who wants to live forever?
Asked Freddie Mercury back in the mid-80s, five years before he sadly pegged it. With all respect to the deceased Queen crooner, not me, but thanks for asking, and possibly not you either as, according to a recent Ipsos poll, only a third of Britons want to make it to one hundred. So, with a relatively ‘significant’ birthday quickly approaching I find myself contemplating age and the quality of life we seek to enjoy in our dotage.
Forty-five year old multi–millionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Bryan Johnson, doesn’t agree with me and starts each and every day with a slurry of green super-veggies, olive oil and cocoa flavanols – whatever they are. Lunch and dinner pretty much follow suit, interspersed with strict workout regimes and the constant monitoring of his vital organs, before he hits the sack for a solid twelve hours’ kip. Bryan’s reward for such abstinence is that he believes he’s aging at only 75% of the level the rest of us are and will consequently live at least a quarter as long as he would naturally have done.
Good luck to Bryan but it ain’t for me and my usual somewhat raucous lifestyle would be seen by his acolytes as something akin to destructive self-harm. Having said that, I’m more than happy to consider extending a healthy life, just not living for living’s sake and seeing it as a competition to be won by the last person standing. Last one to the funeral parlour buys the beers! Personally, I’m keen to enjoy a busy, happy, meaningful life and thankfully, courtesy of this weekend’s Guardian, I now have the knowledge to do so. The newspaper very kindly asked one hundred centenarians for advice on how to live long, live well and prosper. Here are the recurring golden nuggets:
- Laugh. Have a happy disposition, a pronounced sense of humour and don’t take yourself too seriously.
- Talk. Be involved with people of all ages. If possible, build an interesting and active community of friends and family and keep them close. Ensure you’re still sharp and informed, and fun to be around so read, listen, socialise, get out and do things.
- Help others. Get through each day without hurting anyone. Be kind. Don’t be nasty.
- Move. Health is all important. Wealth isn’t. Keep active and exercise as much as possible. Walk. Ride. Swim. Sing. Stretch. Dance. Whatever.
- Think. Keep the ol’ grey matter sharp by learning a language, playing an instrument or doing a crossword.
- Don’t smoke. Upon pain of death. Literally and metaphorically.
- Eat and drink. Fruit and veg are great when the mood takes you but a little of what you fancy ain’t going to kill you.
- Watch. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything and everything that may be a hoot and get involved.
- Sleep. Eight hours, minimum, is good.
- Work. Eight hours, maximum, is good.
- Say yes. Accept every invitation and challenge that comes your way. What exactly have you to lose?
- Travel. It might be down the pub, it could be half-way round the world. Either way the odds of something good and unexpected happening are stacked in your favour.
Mind, the advice of Ken Cope, 102, did particularly ring true: “My secret to a good, long life is to keep breathing!” Who wants to live to be a hundred? Everyone who’s ninety-nine. Boom-boom.
