Health

You eat filled-to-the-brim bowls of leafy green salads regularly. You take several long walks weekly. You try to log some serious zzzz time at night. But who knew that happiness could further influence how long you live?

In this case, it was my daughter and her classmates I was standing up for. The other day I accompanied her and her class to a well-known market here in Toronto. The kids, armed with clipboards, pencils and enthusiasm, were to go around and find the items on their list such as pork sausages, milk, eggs and salmon and list prices, note where the item comes from (farm? Sea?) and so forth.

A morning workout is a great start to the day — which is just one of the many reasons to join iVillage Canada, Sweetspot, and Phillips at Allen Lambert Galleria in Brookfield Place (181 Bay Street) in downtown Toronto on Wednesday, November 9, where they'll be leading a workout with Jane Clapp, one of the hottest trainers in the city.

Alcohol is one of those things — like coffee — that seems to have somewhat ambiguous health properties. Researchers appear to disagree about who should drink how much.

I've been sort of under the impression that things are going to get steadily better as I get older. Sure, there are the inevitable realities of the body. The elasticity in my skin will give, I'm already kind of thinking that I'm past the bikini years, and my childbearing opportunities are not eternal.