I love taking online quizzes. I am not sure why. I also love to go back and try and change my answers so that I can get a better score. Surely I am not alone in doing this, right?

I know that it is silly, but the overachiever in me can’t help it. Yes, even if it is a quiz that tells you how long you are expected to live. I am forced to go back and say that I eat fish twice a day every single day and run while I am eating it just so I can see my life expectancy go up to 125 years old.

I liked this particular quiz, the Vitality Compass, I had read about at the NY Times, because it plots each answer on a graph.

the quiz results [are] based on a complex, 106-page algorithm developed by Dr. Robert Kane, a physician and a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Also, the premise seems to be mostly common sense, the things that we should all be doing anyway. (And the sort of behaviors we should be modeling for our children, too.) Eating healthy, exercising, being social. I can definitely use improvement on that last one. Most social circle these days is mostly related to my children and their activities, and while that is perfectly acceptable, it would be nice to have some social activities that belonged just to me. Now to just find a way to add a few hours to my day.  Oh wait, that is making me feel stressed…

I saw that I can raise my life expectancy by not getting stressed, or angry, or depressed. (uh, yeah.) By eating more servings of vegetables and fruit. By not salting my food. And by going to church. If I made those changes I could add a little over four years to my life expectancy, bringing me up to a life expectancy of 97 years old.

Also, I should be drinking at least a glass or two of wine nightly. That will not be a problem to incorporate. No, I am not an alcoholic in training, I am drinking for my health!

With all of these things in mind, I am well on my way to making improvements and living to be 97 years old, most of them healthy. You know, unless I get by a car tomorrow, which is always possible.