How to Live to Be 100

What if you could live to be 100? Would you want to if you could reach that age with most of your mind and body intact? Of course, you would. And you can. In fact, thousands of people around the globe have lived to see 100 or more years. More than 50,000 centenarians live in the United States alone, and this nation has a good longevity rate but not the best.

Here are some tips — taken from some of the world’s oldest — to help you reach that goal:

1. Don’t Smoke
Winnie Langley of Great Britain, who turned 100 in 2007, starting started smoking at 7 years old. She said tobacco never made her ill, but, instead, it helped her through two world wars. When she hit the century mark, she smoked her 170,000th cigarette.

Smokers should not take this as a go-ahead to continue lighting up. Langley is an oddity, perhaps a product of very good genes and loads of luck. In the United States, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease. According to the American Lung Association, the number of people who die from smoking-related illnesses exceeds 430,000 per year.

2. Exercise Regularly
You got to love Ida Wasserman, a Florida woman who celebrated her 100th birthday in January 2008 at the gym. It is where she goes every day to walk the treadmill (at 2 mph), stair climb and use the weight machine. It goes to show, you are never too old to work out.

Study after study shows how vital exercise is to longevity. One conducted by the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, found that regular exercise can add 1.5 years to 3.5 years to one’s life. Just walking 20 minutes a day improves cardiovascular health, which can lead to a longer life.

3. Take a Cold Shower
Edward Rondthaler of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, reached his 100th year in 2005. He attributed his longevity in part to how he ends his daily hot showers: with a 100-second blast of cold water. Sound crazy?

Well, it’s not. It actually has a name: cold water therapy. It offers several health benefits, including improved circulation, stronger immune system and increased tolerance to stress. It has been used to battle all sorts of disorders, like the common cold, high blood pressure, depression and cancer.

4. Eat Your Vegetables
Mariam Amash of Israel, who was an amazing 120 years old (and showed a birth certificate issued by Ottoman Empire authorities to prove it to the media) in early 2008, credits her very long life to a vegetable-rich diet. In February 2008, she was the mother of 10, grandmother of 120, great-grandmother of 250 and great-great grandmother of 30 and knew the names of all of them.

With so many to choose from — from squash and kale to sweet potato and lettuce — there is no excuse for not eating vegetables, at least two cups a day for adults. Make a special effort to consume broccoli, green beans, corn, peas and carrots, as these five, as research has confirmed, can prevent heart attacks and strokes. We can’t leave out cabbage, which is packed with powerful cancer-fighting properties.

5. Have a Positive Attitude — Life Is Good!
Peggy McAlpine of Great Britain has always been a thrill-seeker. On her 100th birthday, she became the oldest person to paraglide, doing it on the island of Cyprus. The fearless McAlpine said such thrill-seeking kept her young at heart and vowed to paraglide again when she hits 105.

What an attitude! But that is exactly one of the key ingredients of longevity — living life to the fullest and staying positive. A study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in 2003 found that people who are optimistic are 20 percent less likely to die an early death than pessimistic people.

6. Half an Aspirin a Day
Born in 1903, Forrest Wilson of Boone, North Carolina, lived to see his 100th birthday. The only medication he took was a self-prescribed half of an aspirin a day. The man has never had to go to the hospital for any kind treatment, so maybe there is something to this daily dose of aspirin.

A study conducted by Cleveland Clinic Cardiologist Michael Lauer, M.D., (published in the Sept. 12, 2001, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association) found a lower mortality rate — 33% lower — in patients that regularly take aspirin compared to those who do not. And patients 60 years and over seem to benefit the most. Another study, this one published in the January 12, 2002, issue of the British Journal of Medicine, suggests that a dosage of 80 mg to 160 mg per day is optimal, half the dose of what is usually recommended.

7. Eat Plenty of Fish
When Yone Minagawa died in 2007, she was 114 years old, officially, at the time, Guinness World Records’ oldest person in the world. But in Japan, Minagawa’s home land, life expectancies are longer, especially for women, and it may have a lot to do with their traditional diet, which includes plenty of fish and rice and little to no processed foods.

The Japanese diet is very like that of the Mediterranean diet, one of the world’s healthiest. Both include regularly eating fish, a great source of heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids; antioxidant-rich vegetables; and rice or pasta. Add to the Mediterranean diet some nuts, olive oil and wine, and, as a study conducted at the University of Athens Medical School, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology concludes, you are eating and drinking for longevity.

8. Keep Working
On April 13, 2007, Richard Bird of Salt Lake City, Utah, made it to 100, and he did it without ever retiring. Graduating from Harvard Law School in 1933, Bird was still driving himself to work at his family’s law practice every day.

Maybe people need to rethink retiring at 55, 60 or altogether. If they are in a field where they can continue working, why not? A few years ago, researchers at Shell Health Services in the United Kingdom discovered that employees who retired at 55 had a significantly increased mortality when compared to employees who retired at 65. And employees who retired at 60 had a comparable survival rate to employees who retired at 65.

9. A Glass of Red Wine Every Day
Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at 122 years old, holds the record for living the longest. In France, where she called home, there are more centenarians than ever before, numbering more than 20,000 in 2008. What’s their secret? It could be the glass of red wine that they drink with their meal. Calment, in fact, was known to drink a little port regularly.

There has been loads of research done over the last decade on the health benefits of red wine. Much of it points to the resveratrol, a substance found in grape seeds and skin, but some of it credits the alcohol itself. Studies show that red wine raises good cholesterol and prevents the formation of blood clots and artery damage caused by the bad cholesterol. According to a study released in 2008 by the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research and Evaluation, it also reduces the risk of lung cancer.

10. Put Your Mind to Work
In September 2007, Tomoji Tanabe, 112 and of Tomoji Tanabe of Miyakonojo City, Japan, was proclaimed the world’s oldest. What did he say was key to his longevity? Avoiding tobacco and alcohol and drinking lots of milk were key, but so was keeping a diary.

Journaling or daily diary-writing is a great way to keep the mind sharp, as are crossword puzzles, reading and learning (i.e., taking some college courses). The goal is to keep the cognitive functions of the brain in shape to prevent the mind from declining. While not one of these tips can guarantee that you will live to blow out 100 candles — and remember the names of all who come for a slice of cake — they are certainly worth a try. You have nothing to lose and stand to gain, at the minimum, a healthier body and mind.