What are good things for self defense in martial arts?

[Gayle Stanfill]

Greetings All

I will cheat a little on this one. A traditional martial can
definitely keep you alive. NOT because of some cool kung fu self
defense move but because wanting to do well in one's "art" can
motivate one to partake in vigorous physical activity. I want to
kick higher in my forms so I stretch a little, I want to whack the
kicking shield a little harder so I weight train, I want to be able
to spar for several rounds so I do intervals on the heavy bag. So one
is not necessarily defending ones self from potential mysterious evil
doers but from actual threats to life such as stroke, heart disease
and osteoporosis to name a few things we have to "defend" ourselves
from on a near daily basis.

Gayle