Last night we watched a special on how to live life into your 100's. It was a bit of an eye opener, especially for someone like me who once swore she'd never make it to 30 (and I nearly didn't, but hey - we all fuck up our expectations from time to time).

My family isn't great in the longevity department. I have two grandparents still around who are in their 70's, but generally speaking we tend to punch out in our late 60's. I'm sure a part of that has to do with tough lives, for some reason my maternal side of the family always seemed to get the real short end of the stick, including Great Depression living, wars, diseases, hard lives farming, and my great-grandpa worked his years in a tire factory leading to a lifetime of black lung. Real upbeat shit, really.

My father's side survives longer - we have my cantankerous and thoroughly mental Japanese grandma who will likely keep trucking into her 90's, driving everyone around her crazy with her juvenile and egotistical behavior. She's got a lot of chutzpah, that woman - she knows she's selfish and doesn't apologize for it. It makes you want to simultaneously applaud her and throttle her.

My stepmother's family is the one really going strong - her mother Nobu (who is in her late 60's) is very healthy and active, and my stepmother's family in Osaka includes her grandmother who is nearly 100. It's true, she's not doing well - she suffers from Alzheimers and when Nobu last visited her, she thought Nobu was a cigarette - but other than her mental deterioration she's physically in top form.

Angus' family live forever. They just keep going and going and going. He lost one grandfather in his prime to TB just after the war but the rest of his grandparents lived well into the 90's, his mother's father passing away just a few years ago at 100. He received his telegram from the Queen (which is tradition here if you see your 100th birthday) and then pretty much decided it was time to die. So he did. Angus' parents are very healthy and active in their mid-70's and show no sign of slowing down.

So conceivably, even though I'm 12 years his junior and women live longer than men, it's likely that he'll outlive me. If he gets his high blood pressure under control, that is. I've signed him up for the world's most thorough physical in March, including running on a treadmill while wired up to various devices and that whole "lubing up the two middle fingers" part, as he's never had a complete physical and I think it's important his health is checked. Plus seeing as I have to be over-gooed every three years maybe it's time he learns what too much lube feels like (or maybe that's one area where you can't overlube).

This programme we watched showed that Okinawans have the healthiest and longest lives, so maybe there's a gene in me somewhere that does have a connection to my Asian roots and I'll be tooling along gardening when I'm 106. But considering the fact that I'm both whiter than white and that I hate gardening, it seems unlikely. I have few Asian characteristics, apart from the round Asian face, an epicanthic fold, and the inability to drink very much without getting riotously drunk. Basically, I got the crap genes. Beyond that I'm built - and look - like a Russian peasant.

Living to 100 was once an amazing feat but happens with more and more regularity these days. How do I feel about living a long, long time? Frankly, I'm not sure. I fear losing my faculties (both physical and mental) as I wouldn't want to be a burden on any family member. And I wonder about quality of life. I'm not saying people in their 100's suffer from a lack of quality, but I'm not sure I could handle seeing my partner, my friends, my family, even potentially my children die before me. In my mind the older ones should go first, which seems to be a very "let's push grandma in front of the train" point of view, but maybe I'm a traditionalist there.

The programme summarized how to live longer by saying that the one key in most cultures to living to 100 is to eat no meat whatsoever, to undereat the daily recommended caloric intake of 2000 calories, to have complete and implicit faith in a deity, to never smoke, never drink, and to exercise every day. Follow these severe patterns to a T and you've got a great chance of hitting 100.

Angus looked at me. "I'll go earlier, thank you."

I didn't miss a bit. "Me too," I replied.

-H.

PS-our nursery initiation session is this afternoon. It's all I can really think about.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 09:25 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 853 words, total size 5 kb.

1 In my teen years I used to say that I wanted to live to 100, then be shot to death by a jealous husband. PS: Let Angus know that I just got my first prostate check and it wasn't really that bad.

Posted by: ~Easy at February 20, 2008 11:46 AM (XD24A)

2 I always think that should read... and it will FEEL like you've lived to 100. I don't think anything contributes to a longer (and happier) life than the ability to eliminate or at least cope with stress. (I'm working on this).

Posted by: Rosy at February 20, 2008 12:00 PM (bEVc/)

3 I have a grandmother who will be 100 in November. She still lives alone and only stopped driving about 3 years ago (after an accident). She can't remember 5 minutes ago, but can tell you a story from 70 years ago like it happened yesterday. She eats like a mouse, but eats real butter, real fat and way WAY too much sugar in her tea...

Posted by: Clancy at February 20, 2008 01:40 PM (HPYJV)

4 The news interviewed a woman here who lived to be 105 (I think) recently. I remember her saying her secret to a long life was to eat well, exercise, don't smoke, and don't have sex. Yeah, you read that last one right. After hearing that list, I decided I'd rather check out early.

Posted by: geeky at February 20, 2008 02:14 PM (ziVl9)

5 Good luck with the nursery visit. I hope the babies love the place and their new caregiver and that you leave with a great feeling of hope. I am sure it's not been far from your mind all week. As for living to 100 - I'll pass. I don't think my chances are that good anyway, even though I'm fairly healthy now. My mom passed at 68; my grandparents all made it to their 80s though. My biological father is still alive but I haven't seen him in years. At one point in my life I also couldn't visualize living past 35. Glad I did though.

Posted by: Lisa at February 20, 2008 02:55 PM (EcHBm)

6 Unless you're cogent, the later years are the crap ones anyway. You're back in diapers, your muscle tone sucks and you most likely have to hand your license back over to the state, leaving yourself to rely on a poor family member to take you to the grocery store at 7am on a Tuesday. Fuck that.

Posted by: statia at February 20, 2008 03:31 PM (lHsKN)

7 What a cool sounding video. I have always known that I intend to live to be over 100. I have just decided that it will be so. I don't necessarily, do anything particularly healthy to ensure that, though. I haven't decided yet, how long after 100, but over 100 to some degree. Christopher

Posted by: Mr.Thomas at February 20, 2008 05:10 PM (bB3uL)

8 I'm with Statia. I don't fear death (unless, you know, it's a fire-y one) but aging? SCARES THE SHIT OUTTA ME. By now, you've been to nursery and things are good. I'm hoping.

Posted by: Margi at February 20, 2008 05:54 PM (IYBY1)

9 P.S. Thanks for the Jiminey Cricket earworm. Bitch. Hahahaha!

Posted by: Margi at February 20, 2008 05:55 PM (IYBY1)

10 Eat no meat? Exercise everyday? No drinking? Yeah...I guess I'm gonna kick it before 100....and that's ok with me.

Posted by: Heidi at February 20, 2008 07:08 PM (IfWzt)

11 I hope the trip to the nursery was good and helped settle some uneasiness I know you're feeling. There is a part of me that wants to make it to 100+ like seeing my kids and their kids and so on .. plus, there's having Willard Scott announce my name on the Today show! OK, he'll have bought the farm by then. The other part of me isn't willing to become one of those people who attributes their resemblance of a raisin on clean living. I'm a dirty girl - er, don't tell the kids. With that said, I do want to live long enough to feel like I've had a full life. With my step-grandfather found out he had terminal cancer he was OK with it, saying he had lived a full, productive and happy life. There wasn't any more that he could've or would've asked for.

Posted by: Michele at February 20, 2008 09:45 PM (h1vml)

12 You are so lucky you only have to go to the OB every 3 years! I wish it were that way over here, hope the nursery visit went well. Can't wait to read about it.

Posted by: Christina at February 21, 2008 12:56 AM (J6Yo6)

13 My mother died at age 48 of an aortic aneuryusm thing that runs in our family (she was the fifth person to die at age 4 . I have always figured that I would go out then as well. If that's true, I should run up shitloads of debt and start taking cruises because I only have five an a half years left. However, I wouldn't even be able to enjoy it because I would be in fear of living to 100 even though it is highly unlikely. Hope the nursery visit went well. Can't wait to hear about it!

Posted by: sophie at February 21, 2008 12:59 AM (ZPzQL)

14 My dad used to say that he wanted to live to be 150 only to then die mid-orgasm after being shot in the back by a jealous husband... (He didn't make it, but it's a worthy goal to aspire to in my book).

Posted by: Clancy at February 21, 2008 01:52 PM (HPYJV)

15 Hope your trip to the nursery soothed your nerves, even if just a little bit. I want to know who wants to live to be 100 if you can't do any of the things that make life worth living? A life well lived is worth more then the number of years spent here, if all you do is sit and wait for the 100 candles on your cake. I worked at a nursing home for years and saw a lot of oldsters reach the 100 mark, and it didn't look all that grand. Diapers, wheelchairs, commodes, and lots of delusions. These two ladies always wheeled around together, and visitors thought it was so cute that they were "best friends". Little did they know that one thought the other was her husband, and the other thought that she was with her son. Good times. Of course, to each his own-but in the meantime, hand me the bottle, the cake, and the remote, I have important work to do.

Posted by: Teresa at February 21, 2008 03:59 PM (kZ+Em)

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