I agree with getting regular and as vigorous exercise as possible, good diet, and slowing down a bit but not stopping. Your body will tell you when you've done enough. Sometimes it is hard to accept it isn't as much as you used to do. But at other times you feel great that you are able to still do as much as you do.
Other ramblings:
I am not so sure about the "no salt" advice. If you have high blood pressure, of course you need to limit your salt intake, but if you don't have high blood pressure, I am not convinced that moderate amounts are so dangerous, if not beneficial.
Statin drugs are indeed very worth while in keeping your arteries clean and flexible.
I do not deal with heights nearly as well as I used to and am very cautious on ladders and such.
Getting plenty of sleep contributes significantly to good health.
Let go of stress. Life is so much more enjoyable if you don't allow your troubles to harass you and don't dwell on the unpleasant things in life. Many people think that they have no ability to choose what they think about. But you indeed do, so chose to make most of your thoughts positive and joyful.
You should talk to my urologist. Salt in your diet is really hard on your kidneys, which will show up later in life. I've never had high blood pressure, but every time I see her, she lectures me about laying off the salt shaker. I always thought you had to salt a baked potato, but McCormick Perfect Pinch Garlic Pepper Salt Free Seasoning really works to bring out the flavor. Your tastes may vary. We also grow an herb garden. It's not uncommon for us to cook whole meals with no added salt.
Sugar is also a killer. I allow myself ice cream twice a year, sweeten breakfast cereal with berries only, and limit pastries to one a month. No glazed donuts or bear claws.
I'm really not a food freak. With lifelong low cholesterol I can eat what I want, though I'm eating more fish than I did 50 years ago. I rarely eat out, which means my meals bypass the food chemists who try to trigger cravings.
I feel that the real key to my happy 7th decade has been physical and mental exercise. If there is one thing I live by, it's "Use it or lose it." At 75 I'm still cutting and hand splitting my own firewood, hand spading and raking my garden instead of buying a rototiller, going on mushroom forays and then using stains and a lab quality microscope to identify species, building electronic projects from scratch using discrete components and modern ICs, etc. If I'm on the tractor or working in the shop, I wear ear buds and as often as not am listening to Great Courses. This week it's "Understanding Russia," which gives me insight into the totalitarian history of that nation.
Mental and physical exercise every day. There will come a time when that will end, and the longer I live the closer that time gets. Until then I'm going to stay interested and engaged with life. Just last night my wife was commenting on how complex our lives are. She's still on the board of a couple nonprofits and does grant writing consultations. Just this month one of her friends gave us a Maksutov-Cassegrain astronomical telescope on a computerized equatorial mount that I have to learn to use. In return, we have a beautiful antique cabbage shredder banjo and he makes sauerkraut. I have to refurb the banjo because it's 100 years old and a little cruddy. Researching how to tin the metal again I found out about tinning flux. What I do is not so important as the need to continually challenge myself mentally and physically.
When I was a kid, the phrase, "He died with his boots on," was considered high praise. I didn't understand until I saw it happen. My mother's best friend was found dead on a bench by her back door, her boot laces still in her hands. In contrast, my dad died in hospice, drugged into insensibility to avoid agonizing pain. The pain and drugs took his mind long before his body quit.
Meanwhile, a little buck with new antler nubs just walked past my window, to nibble the ornamental plum in the back yard. The dew is still on the grass, but as soon as it dries a bit I'm on the tractor to try to catch up on mowing and brush control. It's a beautiful spring day, and I have custom made boots that fit my feet perfectly. Life is good.
