Secrets of male longevity

The good news about male longevity is that much of it is under our control. Robert Butler, MD, is professor of geriatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and head of the non-profit International Longevity Center. Butler says “Only about 25% of what determines the length of life we have is based on genes. The rest is up to us.” Butler says this is based on the famous Danish Twins Registry study, which began in 1954 and has yielded a huge volume of information about genetic and lifestyle factors involved in health and aging.

How to Stop a Snoring Man

Sometimes I snore like a steam shovel, other times more like a teakettle. This “gentle, unromantic music of the nose,” as William Makepeace Thackeray called it, is the nighttime soundtrack in many homes. For most of us, snoring is no more than an irritant to those trying to sleep within range. But for 12 million American men, the cause of snoring is an invisible, though not-so-silent, epidemic — obstructive sleep apnea, a cessation of breathing during sleep. We snore — about half of adult…

Long life outlook: Can a little wine (or beer) help you improve with age?

You don’t have to lead an ascetic’s existence to extend your life. In fact, recent studies show that light to moderate drinking can reduce your risk of cardiovascular death. “The key word here is moderate,” cautions Butler. “We’re probably talking about two drinks a day for men. And my own advice to folks is about one drink a day. The older you get, the heavier the impact of the alcohol. But in moderation, alcohol not only has a relaxing effect, it can elevate levels of good cholesterol.”

According to a Netherlands study released in March, wine is more beneficial than other kinds of alcohol. The life expectancy of men who drank wine was more than two years longer than those who imbibed other alcoholic beverages. Earlier studies have shown that red wine may have an additional heath benefit because the polyphenolic compounds found in the darker beverage counter the build-up of fatty tissue in the arteries that can lead to strokes or heart attacks.

Culled from webmd.com