he deducts for being a male, the difference in our scores didn't make sense at first. Lorin and I live in the same city, share the same lineage and are both divorced. He exercises as much as I do (maybe even more). And we have similar diets. However, the more we compared, the more we found differences. His blood pressure is 139 over 89; mine is 90 over 60. His total cholesterol is 240 with a 200 LDL ("bad" cholesterol) level, while my total cholesterol is only 137 with a 61 LDL.

Stress Test

The most telling difference was how Lorin answered one particular question: "How do you handle stress?" He chose answer (D)--"Not very well. Stress eats away at me and I have a difficult time shaking it off." By contrast, I chose (A)--"No problem. Life is full of stress. I expect it. I prepare for it and deal with it!"

Stress could be the main factor that's taking its toll on Lorin's health in a way that overrides his healthy habits. I want to help him, but telling someone to stop being stressed is about as helpful as telling a person to stop being nervous.

Health Concerns