Centenarians

Yesterday I met a remarkable lady, she was 101 years old. Her grandson and his wife stayed with her because she decided at 99 that she needed a little help. I was amazed at how cogent her questions were. She certainly hadn't lost many brain cells.

Since I've always said I wanted to live until at least 95 so nothing would happen without me, I decided to do a little research. Centenarians are the fastest growing segment of our population. The second fastest is the age group 85+.

Currently, there are about 40,000 centenarians in the United States, or a little more than 1 centenarian per 10,000 in the population; 85% of them are women, 15% are men.

More and more people are now able to achieve their individual life expectancy potentials. This is a dramatic change from the turn of the 20th century, when many people died prematurely especially in infancy and the average life expectancy was 46 years. Families on average would lose a quarter of their children to infectious diseases. With the advent of clean water supplies and other public health measures, much of this high childhood mortality disappeared resulting in an average life expectancy of 64 years by 1960.

By the first decade of the next century, there will be as many seniors as there are people under the age of 20. An important component of senior's ability to achieve extreme age is their relatively high level of education, income and attention to good health habits.

There are several geographical areas that have claimed inhabitants with extreme longevity, but after closer examination, these claims have been found to be false. These regions of purported exceptional longevity still merit careful study however. Though claims of extreme age are untrue, there still may be an unusually high prevalence of very old fit people in these regions. In the Tibetan mountains for instance, octogenarian and nonagenarian elders, impressively many of them men, still herd live stock and still lead physically strenuous lives.

One important finding shows that nearly all of the centenarians were independently functioning at least to the age of ninety. Many centenarians could come from ethnic backgrounds (e.g. Celtic, French/Acadian, Scottish) that predispose them to extreme longevity. This hypothesis is based upon the supposition that extreme old age does in fact run in families.

There are likely two types of genes influencing longevity. One is the type that has already been discovered; that is, "disease genes" that have variations that make it more likely for a person to develop a specific disease. Centenarians are more likely to lack such variations. The other type of gene, as of yet not discovered has been called a "longevity enabling gene." Such genes would influence aging at its most basic levels, thus affecting the rate of aging and how it increases a person's susceptibility to age-related diseases.

It is suspected that the ability to live to 100 results from getting a combination of factors correct. These factors, such as specific genetic traits or certain health related behaviors might be quite common. However, like the lottery, it is getting the right combination of these factors and behaviors that becomes the rare event. It makes sense that the actual factors and the correct combination of those factors varies from one person to the next. Some factors such as lacking a genetic predisposition to early heart disease or smoking tobacco are likely more potent and important than others.

A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer.

So what can you do? “You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop laughing.” Cultivating a sense of humor is one of the best ways to stay youthful. Appreciating humor can keep you “mentally fit” and add fun and enjoyment to your life. It is a great stress reliever. Keep you mind active. My aunt and uncle did the crossword puzzle in the newspaper everyday well into their 90's. Exercise, it doesn't have to be a half hour walk. Recent research indicates that even a small amount of exercise makes a big difference in health and fitness. As actress Helen Hayes put it, “If you rest, you rust.”

And last but not least, stay positive. Keep life's events in perspective. And drinking a little green tea can't hurt. L'chaim...to life!