Jaime Galvez Tan’s zero-cost prescription for a healthy, long life

* Physical activity or exercise 20-30 minutes daily. An hour's walk is equal to 10,000 steps a day, even if not continuous. Tan said, "Taking the tricycle has destroyed the body of the Filipino."
* Maintain friendships. Follow the adage of to love and be loved. Keep ties with kindred spirits throughout life. Even donating to charity releases happy hormones called endorphins.
* Forgive and ask forgiveness. He said social medicine evidence shows that this works although it may be the hardest act. If the hurting person lets 10 weeks or even six months pass, then meets the offender casually without evading him/her, forgiveness has taken place.
* Laughter and sex reduce aging. Watch funny films or videos. Take forced leaves and vacation. A happy life, Tan said, is one where "every pregnancy is planned, every baby is wanted and a person is free of sexually transmitted diseases."
* Have time for stillness, meditation and prayer.
* Eat lots of plant-based food (vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, lentils) apart from complex carbohydrates and deep-sea fish. Avoid white sugar, white bread, processed meat (tocino and longganisa). Go on a monthly fast by eating fruits and vegetable for three days, something other living creatures do naturally.
* Drink warm or room-temperature liquids, mineral water, dark chocolate (tablea), green tea. He advised against distilled water which is "dead water" as it has no minerals and doesn't rehydrate the body.
* Free oneself from addictions to smoking, alcohol, gambling, drugs and sex. Also toxic are secondhand smoke, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and heavy metals.

Tan also said sleep in total darkness from seven to eight hours. "Darkness was created to make us rest," he said, adding that it helps produce melatonin that promotes youthfulness. He said, "Those able to take afternoon naps live longer than those who don't."

If one wakes in the middle of the night, never be tempted to read or log on to the Internet. Another reminder is to keep digital gadgets like watches and cell phones at least a meter away from the bed as "their electromagnetic waves interfere with the brain waves," he said. Grin