On this vacation we visited Busch Gardens for our first time. This theme park offers a nice variety of thrilling rides, entertaining shows and endearing animals. I picked up an interesting tidbit of information while at the kangaroo exhibit. Red kangaroos have an average lifespan of 15 years in the wild, 18 in captivity.
Everyone is different, which I imagine applies to animals as well. Many animals can, like humans, adapt to their environment as well. I suppose we need not feel sorry for all wild animals made captive, particularly those that have been rescued. Yet if you were offered a choice between an average lifespan of 75 years as a captive human, or 90 years as an autonomous one, which would you choose? We all differ, but I suspect most humans are like me in valuing an autonomous quality of life over an added 20% lifespan.
Fortunately for us humans there need not be such a trade-off. The active life is the foundation for a high quality of life in addition to increasing our health and extending our lifespan. Diet is the best place to start for your brain health, but the active life follows closely. For any goal some activities are better than others. For my Brain Health Checklist I will cover a few of the most important activities for the goal of brain health: exercise (you knew that was coming), socializing, finger dexterity, learning and medication.
