Sex, sleep, and longevity?

It appears that having more sex and sleeping more increases longevity, at least on the Greek island of Ikaria, which begs the question: does the sex make you live longer or does one live longer to have more sex?


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There was an interesting report on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN last night about this study that was done on the people of Ikaria, who live well in to their 90's, and yes, are still apparently having sex, sleeping until 10-11am and staying up to 2am. There was not a reference to any peer-reviewed scientific report done on this population, but I found another interesting story of a man who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1970 and decided to move back to Ikaria and lived another whopping 40 years!

Since I don't spend enough time in bed, I decided partake in the longevity calculator provided by CNN to see if my lack of time under the covers was really making me old. I figured I would do pretty good; I exercise regularly, eat a pretty healthy diet, don't smoke, and have no chronic illness.

This is what I found:
Chronological age: 27
Biological age: 23.6 (sigh...I'm still legal)
Life expectancy: 93.6
Blue Zone years: 11.4 (This is the number of extra years I have accrued due to my lifestyle)
Added year: 4.4 (If I optimize my lifestyle, and spend more time in bed, I could live to 98)


Final report; ways to optimize my lifestyle:
1) Sleep 7-8 hours
2) Get screened for alcohol abuse because I have had 5+ drinks in one sitting
3) Eat more seafood
4) Make more money
5) Get married

My thoughts:
1) I was surprised to find that any single encounter of 5+ drinks warranted a screening for alcohol abuse. I know there has to be a cut-off somewhere for health professional to start screening, but I think adding in some modifiers, such as the time period of consumption (what if this was an all day BBQ or a wine tasting), the atmosphere (were you drinking alone), or one's motivation would be useful.

2) Make more money. They asked about my satisfaction with my 'life work,' in which i replied that I was very satisfied. I understand the relationship between financial strain and health, but given that I did not express discontent with my 'life's work' that is not paying well, I figured that would be more important. It would be interesting to see if I reported making a lot of money but not so much satisfaction with work, if that would trigger.

3) Get married...grr, this is kind annoying, especially since they did not ask if I had children, or if I was content with my single-status. Studies have shown that married people without children are the happiest which maybe attributed to increased earning and more enjoying sex. They did not really distinguish if married people without children are happiest, then single, then married with children; although I have heard this around, but found no studies. I reported that I have a good support system of family and friends, however, I guess that doesn't seem to count as much. Also, given the current experiences I have had with people getting divorced, I will have to do a very careful cost:benefit analysis.

So all in all, to live another 4.4 years I need to make more money, sleep more, have more sex, and get married. Maybe I'll forgo the stress of trying to figure out how to accomplish those things, since only one is really within my control, and only live until my early 90's.