Centenarians Reveal Secrets to Living Past the Age of 100

One of my most favorite poems ever written about life, is a poem called: Mother to Son and it was written by the dynamic poet, Mr. Langston Hughes.

In this thought provoking piece of poetry, the speaker likens life to an old ragged staircase. She describes it this way:

“Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor — Bare.”

This is a very fitting analogy for the many problems in life that we tend to encounter. Some are unavoidable, but unfortunately, some things, we often bring on ourselves.

We don't truly start to grow and mature in our thinking, until we finally get to a point where we see the benefit of accepting a little advice. Up until then, we end up doing things by trial and error and learning from the school of hard knocks.

But once we start listening to those who are older and wiser, we discover just how much real life experience we're still missing. And sometimes, we even learn the kind of lessons that can actually help us live longer.

That is why we should never take for granted the sage advice we can get from older individuals.

What do centenarians do to live a longer life?

Centenarians are people who live to the age of 100 or older. When we hear about these type of individuals, all kinds of questions come to mind, but the most common one is:

"How do they do it?"

Everyone wants to know what their secret is. Just what are these old timers doing to prolong their days on earth so long.

So far, there doesn't appear to be any one magic remedy, based on the statements that were made by several senior citizens over the age of 100.

Allow me to share some personal experiences from centenarians who provided advice and opinions about living to 100 or older.

What four centenarians had to say

A couple of years ago, I did some research on the subject, and found statements from centenarians who were living at the time.

The centenarians readily agreed with the basics, when it came to things like staying active and eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

But each of them had their own particular tips and words of wisdom for living past the age of 100.

Some of those statements include the following:

One woman in Old Town, Maine, just turned 105, and she credits it to the mile-long walks that she regularly takes, as well as her daily drink of red wine.

A Texas woman, also lived to 105, and according to her, it is from eating a plate of bacon and "coffee pudding" every morning (coffee made with plenty of sugar, milk and biscuits).

A Florida resident celebrated turning 106 by having an hour-long workout. This woman says that in harmony with her doctors' orders, she began going to the gym at the age of 100.

Jeralean Talley was the oldest American citizen at the time I wrote the article (I'm sure he's probably passed on by now, but you never know). At the time, he lived in Detroit and was known as a super centenarian because of being all of 115 years old. It is no great surprise that Talley credited his long life to religion and God.

FINAL THOUGHTS

To summarize the advice and opinions from the awesome centenarians that were quoted in the story, the things they credited basically come down to:

1. Daily walks
2. Type of diet
3. Spirituality

Far from me to dispute any of that, but if I were to put my own spin on it (even though I'm not quite a centenarian yet), I'd have to say:

1. Having a healthy lifestyle
2. Having a positive attitude
3. Spending time productively.

I'm happy to be able to share advice and opinions from centenarians who actually lived to 100 and beyond. I have nothing but appreciating and respect for those who have survived the ups and downs that this world takes each and every one of us through.

Perhaps, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise," we might be fortunate enough to live that long and tell about it.

******************************************************

FOLLOW JUSTISS GOODE FOR MORE ADVICE, LIFE LESSONS, SELF IMPROVEMENT, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR STORIES THAT HELP IMPROVE YOUR PSYCHE - Enjoy a little bit of Justiss every day :-)