There are two kinds of factors that affect man’s life span: the ones affecting man’s physic directly like nutrition; the ones affecting man’s psyche directly and his physic indirectly like spirituality. Some of these factors are discussed in article.
What factors affect man’s life span? Many people speak of healthcare and physical exercise. But in fact, human beings have two main aspects in their creation: physical and spiritual. Human physic is under the influence of his psyche or his spirit.
God the Almighty who is the Creator knows man’s needs better than him. Hence, according to the revelation man must pay attention to his physic, as a trust of God, and his spirit, as God’s spirit. In order to do so, God the Almighty has given man certain instructions. For example the Almighty God revealed to Moses on tablets: “… Express thy gratitude to Me, and Honor thy father and thy mother so that I protect you from destruction and delay thy death, and bestow upon thee a clean life and take you to the better side of this life.”
On the basis of these teachings, the following factors are considered as the ones that affect man’s life span adversely or favorably.
First Factor: Sin
One of the most important factors for calculating the length of our lives is calculating the times and sizes of the sins we commit throughout our lives. The higher the number of sins we commit, the shorter will be the length of our lives, and we will be deprived of blessings and our lives will be in vain. Imam Sadiq (AS) says: “The number of those dying as a result of committing sins is higher than the number of those who die in bed” (Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 5, P. 140).
Also Imam Sajjad (AS) alludes to some sins shortening life span of the human beings: “Sins that speed up destruction of man are: cutting off kinship relations, false swearing, lying, adultery, obstructing path to Muslims and false claim of Imamate and Islamic leadership.” (Maani Al Akhbar, P. 271)
Second Factor: Nutrition
One of the important factors that can help calculate the length of man’s life is nutrition management, i.e. what to eat, how much to eat, and how to eat. In addition to eating helathy and nutritious food, avoiding gluttony will play a key role in determining the length of your life. Avoiding gluttony is so much important that the Almighty God has expressed His wrath toward those with a habit of eating too much: "Eat from the good things with which We have provided you and do not transgress [or oppress others] therein, lest My wrath should descend upon you. And he upon whom My wrath descends has certainly fallen into destruction."
Therefore, we can certainly say that those with wise management of nutrition and eating food live longer.
Third Factor: Effective Relationships with Other People
Effective relationships with other people, especially with relatives, is another important factor for calculating the length of one’s life. It is a key factor in helping human beings live 30 years longer than what you have expected. Cutting off kinship relationships with relatives and other people will reduce your life span very much.
Imam Sadiq (A.S) says: “I know nothing better than observing the bonds of relationship to increase life span. The Almighty God increases the life of the one who observes bonds of kinship to the extent that life of one who is expected to die in three years is extended to thirty-three years and the life of the one cutting off bonds of kinship is shortened from thirty to three years.” (Al-Kafi, Vol. 2, P. 153).
Forth Factor: Relations with Parents
Parents play a key role in increasing the length of one’s life. Academic findings indicate that children who live with their children enjoy a relatively higher level of emotional wellbeing compared with peers whose parents are often absent throughout the day.
In other words, children who are away from their parents experience higher levels of emotional distress.
If someone honors his parents, as recommended numerous times in the Holy Quran and in the Islamic traditions, his life span will be prolonged. Therefore, this is another important factor for increasing your life span. The Holy Quran says: “And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, "My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small." (Al-Asra: 24).
If you honor your father and mother and if you make them happy and pleased with you, you will live longer, as the Prophet (PBHU) says: “God the Almighty told Moses (S) on the tablets that: “… Express thy gratitude to Me, and Honor thy father and thy mother so that I protect you from destruction and delay thy death, and bestow upon thee a clean life and take you to the better side of this life.” (History of Damascus, Vol. 61, P. 128)
According to the teachings of the holy Quran, when parents grow old, their need to caring becomes more and more. Hence, healthy relations with parents affects the wellbeing of parents and their children both. It affects the parents because such relations fulfil their need to nourishing, while looking after the parents increases self-satisfaction among children, who fill that they are repaying their debts.
Healthy parents-child relationship positively affects the behavior of the children. According to scientific findings, adolescents who experience supportive and affectionate relationships with their fathers are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior than peers who do not experience such a relationship. This naturally prevents the children from engaging in wrongdoing and brings about wellbeing which causes longer life
Translated by: Sadroddin Musawi http://english.tebyan.net