What is your Real Age?

My daughter recently persuaded me to take the Real Age test which Oprah has on her website. According to Dr. Oz, the results of the test can tell you whether your health habits are making you older or younger than you really are.

Since my daughter has begun a Let's-bring-Mom-into-the-current-century campaign (which involves throwing away all my mismatched Tupperware and eliminating all the outdated clothes from my closet) I decided to co-operate with her on this Real Age idea.

Several years ago, I took a couple of similar tests - an online "Death Test" and a Newsweek longevity test. However, I didn't give much credence to these exercises - especially the Death Test, which had some really kinky sex questions, obviously designed to attract a certain young, immature reader.

I also find these recent figures less than credible, as Dr. Oz's test registers me at 58.2, instead of my true 66.1. I see several flaws in the statistics which his test questions reveal. However, it gave me an interesting evening's diversion and a few good laughs to share with my sister and some of my friends.

I can't remember all the questions, but here are a few of the good habits which they revealed: Both my parents lived to age 84; no one in my immediate family has or had uterine cancer or breast cancer; no one in my immediate family has or had heart disease; I always wear a seat belt; I've had a pneumonia shot; I have a low resting heart rate; though I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, I control them with medication; I eat five or more servings of veggies per day; I eat lots of fruit; I don't eat red meat; I eat fish several times a week; I have cats, dogs and "others" (goats); I have more than five friends whom I see each week; I don't smoke or live with a smoker (anymore); I get some exercise (feeding the goats); I have a college education; I drive the speed limit.

Some of my bad habits, as revealed by the test are: I'm carrying too much extra weight; I don't have a regular weight-lifting program; I don't get enough overall exercise; I have high blood pressure and high bad cholesterol; I talk on the cell phone while driving.

As part of my new program, I purchased a new Pilates Starter Kit several weeks ago. It includes a big exercise ball, a stretch band, and an instructional DVD. My first step was to blow up the ball. Today I actually sat on the couch and WATCHED the DVD... Now, the next step will be to sit on the ball to see if it can hold me up. If I succeed in that step, I may actually try some of the moves.

As for my very fit daughter, she registered two years younger than she actually is, but she was still told to eat more vegetables and get a dog! Her 24-year-old super-fit boyfriend had a "Real Age" of 14!

If you're feeling daring, you can check out the Real Age test at www.realage.com, but be prepared to spend some time there, and have the following items on hand: 1) Your blood pressure; 2) your resting heart rate; 3) your vitamin composition; 4) your cholesterol. If you don't know all the figures, you can just click on "high" or "low."

From the icy hills of Tillman, this is your 58.2-age rural journalist, signing off for Feb. 25, 2008.