How to live to 100

We are all living longer, but can we also live better?

Live longer and better

ill you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m… 104? If John Lennon and Paul Mccartney were penning lyrics nowadays, they’d have to add at least four decades to their original question in ‘ When I’m 64’.

We’re already living longer. That much we know. According to 2014 projections, our life expectancies keep on growing. In 1981, a 65-year-old woman could expect to reach 82, by 2017 that figure became 87 and by 2061 it’s predicted to grow to 92 (for men, it’s 78, 84 and 90 respectively).

Longevity has become the new wellness watchword – there are the supplements, the exercises (for both mind and body), even a dedicated longevity spa in Portugal. And we’re not talking a mere 80s goal here; now the focus is on getting the extra innings to take us closer to 100, make us sound of mind, happy in body and free from disease. Dr Valter Longo, the aptly-named biochemist, aims to help everyone live longer, ideally to 110, healthfully. Nutrition, unsurprisingly, is key, and Dr Longo recently published The Longevity Diet (Penguin; R237), in which he advocates a mainly pescatarian intake (which, for him, also means ideally no eggs or cow’s milk between childhood and the age of 65). He’s also pro intermittent fasting, but is anti fad fasts and anything hardcore that’s outside the controlled environment of a clinic, saying, “You can get benefits at home, but usually you also get problems.” So he has created his own fast-mimicking diet and foods which keep kilojoules low but still allow you to eat. In randomised trials, this still got the same results as fasting in the fight against cholesterol, triglycerides (stored fat for energy), high blood pressure, and other markers for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. How and when we eat also matters. “Eating within 12 hours a day is important, and if you’re overweight, eating two meals a day plus a snack, rather than the five meals (three meals and two snacks) we often hear about, is also important.”

David Spencer-percival also took the nutrition route by creating No1 Rosemary Water. It’s exactly what it sounds like: drinking water infused with rosemary extract. He was inspired by a news report about the coastal village of Acciaroli in Italy. There, a remarkable number of locals are living to 100 and beyond, with good heart health and little dementia or other degenerative diseases, a result put down to the fact that they chew on rosemary much like others would gum. David wanted some of that, but not for himself. “I actually did it for my wife; she’s 20 years older than me,” says the 47-year-old. “My grandmother has Alzheimer’s Disease, and I didn’t want my wife to get it.” That’s real romance for you. “The trick is to get it into your diet early – it’s preventative, not a cure,” he points out. Tests on his water found it oxygenated the blood to the brain and turbo charged its ability to concentrate.

Whatever you’re eating, though, don’t neglect your teeth. Poor oral hygiene or plaque control can lead to periodontal disease, which, in turn, can lead to all kinds of ailments. “Patients without diabetes who have periodontal disease have a great risk of developing diabetes, and a greater future risk of cardiovascular disease, both of which we know shorten life expectancy,” says dentist Dr Mark Hughes.

Another solution? Breathing. It couldn’t be more important in the quest for a longer, healthier life, and it serves a purpose beyond keeping our bodies going. “It’s essential to feeling calm and healthy – it benefits the brain, the heart and the whole nervous system,” says yoga teacher Nadia Narain. At a point where mindfulness has become part of our everyday lexicon, the evidence is overwhelming as to the benefits of the most simple breathing exercises.

So with what we know, just how realistic is it that we will all live to become a healthy centenarian? We remain pragmatic, but optimistic. “I don’t think it’s going to happen for the majority of us because most of us don’t follow the rules,” says Dr Longo. And yet being teacher’s pet never seemed so worthwhile.

“Now the focus is on getting the extra innings to take us closer to 100, make us sound of mind, happy in body and free from disease.”