Correction Appended

ASPEN, Colo.

ON an afternoon in December, Dr. Henry S. Lodge, Chris Crowley and some friends set out on cross-country skis into the Elk Mountains outside Aspen. They had two goals. One was to reach McNamara Hut, a wood A-frame with no electricity, for "dinner by headlamp." The other was to grow a little younger.

Dr. Lodge, an internist in his 40's and a member of the Columbia University Medical School faculty, and Mr. Crowley, a retired lawyer in his 70's, are the authors of "Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond" (Workman Publishing Company, 2004). It reads like one long, exuberant New Year's resolution against being a couch potato, a loner, a pessimist, a TV addict or a prematurely old person. "It's a `Why To' book rather than a `How To' book," Dr. Lodge said.

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If you want to feel younger this new year, the authors have these rules: exercise six days a week, seven if you can; spend less money than you make; don't eat junk food; and care, connect and commit to others.

Being with them puts you in touch with your caveman past, even with wolves and other mammals. In the book they say that nutrition, exercise and relationships set off biological responses in us that date back millions of years. When we feel depressed because we got more junk mail than holiday cards, it's because we survived by being members of a pack, not loners. Exercise, they say, affects our bodies the way hunting did our ancestors, promoting growth and muscle repair. Idleness sends a "decay" message.

After four hours of fighting decay on skis, the group arrived at McNamara Hut. Wearing a miner's headlamp, Mr. Crowley began cooking broccoli, brown rice and veal with a cream sauce, occasionally pausing to hug anyone who came near. "I introduced hugging to Davis, Polk," he said, referring to his old law firm in New York City. "I started hugging men. At first they started to shake and quiver, but now they all do it, except for the tax department."

Connecting with others is like a youth potion, Dr. Lodge added. If you are a 60-ish Wall Street banker who has been laid off, it would be healthier to get a job as a barista than to sit at home alone. It's also healthier to be a social climber than a hermit.

Everyone ate together at a picnic table, surrounded by wine bottles. Kevin Ward, who recently moved to Aspen from London, asked if using a machine that shakes your body counts as exercise. "We have this pernicious drive to look for the shortcut," Dr. Lodge said. "But in these areas — diet, exercise — no one has come up with a shortcut."

Plastic surgery? That's cheating, the authors say.

For dessert, melted chocolate bars and a bottle of Yukon Jack. Greg Poschman, a photographer from Aspen, took a sip. "It's like nail polish remover with honey!" he yelped.

Mr. Ward said, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Eventually everyone climbed the stairs and wiggled into sleeping bags. "Cuddle up," whispered Hilary Cooper, a portrait painter from New York. "We're mammals. Don't talk. Cuddle up."

Correction: January 9, 2005, Sunday:

The Night Out column last Sunday, about Dr. Henry S. Lodge and Chris Crowley, the authors of "Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond," misstated the location of the A-frame hut where they vacationed near Aspen, Colo. It is in the Williams Mountains in the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness outside Aspen, not in the Elk Mountains.