Want to live to be 100?

[Deleted]

Here's how. Lower your stress level, put raspberries in your cereal, learn to twitter and skype, start menopause later in life, have babies later in life, have a flat belly. At least that are the latest findings.

Hmmm....

btw, who would like to live to be 100?

[Deleted]

I can't imagine the twitter and skype statistics as having a sufficient long test period to be meaningful. I presume that the idea is to keep up with modern technology -- I'll buy that.

[Deleted]

But I don't want to have any more babies! And I don't know what the heck a twitter or skyping is..

Oh well, I'll just have to die young then I guess ;D

[lagatta]

Perhaps a flat belly is just a sign of those who will live longer. Obviously one should avoid a diet of crisps and beer, but those things are incredibly genetic.

No interest in babies now, though they would be unlikely at my age (though not technically impossible, avoiding TMI). No interest earlier either, if you mean human babies.

To skype I'd need a better computer (I know how to use skype). I'm leery of "social media" such as twitter, as are many of my much younger friends. There are really not enough privacy safeguards.

Raspberries and blueberries, agree utterly, but sugary cereal is not exactly an elixir of long life.

[spindrift]

I don't want to live longer than 85.

[Kimby]

Should we ask again when you're 84?

[spindrift]

Well - it's just that I've spent a lot of time with a couple who are now 97 and 89. Both are very decrepit and to make matters worse she is semi-senile and in terrible pain and he is like putty in the hands of the carer. It's sad to see. It's more than sad - it's tragic

[Kimby]

Has he been that bad for 12 years, though?
Surely there can be good years past 85.

However, an octogenarian advised a new retiree to "take advantage of your 70's, because in your 80's everything gets harder."

[spindrift]

No, to be fair he hasn't been that bad. He was fairly ok until 18 months ago. He has no pain it's just that he's very shaky on his feet these days. He has reverted mentally to a child-like state and, for me, this is especially sad because he had a brilliant brain and is highly esteemed in the medical profession.

[Kimby]

So you can revise your cut-off age to 95, then?

[spindrift]

Certainly not. Maybe I should go down to 80....which is the age I've been told I'll die.

[patricklondon]

I've probably got about 25 years left, but even if it's another 40, I don't want to end up infirm, incontinent and either patronised or drugged up to the eyeballs. Of course there are exceptional centenarians - we've been celebrating a few in the UK recently - and I wouldn't mind being one if I had my marbles, sight, my hearing and a reasonable degree of mobility and independence. If not, I might just save up for a ticket to Zurich.

[Deleted]

My father was okay until 85. And then at 86 everything fell apart and he died.

[Deleted]

My grandma was 96 when she died. Yes, I'd like to live to be 100 or 200+ (if I could). But only if I could still be healthy in body and mind.

[happytraveller]

Aug 4, 2009 18:43:04 GMT deyana said:

My grandma was 96 when she died. Yes, I'd like to live to be 100 or 200+ (if I could). But only if I could still be healthy in body and mind.

Me too. Even though 200 sounds a bit too much... considering that by then all your friends and family would be dead. And who would want to build up a new friendship with such an old chuck

[bixaorellana]

We are all looking at age from the point of view of how "old" has been in our lifetimes. However, we have no idea what the future will bring.

As Patrick points out, our perception of great age is "end[ing] up infirm, incontinent and either patronised or drugged up to the eyeballs". However, you have to wonder if the modern tendency to treat everything with pharmaceuticals, coupled with the notion that old age means falling apart, doesn't affect the way a person ages.

I'm not so much in denial that I think aging doesn't affect us, nor do I expect to be as strong physically at 80 as I was at 40. But based on longevity in my family and the fact that I am officially already old, I think it behooves everyone to try to live as though they'll live a very long time. It's a motivation to be prudent about lifestyle and to develop and maintain interests that will keep the mind lively.

[tillystar]

I was thinking about this list and the preventing dementia list and my Aunty who is 90 and is mentally and physically as fit as a fiddle does all the things mentioned in both lists, mainly she loves gardening, knitting, crosswords and skype, but including having children at 40, very rare for her generation.

If I could guarantee to be like her at 90 I'd sign up for it right now! I wouldn't like to live to be like both my grandparents who both suffered from dementia for many years and needed to be looked after. Both my grandparents and my Aunty are motivations to

be prudent about lifestyle and to develop and maintain interests that will keep the mind lively.

[Kimby]

Here's an amazing oldster who lived to be 94, and was still playing weekly gigs at the Iridium Club in New York City a few months before his death.

www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/13/obit.les.paul/index.html

[bixaorellana]

Later that evening Picasso and his wife Jacqueline entertained friends for dinner. Picasso was in high spirits. "Drink to me; drink to my health," he urged, pouring wine into the glass of his Cannes lawyer and friend, Armand Antebi. "You know I can't drink any more." At 11:30 he rose from the table and announced: "And now I must go back to work." In recent weeks, he had been working especially hard, preparing for a big show of his latest paintings at the Popes' Palace in Avignon in May. On this night, before he went to bed, he painted until 3 a.m.

On Sunday morning Picasso awoke at 11:30, his usual hour, but this time he could not rise from his bed. His wife Jacqueline rushed in and then called for help. At 11:40, before a doctor could get there, Pablo Picasso was dead.

Above from Time Magazine, April 23, 1973

Picasso was almost 91 1/2 when he died.

[Deleted]

My grandma was still very sharp at 96. Her mind was fine, but her body just gave up

She actually died 3 months after my dad, who was her first born son. They said she died of a broken heart, and couldn't understand how she could outlive her own child. She always felt wrong doing so...

[kerouac2]

The latest thing I read about extreme old age makes perfect sense but does not please me. People who live beyond age 100 generally have a very limited diet and always eat the same things, whether it is vegetables, fish, rice or anything else. Eating different things shocks our digestive system and is bad for our health. Those of us who like to vary our diet as much as possible, eat exotic foods and always look for innovations are hurting ourselves.

Damn!

[whatagain]

We are all going ro die early because we eat differentiated.

I asked my doc what it would take to live to 100.
He said : no smoke, no sex, no alcohol, no red meat, no excitation. Siesta, infusions, yoga.
I said ok, can you guarantee i will live to 100 ?
His answer was no, but i can guarantee it will seem to you like living forever...

[questa]

I see my friends of 49 years or so dying out now. Women who have shared much of my life, now in their 80s, needing help with just about every facet of living. At each funeral we can hear 'the bell' ringing for the rest of us. The sorrow and grief builds up. I will be 80 next year, and would like to reach that in a reasonable condition, but I don't want much more, Time to let the next generations take over, I've done my bit

[mossie]

Absolutely no way!

I am approaching 90 and already getting such trouble with my ankles that walking is not easy. This was something I used to enjoy, now, while I still have most of my faculties I try to do a bit but about 400 yards is tops.

Sorry I am having a moan, but in the words of an old song, "Roll on death, and let's have a crack at the angels"

[bixaorellana]

Oh, Mossie! Let's see how you feel when warm Spring rolls around again.

[whatagain]

Well Mossie and Questa and a lot of others, we like to have you around, so another 10 or 20 years of you would be great.

[whatagain]

But yes i got my father on the phone and he has big difficulties recovering after his knee surgery.
Got 50 sessions of kinesiology but can't walk more than 1-2kms.
He is 81.
My in law is 81 too and basically doesn't walk anymore. But i blame it a lot on lack of efforts. She simply stopped.
Whilst i have made some friends at the gym who are around 75 and more.
(And these guys always have time for a chat).