On a scale of one to 10, how much does your doctor annoy you? Are you forced to wait more than 30-minutes past your scheduled appointment? That would be a 10, in my book. Or, have you ever felt that he or she isn’t really concentrating on your problem? That would be another 10.

The truth about those waits is that when doctors are paid by the number of patients they see, they may double-book patients for 10 to 15-minute appointments. That means you often end up in their office for an hour or more.

Here are some suggestions about how to handle doctors who make you wait.

1. Switch doctors. Make an appointment to interview a new doctor and just talk.

2. If your insurance company allows it, ask for a discount. Your time is valuable, too.

3. Post reviews on Internet sites. Doctors hate them!

4. Complain to the doctor and show him or her how angry you are.

5. Ask the doctor how he or she feels about waiting for a medical appointment, or any other appointment for that matter.

If the doctor is a specialist whose practice involves life-threatening emergencies, be prepared to wait without complaint. You would certainly want the doctor to address your own medical crisis with all the time, attention and care possible.

As for not having your doctor’s full attention, ask yourself if you are part of the problem? Have you prepared a concise list of symptoms for the ailment that brought you to the office in the first place? Have you prepared a list of questions? These are some of the things that make doctors gnash their teeth and give patients a 10 on the annoyance scale.

The bottom line here is that there is vast room for improvement on both sides in the dynamic relationship between doctors and patients. Do your part to make that relationship work.

The headline of a recent New York Times article (July 11), “Turn 70. Act Your Grandchild’s Age. Grandma sky-dives. Ringo Starr plays at Radio City. Is this what’s expected in life’s eighth decade?” caught my attention. Not only was it my 76th birthday, but also because I’m committed to a healthy, happy and long life. Now I couldn’t play Radio City on a bet, and I have no intention of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Nor am I planning a 1,200-mile trip by bicycle like the one my grandson just completed.

Still, I can rejoice and be inspired that octogenarian Betty White, who at 88 is starring in a new sitcom, or that Clint Eastwood, 80, is still acting and directing films. Kudos to both.

But there are a vast number of older people who fall into the middle of their ability to function healthfully. Some statistics cited in the article are instructive and encouraging. The age range used was 70 to 74. Among the findings was that 76 percent of women and 84 percent of men own their own homes. Surprisingly, only 2 percent of that age group lives in nursing homes. Both women and men experience approximately the same percentage of chronic diseases—over 20 percent had four or more—but their ailments differed. The men surveyed had more heart disease and cancer, while women suffered more from depression and arthritis. Both women and men were nearly equal in their cognitive impairment; 19 percent of women and 18 percent of men experienced mild symptoms, while 7 percent of women and 8 percent of men suffered severe cognitive impairment.

Dr. Robert Butler, who recently died at age 83, was a leading expert on longevity. And he truly lived his work. He worked until three days before his death of acute leukemia. My own husband was 91 when he died. He’d worked at his desk all day before suffering a massive cerebral hemorrhage while we were dining in a restaurant. He died a few hours later. Don’t we all long to have our passing be as easy? He played Tennis until he was 87.

His example on how to age gracefully by staying active and functioning has guided me on my own journey and pursuit of a healthy, happy and long life.

I don’t feel like I’m 76 years old and people tell me that I don’t look that old either. But here’s the best part: I’m happy, fulfilled and passionate about my newly created life as a writer. After only six years, I’ve produced six books.

What’s the point of this bragging bonanza? If we are going to live longer as predicted by the longevity gurus, we also want to live well! What’s the point of being 95 and unable to function?
I believe that our lifestyle and attitude have a lot to do with living well as we age. I know that I harp about being overweight, but folks, look around you the next time you are in a doctor’s office. How many people are there that are overweight versus how many that are at their best weight for their bone structure, height and age? If you are overweight, don’t use the excuse that you have big bones or that everyone in your family is over weight so it must be genetic.

In a July 13th Wall Street Journal article, the headline was “Eating to Live or Living to Eat.” It describes two types of people. Those who eat to live are homeostatic. Those who live to eat are hedonic eaters. Hedonic eaters don’t listen to their body’s built-in mechanism that regulates hunger.

For example, if lunch is over and you feel full at the sight of dessert, homeostatic eaters say, no thanks. But hedonic eaters don’t listen to their body’s built-in mechanism that regulates hunger. Not surprisingly, they are more likely to be obese.

The scientists who are conducting this research developed a “Power-of-Food” gauge to determine how vulnerable we are to hedonic eating. They can even tell through brain scans that Hedonic eaters have stronger reactions to images of food than non-obese people.

So the question is, if you think you are a hedonic eater, what are you going to do about it?

One thing you can do is change your diet. Studies have found that a diet of sweet, high-fat foods can indeed blunt the body’s built-in fullness signals. However, some studies suggest the best way to do this is by having a very controlled lifestyle with restrained food intake and exercise.

Knowing what kind of eater you are and why you are eating is also important so you can limit yourself from eating on impulse.