Valeria in Conan the Barbarian

Valeria in Conan the Barbarian

Since this is the 100th blog on the Weekly Update on Aging, it seemed appropriate to look into the current odds of living to be a centenarian.

On the Datablog page of the Guardian they provide a lot of data on the odds of English people getting to 100 based on the year of birth. In general they say, “The Department for Work and Pensions have released a report detailing life expectancy in 2011 and comparing the generations at 20, 50 and 80 years old. The data sees 20-year-olds three times more likely to reach 100 than their grandparents, and twice as likely as their parents. While a girl born in 2011 has a one-in-three chance of living to their 100th birthday, a boy has a one-in-four chance. However, compared to a baby born in 1931, the children of 2011 are almost eight times more likely to become centenarians.”

How long will you live? A life expectancy calculator can be found at http://www.livingto100.com.  This calculator is a product of the New England Centenarian Study conducted at Boston University  (http://www.bumc.bu.edu/centenarian).

The calculator is a series of 40 questions about your lifestyle and history. I took it and I was relatively honest. It said my life expectancy was (drum roll) exactly 100. How cool is that.

Haiken postulates that stress is one aspect we have the most control over and proposes five ways to reduce same and to live to be 100.  Here are her suggestions:

  1. Watch reruns of the Andy Griffith Show or other silly stuff as laughing is good for you.
  2. Think like a kid – Be curious and laugh a lot.
  3. Let yourself eat cake – Allow pleasures in your life.
  4. Dance, swim, bike or hula hoop – Have fun with exercise.
  5. Wake up – Stress is often unconscious. Be aware of your state of mind and when you are stressed, let it go and be in the moment.

The latter suggestion has great energy. Wake up and live in the moment. If the choice is to coddle one’s self and reduce risk or get out there and live. I’m for the latter.

In blog #25 I cited two occurrences of one of my mottos to live by and they seem appropriate to close blog #100.

  • Just before a heroic task, Valeria says to Conan, “Do you want to live forever?”
  • In the midst of the battle of Belleau Wood, June 6, 1918, Sergeant Major Dan Daly admonished his cowering troops, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?”

References

  1. Haiken, M. 5 Ways To Live To 100 – And Stay Healthy To 99. Forbes, 5-24-2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2013/05/24/5-ways-to-live-to-100-and-still-be-healthy-at-99
  2. The Guardian. Datablog: How likely are you to live to 100? Get the full data. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/aug/04/live-to-100-likely

Image: From blog #25 (http://wp.me/pH3Dx-32)

Join us for a real-time discussion about questions raised by this essay on Wednesday from 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. See Discussion and SL tabs above for details. Link to the virtual meeting room: http://tinyurl.com/cjfx9ag.