Among District Council 37's demands for its 140,000 members are: a two-year contract, longevity increases, increases in both health and welfare fund contributions, longer vacations and "substantial," but as yet unspecified, wage increases.

The Bureau of the Census expects the current hiatus in the longevity increase to be brief.

The ruling included a 1.5 percent discretionary fund, not compounded, to be distributed as of July 31, the contract's last day, for longevity increases or other uses.

Opponents say that longevity increases have been smallest among low-income workers, who need Social Security the most.

"As longevity increases, people will be more inclined to save in the conventional sense," said S. Jay Levy, chairman of the Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.

This longevity increase may be due to a caloric restriction effect.

As longevity increases, one way to promote optimum health in the elderly population is through active use of each body system.

The new study of Harvard men did not examine longevity in moderate exercisers separately from that in men who did little or no exercise and for this reason may have failed to show a longevity increase from moderate exercise.

Diseases of affluence are predicted to become more prevalent in developing countries as diseases of poverty decline, longevity increases, and lifestyles change.