Exercise body and mind to keep them fit; or lose you wits and fade away.

In case you still find it a challenge to get off the couch or do mental arithmetic (when shopping for example) this week more evidence was published showing the dramatic difference between people engaged in life and those waiting to die.

A study showing that elderly people who exercise ‘live five years longer’ was published the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

While earlier in the week, a BBC journalist reported being trounced by a brain-training octogenarian!

While at first you might think that walking and thinking are bygone arts of a pre-modern age when we didn’t have cars, phones, computers and media devices, in fact they are core to your happiness and well-being.

Exercising makes you feel good. It’s a fact. Endorphins stimulate the happy parts of your brain. And you don’t need to be a champ, you just need to move, everyday. Simply standing is nearly twice as good as sitting. The study publicised today recommends only 3 hours of exercise a week. C’mon everyone can do that!

And as for thinking, well isn’t it sad that we’d rather slide a finger across a screen than do the thinking that the human brain was built for? That we can’t add up a few groceries in a bag or even guesstimate the change we expect from a purchase? No wonder we’re defrauded by bankers, politicians and big business when we can’t be bothered to read a label. Thinking can be fun too, because, here again, an active mind releases its own happy chemicals.

If the positive encouragement is not sufficient, ask yourself if you want the machines to take over. It’s happening. The futuristic scenario of The Terminator is becoming reality as artificial intelligence and android engineering advances. We already have self driving cars and robochefs. It won’t be long before rich people can get rid of the rest of us because all production will be automated. And then the machines might decide to get rid of humankind, after all we’re not looking after the biosphere.