Thumb War and Longevity

Yep, being a winner at 1, 2, 3, 4, I declare thumb war can indicate a better chance at longevity! Who’d a thunk it? Here I had ample opportunity to play this past week and weekend with some grandsons and all I did was chase them around on scooters over numerous sets of railroad tracks, bowl, and take in the Lego Movie. Not that even if I did happen to challenge them to thumb war I’d win necessarily. The key to thumb war and longevity is quick reaction time. Winning at thumb war is just one example of that. A study was done over 15 years with 5,000+ participants that showed a link between reaction time and longevity. At first I thought that was a lot of thumb war but after further reading I found that the participants’ reaction times were tested via computer. Each participant between the ages of 20 and 59 took the test 50 times. When the researchers ran the numbers for all these and adjusted for age, sex, and ethnic minority status, the people who had slower and more variable reaction times on the test had a higher likelihood of both all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. So I read on and found that reaction time is like genetics, something you can’t do much to change. This is where other healthy activities take up the slack. My grandkids did keep me outside and on the go last week so much so that I decided I deserved a nap after they got on the road yesterday. I’m just happy that spending time with grandkids and thumb war are good for my heart.