How to live to 100
I received a lot of positive responses to the Positive Thinking report I wrote, so here I am again giving a synopsis on another topic that interests me, and maybe you as well.
I listened to an excellent TED audio presentation on my way to work. It was called How to live to 100.
1. 1 in 5000 people live to 100.
2. Our bodies are designed to last us around 90 years of age, but the average life expectancy in the USA is 78 – 12 years less than what our bodies were designed to last. This is because we are go out of our way to stress our bodies until it breaks.
3. He stated that our cells regenerate every 8 years and each time they do, they are a little more damaged and by the age of 65 the damage begins to compound exponentially.
4. Our genes and diet are major indicators of how long you will live. Being born into a family with poor genes will likely shorten your life, no matter what you do from that point on.
5. So the study went looking to find on the planet an area where the most amount of people who lived to 90’s and 100’s and they found three places. One is in Sardinia off the coast of Italy where the oldest living males live, second in the United States (California) for the longest living women (a sect of Seven Day Adventist’s religious group) as well as group of ladies who live in Okinawa off Japan.
6. So what did they all have in common. Well, nothing major that jumps out at you but here are some of the things they learned.
a. None of them had a regular exercise routine, but they did exercise through everyday lifestyle. They were active, had a lifestyle that required physical activity. In Sardinia they lived in the mountains and therefore had to walk up and down the streets all the time. The ladies in USA did not have appliances and conveniences so if they baked a cake, they had to make it by scratch.
b. All of them ate a plant based diet…vegetables, although the study found they did eat meat – Sardinia men loved their meat and Mediterranean diet. Okinawa residents ate more tofu and soy products than anywhere else on earth. USA women didn’t drink, smoke or do drugs and ate mainly vegetable based diet – but they had a spiritual lifestyle.
c. All of them watched that they didn’t overeat…by eating with smaller plates, eating smaller portions, and the ladies in Okinawa kept to a diet of around 1200 calories a day. This is considered too low for most people but for them it appeared to protect them (through the starvation mode our bodies go into when we eat a restricted calorie diet).
d. One of the most important thing they found was they had more best friends throughout their lifetime. In the USA the average person has 1 ½ friends…the lowest these groups had was 3 friends and most had more.
e. They lived in a real sense of community…either by religion that bound them together, or in the case of the 100 year old Okinawa women, they were a group of friends that were in constant contact with each other daily throughout their entire life.
7. The study found people usually become friends with people much like themselves. If overweight, most of their friends were overweight. If you want to be healthy, you need to surround yourself with people that are healthy. 50% chance you will become overweight if your friends are overweight.
8. They have found that walking is the number one major exercise activity that will extend your life. This is more important than your diet.
9. Obesity is the quickest way to shorten your life. Mortality rates are doubled in obese people. Your body has extra weight to carry around and contributes to illness in old age.
10. The presenter told a story about one 97 year old man who didn’t like the quote he was given for work to be done on his house so he did it himself – huffing and puffing all the while as he worked outside in the heat. He ended up in a hospital later on that day but not because of the work he did on his house. He was a doctor who continues to do 20 surgeries a month. Have an active lifestyle. Keep your brain moving.
11. The old adage that we become ill as we get older is bull. With proper exercise, diet, and friendships we can stay healthy and active into our 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
Summary of how to live to 100
1. Pick your parents well – your genes are a major factor
2. Eat a majority of vegetables diet
3. Keep an active lifestyle – walk when you could drive, swim, do things by hand instead of by machine
4. Have lots of friends – more that 3-4 good close friends keeps you laughing and enjoying life
5. A social network – religious or otherwise…spirituality of some form – provides us with lower levels of stress hormone in our body.
Peter A Brandt 
