Hugh Hefner has a pretty sweet life, scantily clad beautiful women surround him.  He’s rich beyond any normal person’s wildest dreams, and basically, he can do what he wants.

Despite a lifestyle that seems to be all about debauchery, Hugh Hefner has managed to live to the ripe old age of eighty-six, pleasing several wives far younger than him, and never had a health scare that came to public light. Obviously, the man is doing something right.

Whether you think he’s totally awesome or a kiddie-chasing lecher, you have to admit that the man looks really healthy and good in his eighties.  Can we learn anything from the sex and excess that Mr. Hefner has turned into a salable brand? Yes, indeed.

[spoiler title=”tl;dr – click to read summary” style=”fancy”] Hugh Hefner, a successful 86 year old man lives life to the fullest because of the following four reasons: he doesn’t let age stop him, he’s always trying new things, he believes in fidelity and he is free of sexual inhibitions.  [/spoiler]

If you’re male, you probably think he’s all that you could ever hope to aspire to.  If you’re female, you may feel ambivalent to downright hostile about this peddler of the perfect female form.

However, you can learn something from Hef because he has weathered several storms, lived to a ripe old age, and has had a blast doing it.  Here are life lessons that Hugh Hefner can teach us in keeping ourselves healthy even at an old age.

He Doesn’t Let Age Stop Him

Hugh is eighty-six.  Think about people you know who are eighty-six.  Do they look that good?  Do they have the fun that he has?  Do they even think about sex at that age? Probably not, and that’s the problem.

The man does not seem to realize that he’s supposed to stop at some point.  The idea that he’s now an elderly senior citizen does not keep him from pursuing everything he loves about life.  In fact, he reaches in with both hands, pulls it to his face, and takes a great big inhale of excitement.

We can learn from this by pursuing the things in our lives that matter to us the most.  Most people feel that when they hit middle age, they can’t do anything like they used to do at a younger age.  Pursuing that promotion, taking up rock climbing, going back to school, and having incredible sex are all activities that we mistakenly believe are beyond us when we reach the middle age.

Hugh is proof positive that you are wrong.  No, you may not be a jet-setter or a playboy, but you can still pursue your dreams.  If you want to be an athlete, a poet, or anything that used to get you jazzed when you were little, you can do it at any age you are in right now. Embrace it man, and to hell with age.  It doesn’t matter to Hef, and it shouldn’t matter to you either.

He’s Always Trying New Things

Okay, most of the things he’s trying are sexual, but that isn’t the point.  In his early life, Hefner had a vision for a men’s magazine that far outstripped anything else that was around at the time.  He had the vision and chutzpah to pursue something as outrageous as Playboy magazine. Say what you will about the magazine and how it impacts our culture, but the idea is that he could get something so out of the box to be considered extraordinary.

You can learn from this by trying new things yourself.  Do you have any outrageous idea?  If you don’t, you really should have one.  Only in the outrageous can we find the places where our hearts truly soar.  Once you have that idea, pursue it.

Make the changes in your life that scare you.  Hugh Hefner has been through several marriages, each with younger and younger wives.  That’s pretty outrageous, but he has managed to find happiness.

The takeaway from this is that a life lived safely is not a life at all.  There is excitement in the danger zone, living on the edge. There are limits of what is expected and accepted and what really wakes us up to life and Hefner, is what is there at the edge.

He Believes in Fidelity

It may sound odd, but Hugh Hefner is a faithful husband. Although the man is a symbol of sex, when he’s married, he’s a one-woman man.

Now, when he’s not married – which was a large portion of his life – he feels free to play the field.  In fact, he even had up to seven girlfriends at once, and you can bet they weren’t playing Monopoly during their time together.

Why would someone so sex obsessed decide to be faithful in marriage?  It speaks to a strong sense of integrity, a guiding set of principles that he adheres to that bring meaning into his life.  If he were simply a man who slept around, it wouldn’t be extraordinary.  The fact that he has a code of behavior is far more interesting.

What this means for the common man and woman is that you need your own moral compass.  We all have ideas of what is right and wrong.  Perhaps you think that sleeping with over a thousand women is wrong, and you would not be alone in that thinking!

Having your own sense of integrity and internal code of conduct make you feel good about yourself.  This isn’t to say that others must live the way you live.  No, you are the only one who is responsible to your internal code of ethics.

When you follow an inner idea of what is right and wrong, you find peace in yourself.  You are living according to what you think is right, and your own code is far more important to you than outside factors.  Mr. Hefner leads a life that others would find repulsive, but he is true to the ideals he holds dear. And that makes all the difference.

He’s Free of Sexual Inhibitions

Finally, we come to the realization that we were all probably thinking when we read the headline. “Sex keeps Hef young and vigorous”.  Well, maybe and maybe not.  He’s certainly a liberated sexual person, someone who has had multiple partners and apparently still has great sex even in his eighties.

Maybe only iron men like Hugh can pursue sex so aggressively, but probably not.  Sex is one of our most basic needs.  In our youth, we deny it because of cultural taboos or certain moral codes that we feel we should believe in.

In our middle to older age, we feel that sex is now an activity closed to us.  Instead of taking the time to see the wonder and pleasure that comes from simply having a sexual relationship, we find reasons to avoid it.

How old are you?  Thirty?  Forty?  Fifty?  Do you think you are too old for sex?  The lesson from Hugh Hefner is that you are never too old for sex.  It helps to build self-esteem, increases that human connection, and can make you more physically fit.

You should probably also trash those ideas of what sex can be, while you’re at it.  If you think that one position, just lay back and think of England is what sex is about, well, you’re wrong.  Sex is closeness.  Sex is more than positions, orgasms, and embarrassment. It is an expression of love.

Hugh Hefner understands how vital is sex to life, and that’s why he’s made it his life’s work to promote sex to a new generation.  This isn’t to say that you should go out and try to have hundreds of sexual partners.  The takeaway is to set aside some time every week for sexual activity – no matter what it is.

No studies have proven that sex can lead to a healthier life, but it works for Hef.  At the very least, you’ll have some fun trying to live a life as long and as full as he has.