The Old Man And The Pub

One of the issues which probably represents a reason of concern for most of us nowadays is the problem of longevity.No matter how stressful life may be at some points it’s still beautiful and we want to enjoy it for a long time.There are moments in our existence when we take some key decisions to help us improve our health,and those decisions usually imply paying more attention to physical activities and giving up on some of our vices and pleasures of life,such as smoking,eating tasty,but generally unhealthy food,or maybe drinking alcohol on a regular basis.There are sacrifices most of us eventually do because we realize that otherwise our chances of having a long and happy existence are rather slim. However,it looks like there are people who are lucky enough to be able to enjoy longevity even without doing too many sacrifices.This is the case of Arthur Reid,a 90 year-old gentleman which has been visiting the same pub,The Griffin in Warmly,England, every day for 72 years,an achievement which allowed him to be featured on Yahoo News.It is estimated that he has drunk about 30,000 pints of beer since 1940,when he first entered the gates of his beloved pub,and I think he’s going to improve his record as he gives the impression that he has enough strength and lust of life to spend a few more decades visiting the pub daily. No matter how remarkable this record is,I’m sure that if most of us followed Mr.Reid’s example and went to our favorite pub every day for many years we would not reach his respectable age in a good shape;on the contrary,I suppose the effects of the excess of beer on our health would be negative,so I guess Mr.Reid’s incredible longevity is the result of several factors;it may be something genetical,but there might other also be other explanations.I think one of the reasons Mr.Reid managed to reach such an advanced age while consuming his beer every day for 72 years consists in the rich social life he had,since the constant interaction with other people and regular customers of that pub allowed him to be socially active all the time and avoid the negative feelings and states of mind usually caused by loneliness,and that positive attitude had a significant contribution to his longevity. While Mr.Reid represents an unique case,an exception and the most effective ways of reaching 90 years are certainly others than going to a pub every day for seven decades,I still think there is something we could learn from this man’s amazing story:no matter how exciting it is to spend long hours on the Internet,it is much better to get out and communicate with real people from time to time.It’s a way of having a more positive attitude towards life and an extra motivation for us to try to enjoy life for as long as possible.