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?

And sherry if my Grandparents were anything to go by!

My granny was born in 1869, she was 93 when she died. She didn't smoke, ate vegetables that she grew, kept pigs and chickens that were slaughtered for the food for the family. Drank an occasional home made wine. She walked everywhere.
My great aunt was 103,again she didn't smoke drank a Guinness every night, walked everywhere and grew her own veg.
They both also had all their marbles till the end.
My dad's family tend to be quite long lived, the ones who weren't and died in their 70s all smoked.

Both my parents are touching 90 - dad never did a strike of exercise his whole life, mum always walking or gentle swimming. Both in very good health, good diet but like their treats too, and would drink bottle wine most Saturday nights. All my mother's siblings are still alive too, plus their partners, and all of them are touching 90 yrs old too. None of them do exercise - genetics must be at play here.

My grandmother was 107 when she died. Never had anything wrong with her, was in a home in later life. Always slim. The main problem today is obesity, I see so many females in their 20s who are hugely overweight, more so than males. They are likely to live long healthy lives sadly

Not likely

That version of healthy life style is capitalism 2.0 that just want you to spend tons of money, it’s all bollocks.

There living long and there’s living long and healthily.

We also can’t compare the childhoods and younger years of those we know in their 90s/100s to our own - no processed food, few cars, physical work in the home, but not much actual sport (eg I doubt my great grandmother did 10k runs….). They probably had fewer calories in their early years. But not necessarily what we’d think of as healthy fresh food (depending on where they lived and money). Then the war and rationing.

So even if they drank and ate cake twice a day once we knew them, their younger diets may have set them up better (or worse).

The healthiest relatives (no drinking, no smoking, active, etc) died at 45, 62, 63, 64 and 76. Not all related, so a particular genetic glitch isn't the cause.

The least healthy lifestyles were 85 and still going at 88.

Then you get DP's where they develop dementia/parkinsons but take another decade longer to die of it than usual. He's trying to skirt along the not being disabled by a stroke in his 60s like his father whilst not getting old enough to be losing his faculties.

My paternal grandparents were Greek and both died in their 90s. I wouldn't say they were especially healthy - as in, they didn't exercise - but they did eat a mainly Mediterranean diet all their lives. My grandad smoked a pack a day until he was 60 when docs found a shadow on his lungs - stopped smoking and lived another 35 years! Grandma didn't smoke (maybe when younger) and died last year same age as the queen. She was a little overweight as she got older but grandad wasn't.

Compared to my maternal grandparents - nanny died in her 50s after a massive heart attack. She'd struggled with her weight and stopping smoking for years, looking at pics she wasn't huge, maybe a 14/16 at most. Grandad died of prostate cancer in his 70s.

Make of that what you will.

Oldest person I know personally is my grandfather who is about to turn 81. No he doesn't live a particularly healthy lifestyle, he smoked for 60 years and is overweight.

My gran lived to 101 in Belgium, yes she had a healthy diet with fresh food, but she also drank strong beer daily, right up to the end!

Most of my great grandparents and paternal grandparents family were working class and lived in West Midlands most made it to their 80's ( born 1890-1920) common factors generally relgious so no smoking or drinking, walked everywhere or took a tram or train if more than 3 miles. Had good social connections witth family and church
Ate three meals a day home cooked food ( would have been carb heavy to fill up wither bread or potatoes) they had gardens or allotments so veg and fruit in season, my Dad said it was apples till the rhubarb came then rhubarb till the apples came
most kept active by walking and gardening and housework plus shopping involved carrying stuff home
my Dad was 98 when he died he was an engineer he would say no smoking no drinking keeping active and using your brain, until a few weeks before death he wa spottering in garden and reading the newspaper and still interested in politics even though " the whole lot are charlatans" they ate 3 meals a day cooked from scratch but would have a small pudding or maybe a slice of cake a day not not takeaway crisps or sweets, chocolates would be 1 with a tea or coffee. once retired they went out most days just for a walk or later as my Dad's mobility was not so good an amble on flat surfaces, it would take him an hour to do a mile with stops to admire view catch breath what you can't do is eat what you like and watch TV all day
decent food keep active in body and mind, occasional treats and some form of social network

Mediterranean diet but also quite fatty and sugary, outside in sunshine a lot, Sunscreen barely to minimum use,, mostly all smokers but physically active, lots of family around, happy and generally good work/life balance mums and dad's side all grandparents 90-100+ , one uncle died young but he was sick since a child and no one knew what he had, was told he had a bad virus has a child and possibly brain damaged but he needed lots of care and was never told much more about it. Sadly I've known 3 people in the last 2 years die, one infection turned sepsis, one just collapsed very bad stroke, and another attack all were 40's 50's none were smokers or big drinkers, none were family all were friends/acquaintances. Friends dad is a big drinker and smoker still going strong at 84 so honestly I think genetics play a big role.

My grandmother lived to 101. She was in good health up to being about 95. She had what I’d call a tough life - born to a welsh miner in 1909, the middle child of 15 children in a 3 bed house!
She worked in the mills from 14, then in munitions factories during WW2 then in a general factory til she retired at 60. What she didnt do is ever smoke or drink alcohol. Nor did she ever exercise though. She got up at 6 most mornings, had porridge every day, had a cooked meal at lunch time (meat / fish + 2 veg) then tea at 6 - sandwich, cake, cup of tea. Every day of her adult life!

The last two eldest generations in my family lived til mid 90s.

None were fat. None smoked. Some thoroughly enjoy a good pud / dessert, and small amounts of alcohol but not heavy drinking at all. They were adults or children in the war and lived through rationing and ate no preprepared convenience foods. They are of short and wiry build, or long legged and lean. None were sports enthusiasts but not lazy. Walked lots.

My Nan is 92, she exists on a diet of mini trifles and teacakes. She's not in good health though, and hasn't been for 40 years.

As a general rule, no.

All my grandparents (and step-grandparents) lived until their nineties - out of eight, six were smokers, two were alcoholics and three were obese if not morbidly obese.

IL's are in their eighties, diabetic and overweight. They don't drink or smoke but I wouldn't describe either of them as healthy.

My nan lived to 94, smoked until she gave up in her late 80s and drank sherry everyday. She was also a big believer in daily cake and a loather of exercise.

There's a large component of genetics and luck involved in extreme longevity.

My own family doesn't tend to make old bones (stereotypical west of Scotland working class demographic). My maternal grandmother lived longer than any of her (many) siblings and she died at 75. None of my father's family made it into their eighties. My parents' generation has done a little better, with my parents and a couple of aunties having reached their mid-eighties, all with various health problems. The big thing they all have in common is having a wide social circle and lots of activities and interests, but the same could be said of relatives who predeceased them.

I'm pretty sure there's a longevity gene. If you have it, doesn't really matter what you do. My grandmother lived to 99, only gave up smoking in her late 70s because she was sick of redecorating.

All my grandparents lived well into their late 90's one set ate fry up EVERY single day of their grown lives, the others were heavy smokers and or drinkers. I think genetics (and luck) have a huge part to play.

I watched a programme about long living people and it struck me they were all very slim.

My grandmother is my oldest relatives she lived to 96. She smoked like a chimney until she was about 70, and her diet was diabolical. She ate loads of processed meat and pork, and massive puddings 😂 so no is the answer to your question.

In 2019, the median age at death was
81.8 yrs, males
85.5 yrs, females

So I take as "long-lived" = greater than those ages. My anecdotes for people who died since 1989 are:

Male age 84: smoked and drank heavily age 15-61, had anger issues. He liked steak. Military man so highly disciplined. Cause: lung cancer

Male age 92: never smoked or drank. Religious man. Had anger issues. Tennis nut. Cause: Stroke.

Male age 84: never smoked but drank heavily. Likely had ASD. Another tennis nut. Cause: Bladder cancer.

Female age 95: Never smoked, drank heavily. Did no sport although actually tennis capable. Cause dementia & other things.

Female age 103: Never smoked, not a drinker. Cause I don't know, but had bad dementia.

Female age 91: never smoked, liked a bit to drink but never heavy. Highly social and very active at church, in community. Never sporty, had kids when age 17-39. Ate cheap, very white bread bland American diet. Cause: colon cancer

Not one of was interested in health foods. All enjoyed cake, meat, white bread, eaten what they liked. Some were into fitness, most never smoked, most never walked anywhere for fun. None were obese but all the women became overweight in middle age (not the blokes, mind).

They all had close relatives with similar lifestyles who died much younger.

My Great Grandma and her 2 siblings all reached 91-96 b 1910s-20s, so would by default have had a functionally healthy lifestyle. We joke that my Great Grandma lived in energy conservation mode- not very active, lean, ate functionally, low stress.

Most of my elderly relatives that I've known have had fairly typical lifestyles for their generations 1910s-1930s and have made it mid-80s to early 90s.

In the wider family, premature deaths have been from heart attack (early 50s- definitely lifestyle, poor diet, stress, little exercise, died notably younger than parents), cancer in 60s, and poor mental health either by suicide or significant mental development conditions affecting lifestyle and health.

My approach to life is to live it well, in as healthy and active a way as is practical. Not particularly for longevity's sake, but just getting reasonable potential out of healthy years of life. MiL was on great form until her mid-80s, went into a gentle decline and then lockdown accelerated the last couple of years rapidly and died at 91. Once she lost the drive to leave the house daily, then regularly, poor health spiralled. Assuming no major curveballs sooner, I'd like to keep my body and brain functioning as long as is feasible. I'd rather not take my Great Grandma's low stress path of pottering in the house and being elderly for a few decades because that's what old people do.