When Dorothy told Toto in the Wizard of Oz, “I’ve a feeling were not in Kansas anymore,” she spoke for many mid-lifers who make choices daily that slide them over the banks of well being. Now research affirms that slippage can be fatal. Often, it’s simply a matter of seeing why to change, and finding better options that lead to healthier horizons. Your brain will do the rest.

JAMA just reported, for instance, that men who avoid certain risk factors during midlife life longer, and healthier lives. But mid lifers, much like King Atlas from Africa, who carried the world on his shoulders, also have a harder time changing their mental maps to avoid pitfalls along their paths. Scott Sander, in his book “Writing Along the Way,” suggested that, “Only by leaving that familiar ground did I discover one place among many places.”

We often know what we have to do. In this study, for instance, we discovered that midlife men who avoid smoking, overweightness, excessive drinking and hypertension live longer and healthier lives. We’re told that of the 5820 original male participants, 2451 men or 42% survived to age 85 years. Of those 655 participants or 11% only, met the criteria for exceptional quality of life to 85 years. But the facts are often not enough to fuel change.

The key is to sketch a mental blueprint to change, by leaving all familiar ground, as Scott Sander did, to rejuvenate your options. Dr. Bradley J. Willcox, warns that persons alive at age 85 years and older are the fastest-growing age group in most industrialized countries, and so there’s a higher necessity to identify risk factors for healthier quality of life at older ages.

They found that certain risk factors can be measured, and luckily can be modified, are especially important for mid-life men, few of whom survive to oldest-old ages, because of choices made in mid-life.

Although no universal mind map exists for hanging onto a finer mental and physical quality past mid-life, research about the mid-life mind shows you can rewire your brain for new choices in these identified areas of risk.

Simply forge a few fresh streams for new lifestyle choices, and you’ve already changed the lay of the land for better horizons.