I want to live to 100 and be healthy, help!

[Phil P]

The thing I treasure most in life is my time. So it only makes sense that I want as much good quality life time as possible. For this thread, post what you think are the most important things to do to ensure a healthy life down the road besides eating well and excersizing, cause we already know that.

Mine:
1. Sleep: The brain cleans itself out at night of toxins and I think a lot of the mental breakdown older people get is because of these toxins. Also being dead tired affects your quality of life and immunity.
2. Don't injure bones and ligaments: Most every old person has aches and pains do to some sort of injury in the past.
3. Don't drive: The number 1 way to die early is in car accidents. So I try to both drive safely and avoid driving a lot in heavy traffic.

[Stigmata]

Don't ever use a cell phone or microwave. Also, stay away from red meat, especially if it's infested with maggots and has a slight green tinge to it.

[stigmatica]

Mine:
1. Sleep: The brain cleans itself out at night of toxins and I think a lot of the mental breakdown older people get is because of these toxins. Also being dead tired affects your quality of life and immunity.
2. Don't injure bones and ligaments: Most every old person has aches and pains do to some sort of injury in the past.
3. Don't drive: The number 1 way to die early is in car accidents. So I try to both drive safely and avoid driving a lot in heavy traffic.

All true (though the driving bit is likely to be offset by the stress of not being able to get around, unless you live somewhere that driving is rendered completely unnecessary, in which case double bonus for less stress and more exercise when getting around. Funny enough, I have trouble sleeping, have broken many many bones in my life (yes, they do cause aches and pains later, I can verify), and I drive a lot. I'm fucked?

4. Reduce stress in your life, especially on the job. Stress takes years off your life, I believe.

[msg_v2]

If you feel like you have a craving for a certain forbidden food, try eating something else, and then see if you still have that craving. Often the craving will go away.

Don't overlook the importance of actual fruits and vegetables. V8 is handy in a pinch, I suppose, even though it's probably just the reject stuff for Campbell's Soup. It can actually make you feel and think better, too. I think people overlook the way mind and body are related.

I know it counts as eating, I suppose, but this is something I had to figure out for myself and a lot of people way older than I am still haven't cottoned on to these things.

[Aurast]

I had a great great uncle who lived to be at least 100 and lived alone in his own home until the day he died. I think he made it to 101 or 102. He thought it had something to do with growing all of the produce he used for the whole year in his own garden and canning it for off-season.

That French lady who lived to be 122 or 123 drank olive oil, bathed in olive oil, and generally used obscene amounts of olive oil. She ate way too much chocolate, too. I remember reading that some other supercentenarians also abused olive oil. Italian olive farmers drink glasses of olive oil with dinner and they're well known for working their farms into the 100s.

For long-lived societies you probably already know to take a look at Japan.

[mondschein]

Eat/drink very little dairy.
When I stopped drinking milk, I noticed a lot of improvements: cleaner throat, less headaches, better digestion, more energy. Also, it is a lot easier to lose weight.
There are better calcium sources, if you are wondering: tahine, kale and other deep green leaves, for example.

[Senseye]

Make sure you inherited a decent set of genes. That's probably number the #1 factor in longevity if you can avoid accidents. A moderately healthy diet and some exercise will help too. Marry well, or at least avoid marrying really poorly. Try to avoid poverty, but you don't need to be wealthy.

[MuseedesBeauxArts]

I feel like there are too many gimmicks out there for stuff like this (and even worse for weight loss). You might be able to smoke and subsist mostly on whiskey and do just fine. That said, from what we know for folks without awesome genes, I think it boils down to: Move more--walk, jog, bike, garden, folk dance, whatever. Develop good social supports. Eat less processed, more plant-based foods.

[flurps]

be the first born in your family from a young mother and an older father. supercentenarians are almost exclusively first-borns. younger mothers have healthier babies and for each decade the father is older than average (the article never said what age was exactly average i'll guess around 25) it increases telomere length of the offspring by about 4%. but also apparently increases mutation load so nevermind.

jean calment ate a kilo of chocolate a week, smoked one cig and had one glass of port a day. i still think it's mostly up to starting conditions. a few quality relationships in an introvert will probably be just as good as a wide social network in extroverts, but guess what extroverts likely live longer.

as a last-born introverted son of an older mother, just fuck it. i'm hoping that urban legend about rastas living 12 years longer is true but it probably isn't. just fuck it.

[Phil P]

How about avoiding contracting diseases? What's the best way to do that?