Do the most long lived people that you know have healthy lifestyles?

[Bumpitybumper]

I have been listening to a few podcasts lately that have really stressed the importance of healthy living and things like diet and exercise. None of them really have any tolerance for things that I think most of the population enjoy quite regularly like the odd biscuit or cake. They also don't think it's enough to eat a diet that would be traditionally considered healthy with 57
portions of fruit and veg as now the emphasis is on eating the right fruit and vegetables and nuts and seeds etc. You have to do a certain number of days cardio and strength training. It really is never ending.

It got me thinking that the people that I know that have lived the longest in relatively good health have generally been pretty active and eaten well but haven't really got anywhere close to the lifestyle that these health experts advocate. Is my experience unusual or have others found the same thing in their lives?

Yes of course.

The quickest way to improve health in this country would be to ban food industry ads, close most restaurants and convenience shops that sell instant food with some basic grocers and greengrocers and to give people enough time and space to grow more fresh food; to shorten work hours, close down media at 10pm and reduce commuting so people can sleep a lot more.

But people don't want to live like that and who can blame them? I remember when the country was more like that and God it was boring.

In the meantime, improve your health by giving up 'wellness' podcasts...

When the country was like that, all my relatives lived forever - though it helped that they are rich as well. We add up to decades in nursing homes overall.

Genetics play a huge factor.

I agree about “wellness” podcasts, usually an absolute load of grifters

I think you have to take a balanced view of all of the info out there. genetics will play a huge part along with lifestyle. Lets say we each have a genetic code that would mean our time was up within a range of years.
Lead an active health & HAPPY life then you will more than likely reach or exceed that range.
Abuse your body and be unhappy then you will in all probability die in the lower range?
That's my take on it anyway.
Don't forget in the 40's & 50's smoking was still promoted as fine for your health!!
Advice will always change/evolve but just make sure you stay HAPPY as the ones I see living longest on the whole are the cheerful ones.

My family live long on my maternal side.

Large family.

My observations are that:

The women outlive the men
They are surrounded by family coming in and out and this seems to keep them mentally active
Diet is generally what they want but not to excess, no low fat anything, proper butter / cream, full fat milk etc, mostly three meals a day not so much into snacking
Worked hard physically so no gym
Walking every evening is a thing

Most now have given up smoking which is good. As you get older most cut back on alcohol ,too. I think a lot depends on happiness and contentment- unhappy people seem to get sick more often,unfortunately.

Yes and a good support network.

What age do you count as 'long lived'?

Genetics. Walking. Everything in moderation.

So I'm hoping I come good on the first one

Only one person in my family lived to their 90s. They didn’t drive so walked everywhere. Stayed slim. Ate a basic but healthy/traditional diet eg meat and two veg type. No alcohol at all. Very sociable and busy. Traditional family life eg stayed at home to bring up the children, worked in later life.

My neighbours are all very old, they are slim and active, they like to drink alcohol and they walk a lot. They also seem to thrive on helping each other out.

I have noticed people who live on their own seem to die at a younger age than I’d expect even if they have lived healthy lives.

No in fact it's the reverse, all the people I know who made it to their 90s were working class women who cooked with lard and enjoyed a tipple. None of them smoked though.

But this is anecdotal and tells us very little about the general population.

The relative who lived longest (90s) in my family was basically kept alive by the NHS. Massive amounts of drugs for a heart complaint , many many interventions, little to no exercise , existed on cake apparently.
The relatives who were physically active, lived by ‘ everything in moderation , except laughter’ , rarely bothered with Drs., died of cancer.
Genetics would appear to play a massive part.

In my family, two people have lived to 90+. Both women. Both mothers and grandmothers. Neither drank alcohol nor smoked. Both watched their weight, stayed healthy weights and always ate in moderation. Both were active, although one didn't do formal exercise - just gardening and housework-type stuff. The other always exercised and was fit and healthy until her final year or two.

In my experience no. My grandmother made it into her late 90s smoking. Her mil (Russian refugee) smoked and drank heavily but also made her late 90s. My great aunts all drank and smoked...late 90s.

On my dad's side, his mum made her late 90s living on absolute rubbish. If dad hadn't died, wouldn't have been surprised if she made a 100 but she basically gave up after his death. She was housebound for the last 7 years so not particularly fit either.

@Libraryloiterer

That describes my family - my great grandmother was 93 when she died, didn't smoke but enjoyed more than the odd tipple. My grandmother was 87 when she died, like a can of Mackies and smoked all her life.

88 year old next door, his wife is 70. He works every day on his vegetable garden, swims in the nearby sea once a week. He is what we call a "creaking door" in other words, has every ailment under the sun (none serious) and is constantly going for scans for this, tests for that and is still going strong.

His wife on the other hand is much younger but has bad, so although she has no creaking door ailments, is much less active than he is. But she gets about.

I don't know what the reason for longevity is, but it sure seems that those in the Med region are knocking around forever!

I think the sun, brightness, outdoor living and conviviality - a sense of community and lack of loneliness are key factors.

I know a lot of people 80+ who still live independently and one of the main factors seems to be social connections, busy lives and walking. No idea about diet.

"has bad ARTHRITIS"

Seems to me a complete lottery to be honest. I try to be active and eat well because it makes me feel better in the here and now.

I would say yes, but not in the way that people have HEALTHY LIFESTYLES!!! now. Just in the sense that they ate reasonably (meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, the lot), exercised (walking and cycling because cars were a luxury), drank in moderation, slept 8 hours a night (there wasn't that much else to do), and didn't smoke or smoked the occasional pipe. They were part of solid families, solid communities, worked in average jobs, attended church dutifully and didn't get worked up about things.

They were born at a time of genuine poverty and lived through at least one world war, civil war, terrorism etc, so their expectations were modest and they had a really healthy perspective on life.

I don't know really. I guess it was just posters' experience of the people that have lived the longest with relatively good health. So of course, it's bound to be a bit relative in terms of who you know and how long your friendship circle/friends lived for.

My grandparent who lived the longest (by miles - 32 years longer than the one who died first) was very overweight.

Of my parents generation, most of whom are still alive, the one who died youngest was (I'm not kidding) a yoga teacher.

Totally accept this is just anecdotal!

From my experience, no. Grandmother never drank or smoked, died early 70's. grandfather, drinks a lot of wine, smokes, bad diet, too much salt, doesn't exercise, but very socially active, going strong at 84,

The oldest verified human was a smoker until the age of 117.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment