Art Linkletter's Guide To Less Stress

By Doug Donaldson

When you're well into your 90s, but you feel as good as a 50-year-old, you must have done a few things right. Art Linkletter, who died in 2007 at age 94, was a pioneer TV personality who wrote more than 20 books and loved sharing his fountain of youth secrets. Some of those secrets are revealed in his last book, written with Mark Victor Hansen (of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame), How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life (Nelson, 2006). Keeping stress at bay is a key element in maintaining a healthy heart. Last year, in an interview with Heart-Healthy Living™, Linkletter shared his top six tips for banishing stress.

Art Linkletter's Anti-Stress Secrets

• Exercise in bed and out. "For about 10 minutes before I get out of bed, I stretch my knees up and whirl my arms around. After I'm up, I grab two 10-pound weights and do upper-body work for six minutes. Starting my day like this helps avoid stress."
• Edit your cell phone. "Reduce stress by only giving your cell phone number to people who really need it. Think of a cell phone as your advantage for being in contact, not someone else's."
• Take a plunge. "I swim at least three times a week. I do half an hour of laps, followed by jumping up and down in the shallow end of the pool. There's something very calming about the water."
• Create a power list. "When I sit down to create my week's to-do list, I'll look at the previous week's entries and figure out if something should be moved up, down, or out. I compare the importance of each task to figure out what's most pressing."
• Say no. "At my age, time is the most precious thing, so I've learned to say no to more people. If you let people put more demands on you, you'll be more rushed and more stressed."
• Pick your battles. "Only focus on things that you can do, that you can change. Cut out stress that you have no control over, such as being stuck on the runway because of a plane malfunction. There's nothing you can do, so read a book, but don't get upset."