How to Live to be 100 Years Old while Feeling 50 Years Young

Is it a long, healthy life luck of the genetic draw, or can anybody live to be 100 through lifestyle choices? 

Genes play a role, but new studies show that we can extend lifespan by choice.

In the New England Centenarian Study, researchers found a variety genetic factors that could explain the extraordinary longevity of some people, but a number of environmental and behavioral factors made a big difference as well. They found that bad health is not a by-product of aging either; lots of people in the study functioned independently well beyon 90.

There have been many studies on aging, resulting in two 2 primary theories and 7 mitigating factors for living a long life.

2 Theories on Aging

Damage theory: aging is caused by a lifetime assault on cells and genetic materials, like the free-radical theory of aging says that free radicals destroy cellular compounds. The idea behind this theory is, that highly reactive molecules inherent in our environments and our diets, and produced by our bodies destroy it's cellular compounds.

Programmed theory: genetics determine when we die. This telomere-shortening theory suggests that cell death is caused by the shortening of telomeres on our chromosomes. When a cell replicates, a minute piece of DNA is taken off the end of the chromosome. When they get too short, which causes the death of the entire organism. Us.

Modern society tends to believe the damage theory, as well as the older we get, the weaker and sicker we get. This does not need to be true, considering most studies show that if you live healthy throughout your life, you will avoid most disease and live longer.

Most of this has to do with diet and exercise. But these two facts are far from being the only reasons why we could, should or would live longer. The way we think about our ourselves, our lives and how well we cope with stress is as important as how many vitamins we take or how far we jog each day. Studies show:

7 Factors of Long Life

1. Eat less and live longer.

Decreasing the amount of food you eat seems to increase lifespan, reduce the  frequency of age-related disease, and put off its onset. Research also suggests that restricting calories retards inflammation and lowers blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol. However you must make sure you are still getting enough protein, fat and other nutrients. You should only follow this advice under the watchful eyes of a health care professional.

2. Excercise or die.

I can’t make it any clearer, you have to get off the couch if you want to live longer. A robust, active lifestyle will put years on your life. Walk more and move more in general, even in your older years.

3. Smile and be happy.

Long-living people are happy. They tend to be laid back, cheery, fun-loving folk. Though they have the same amount of stress, they deal with it more effectively. And it’s probably not surprising that studies consistently link hostility, depression, anxiety and a sense of hopelessness with increased risk of heart disease and death.

4. Love and be loved. 

Studies show that people who have someone to love and that are loved in return live longer. This may in part be due to them being happy, but it is more than that. It is the feeling of contentment, fulfillment and serinity that accompanies love that produces neurochemicals such as oxytocin and dopamine which have long been associated with well being.

5. Mental muscles are important.

In the Centenarian study, an agile mind was very important to longevity. New, stimulating activities seem to be the key in boosting brain activity. However, once these skills become routine, they deminish in their ability to stimulate the brain. Learn a new language, read a books, play chess, these are all activities that will stimulate your mental muscles.

6. Live like a Mormon.

Mormons are great role models; those who don’t drink or use tobacco, and who are vegetarians, live an average of eight years longer than other Americans, and have a lower rate of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. Most older, healthy people share the characteristics of clean living, strong spiritual practices and time for family.

7. Know your family history.

Most of us know some bacon-eating and cigarette-smoking, alcohol drinking whoremongers who laugh in the face of death and disease. Most of us know right-eating, non-smoking, non-drinking athletes that die before they reach 50. There is no one formula that works for everyone, as the interaction between genetics and lifestyle is very complicated. Everybody’s factors are different. The most important life-extending factor for one person might be exercising regularly, but for the next person it might be eating less fat. What is your family history? What diseases did you grandparents, parents, aunts or uncles get? If you find that cancer runs in your family, boost your intake of cancer-preventive nutrients, if they all become morbidly obese, you know you are going to have to watch your weight, and so on.

People are living longer now than at any other time in history. There are more people over 100 now than there were people over 50, less than 100 years ago!

This is in part becaus of modern medicine, which can cure many, if not most diseases now, but also because we now have the knowledge and the information to know what's good and what's bad for you.

We never knew that smoking, sugar, fat, cholesterol and many other things were bad. We didn't know about the tips I mentioned earlier in this article. We just didn't know any better to be able to live longer. Now we have the knowledge to be able to avoid the bad and do the good.

There is little excuse if you don't live to be 100. If you die before 100, 99 times out of a 100 it's because you didn't do what it takes to reach 100, the other 1 time was because of genetics. You may call that a play on words, I call it the wisdom of the ages.


Written By: Tom Retterbush

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