Get a good education. Get married. Don’t gain weight.

These are some of the keys to long life for Zoomer men, according to a US study.

In fact, nine factors in all were identified as good predictors of which 50-plus men would live healthily into their 80s and beyond, according to a 40-year study of nearly 6,000 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii. The study, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded men were more likely to remain healthy, vigorous and disability-free at older ages, if they avoided certain risk factors.

The risks linked to insulin levels such as being overweight, having high blood sugar, high triglycerides and high blood pressure— are strong indicators of whether men will survive to old age and whether they will be healthy if they do.

Men are also more likely to live longer, if they possess a strong grip which indicates overall strength and fitness, have low blood sugar, avoid heavy drinking, and don’t smoke.

The study found that men who followed the healthful criteria had an 80 percent chance of living to age 80 and a better than 60 percent of being healthy at that age. On the other hand, those with six or more of these risk factors had less than a 10 percent chance of living in their mid-80s.

It’s something we’ve always suspected - that attractive people have an advantage when it comes to finding a job. A new study suggests that while handsome men do better while looking for work, good looks can end up hurting a woman’s chances of scoring a job interview. Israeli researchers came to that conclusion by sending more than 5,000 resumes in pairs for half as many job openings. In each pair, one CV was without a picture while the second, otherwise almost identical CV, contained a headshot.

The resumes of "attractive" males received a 20 percent response rate, nearly 50 percent higher than the response rate for "plain" males and more than double the 9.2 percent response rate for men who didn’t send pictures.

However, the study showed that, contrary to popular belief, "attractive" women were called back for a position LESS often than "plain women", as well as those who had no picture on their resume.

Women without pictures had the highest response rate, 22 percent higher than plain women and 30 percent higher than good looking ones.

When a man included a photo with his résumé, employers found that it showed confidence and that the candidate was presentable. But when a woman did the same, it was viewed as a negative, suggesting she was “attempting to market herself via her appearance.”

Bottom line the researchers say one way or another, beauty distorts the hiring process.

LADIES, if you’ve ever thought that having a younger husband would give you a boost, think again: New research from Denmark shows that boy toys can be bad for your health.

Researchers have long thought that younger spouses were better for both men and women. But new data gleaned from 2 million couples destroy that theory.

Younger wives are better for men’s health, but younger husbands can be deadly for women.

The numbers show that women who marry men seven to nine years younger increase their mortality risk by 20 per cent. In contrast, men who marry younger women decrease theirs by 11 per cent.

Researchers are at a loss to explain this. They say one possibility is that couples with younger husbands violate social norms and thus suffer from social sanctions. It’s also possible that a younger husband may not enrich a woman’s social life or provide companionship and support late in life. A younger wife, however, appears to do all of those things for her older husband.

But it may not be so good for those young wives. The study, published in the journal Demography, says marrying a much older man shortens a woman’s life somewhat.

Apparently, the best choice is to marry a man of exactly the same age. But don’t worry too much. The researchers want to remind us that marriage overall still raises life expectancy for women and men compared with people who don’t marry.

What’s the tone of your conversations? Surprisingly it makes a difference in whether or not they will provide you with mental benefits. A study finds friendly discussions with other people can help you solve common life challenges, but conversations that are competitive in tone aren't helpful.

Researchers from the University of Michigan found engaging in a short, 10-minute conversation in which participants got to know another person helped boost the their performance on a variety of cognitive tasks involving memory, self-monitoring, and the ability to suppress distractions. But when the conversations had a competitive tone, the participants showed no improvement on those tasks.

They believe that performance boosts come about because these social interactions induce people to try to read others' minds and take their perspectives on things. Bottom line: the findings suggest that having a friendly talk with a colleague before a big test or presentation may prove beneficial.

Here’s some news about a natural pain-killer – and it’s not exactly something a doctor can prescribe. Researchers say falling in love can act as a potent painkiller because love stimulates the brain's reward pathway, much like the rush of an addictive drug. It’s probably because the euphoric phase of a fresh romance has been linked to brain regions rich in the chemical dopamine.

Study participants looked at either a picture of their new love or a picture of an attractive acquaintance, or they were given distracting tasks. Researchers touched them with a hot wand to induce moderate pain and scanned their brains.

They found that looking at their loved one and distraction produced equal pain relief, but the distraction worked through cognitive pathways while the romance triggered a surge in that reward pathway.

That means the brain can generate pain-controlling responses without medications.The next question is whether better understanding of the love-pain relationship might somehow help scientists tackle chronic pain.

It’s no surprise. A healthy lifestyle will help look good as well as feel good! Living well is not only good for your health ... researchers studied the aging differences in identical twins ... and found one part was genetics, but the visible signs of aging also depend on the health choices they made. Here's a list of the top five aging mistakes ... and what you can do to fix them.

"Yo-yo dieting" alters the ligaments in the face and makes you look older. Instead...find your ideal weight and maintain a healthy diet and exercise plan to help you stay there. Don't lose too much weight.

If you're over 45 ... remind yourself that having the body of a 15 year old, size 0 model will make you look "less" ... not more ... attractive.

Bad lifestyle choices such as "smoking" make you appear older. Stress is an ager. While you can't necessarily avoid a divorce or quit your job, you can seek out ways to help deal with that stress. And eating too much sugar leads to sagging, wrinkled skin.

Cut back on sugary products with ingredients such as corn syrup, glucose, fructose and sucrose.

Here’s some good news about getting older. A new survey suggests aging may actually help us take it easier and be happier.

On average, people reported being less worried after the age of 50, and less stressed and angry in the years after their 20s. People in their 70s and 80s had the fewest negative emotions. That was the case even though they were dealing with more medical problems and the deaths of people close to them.

Researchers at New York's Stony Brook University came to these conclusions after examining a 2008 Gallup phone survey of more than 340,000 people who live in the United States.

The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found people were more stressed and angry in their 20s, and their levels of stress and anger declined all the way through their 80s. As for worrying, from around 20 to about age 50, the pattern was flat. But then there was a reduction in how much people worried through their 80s.

What's going on? One popular theory is that people stop looking forward as they get older and begin appreciating what they have in life. It’s also possible that they make decisions to maximize their pleasure in the now.

Bottom line it’s another piece of information that debunks some stereotypes about older people. And that’s good news for Zoomers.

We all know that it’s a good idea to cut back on red meat. Now a new study finds the kind of meat you eat makes a big difference. The research published in the journal Circulation shows eating processed red meat -- such as hot dogs, bacon, sausage, and cold cuts -- is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

But the study shows no such link for unprocessed red meat.

Eating one serving a day of processed meat -- or the equivalent of a single hot dog or two slices of salami -- was associated with a 42% increased risk for heart disease and a 19% increased risk for diabetes.

Eating unprocessed beef, pork, or lamb was not linked to a higher risk. The study is the largest research review ever to attempt to tease out the health impact of eating processed vs. unprocessed red meat. Both types of meat contain similar amounts of fat and cholesterol, but processed meats contain about four times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives.

The finding has important implications for public health. The researchers advise that eating processed meat once a week would be fine. And they caution that this study should not be taken as license to eat unlimited amounts of unprocessed red meat.

They say a smile can brighten the darkest day. Now researchers think it can also extend your days.

A study in the journal Psychological Science examined a database of professional baseball players and found those who put on a happy face in their official photographs — ended up living longer than those who didn't smile. Those with broad smiles lived an average of five years longer than players who didn't smile — reaching an average age of nearly 80. Those with partial smiles lived an average of 73 years.

While psychologists have found increasing evidence that a positive outlook leads to a more stable and happy life, this is the first time they have linked smile intensity with lifespan.

Psychologists say this makes sense but it doesn't necessarily mean people who don't smile a lot are facing a shorter life expectancy.

Bottom line, it’s another indication that happiness is good for your health.

Here’s a way to improve your health while you’re having a lot of fun. Researchers reviewed several decades' worth of studies on sex and health, for the Journal of Sexual Health. While the underlying reasons might be unclear, here's a list of health benefits that people who have frequent sex enjoy.

1. A longer life

In a British study, men who had intercourse at least twice a week lived longer than men who had sex less than once a month. And in a North Carolina study, women who reported enjoying sex more lived longer than those who didn't report enjoyment.

2. A healthier heart

In a British study, people who had sex less than once a month had twice the rates of fatal coronary events, compared with those with the highest frequency of intercourse.

3. Lower blood pressure

The study showing this benefit was in the journal Biological Psychology.

4. Lower risk of breast cancer

A French study found that women who have intercourse infrequently had three times the risk of breast cancer, compared with those who had sex more often.

5. Lower risk of prostate cancer

A Minnesota study found that men who'd had intercourse more than 3,000 times in their lives had half the prostate cancer risk of those who had not.

Other benefits from sex include pain relief, a slimmer physique, better testosterone levels, healthier semen and fewer menopause symptoms.