under the microscope

Motown legend Martha Reeves, 73, answers our health quiz

CAN YOU RUN UPSTAIRS?

I’M IN pretty good shape for a 73-year-old spinster. I do go to the gym, but not regularly. I travel frequently for work, so the airport is enough of a treadmill at my age. I’ve been practising yoga for years and never skip a day of breathing exercises.

GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?

I EAT healthily. If I cook my veg, I make sure they don’t get soft, so there’s still plenty of goodness in them — a cooked veg salad is one of my favourite meals. I love turkey, too. I try to avoid pork or beef, and I don’t eat lamb.

ANY VICES?

CORNBREAD and Guinness. I started drinking Guinness in 1964 when I was on my first tour in Britain and one of the paparazzi gave me a half-pint when he saw I was flagging at the press junket. I became the life and soul of the party. I always have some in the house.

WORST ILLNESS?

AS A toddler I had pleurisy, an inflammation of the lining of the lungs. I remember getting a shot, with a very long needle, through my ribs into my lungs. As a child, I was put into a special part of the school called the Fresh Air, where I spent three years. There was one teacher and a lot of children who weren’t well — some had rheumatic fever or polio, others had autism. We had lots of naps and rest time and we were fed special meals and apples because of the belief that malnutrition was a contributing factor.

POP ANY PILLS?

DAILY vitamin C because it keeps congestion down. My mum started giving it to me after I had pleurisy.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

MUM passed away in her early 60s — she had emphysema (a progressive lung disease) after smoking all her life. Dad died of colon and liver cancer from drinking too much. Their deaths had a big impact on me — I stopped smoking in 2005.

COPE WELL WITH PAIN?

I HAVE arthritis in my right leg because of a cheerleading injury when I was 16. I put up with it. I wouldn’t want to go through childbirth again, though. After giving birth to Eric, now 44, I asked God never to do that to me again.

ARE YOU A WORRIER?

I STOPPED worrying after I had a spiritual rebirth when I was 36 and rediscovered God. I aim all my thoughts at God and if I’m all right with Him, I’m all right with everything.

COMPLEMENTARY THERAPY?

I DID once try acupuncture, but all those little pricky needles — no Ma’am, that was not for me.

HANGOVER CURE?

NOT with the amount I drink — I can have four or five pints of Guinness and be fine.

ARE YOU A GOOD SLEEPER?

I SLEEP like a rock! Even though I don’t have a set bedtime. As long as I get five hours I’m fine.

LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?

NO. I want to live this life right, so when I come back it’ll be a bit easier.