BBC: Ways to live for 100 years

How old are you, Beth?

That's a very personal question, Neil. 

Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Anyway, at least you're not a centenarian, someone who's lived to be a hundred years old. 

Are you saying I look a hundred? That's even ruder!

Sorry, Beth, no! It's just that with advances in modern medicine people are living to a hundred seemed impossible, but in 2021 the United Nations Population Division estimated there to be over half a million centenarians wordlwide, and that number is set to rise. 

So how do you live to a hundred? And what could be like in your twilight years, a phrase meaning your old age, or the last years of your life. That's what we'll be discussing in this programme, and of course, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too. 

But first I have a question for you, Beth. In 2022, the world's oldest certified person died aged 119. But which country was the from? Was it:

a) Switzerland   b) Italy   or   c) Japan. 

Hmm, I think the answer is Japan. 

OK, Beth, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme. Of all the many factors for long life such as diet, exercise, and keeping active, human relationships are among the most important. People who are more connected with others, and have warmer relationships live longer and stay healthier. And according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, talking her with BBC World Service programme, The Inquiry, those relationships don't necessarily have to be with humans:

Introverts actually find having a lot of people around stessful, so they might only need one or two close people and that's all they need, that's all they want, and that's just fine for them. So one size doesn't fit all when it comes to how many relationships you need to have a healthy life. It doesn't have to be done with another human...we know that pets provide with a great deal of comfort and joy and pets can calm us down. 

Whether you're a shy introvert or noisy extrovert, what counts is friendship, be that with a human or a pet. Different things work for different people, so Dr Waldinger says it's not one-size-fit-all, a phrase meaning something which is suitable for everyone or every purpose.

So far, we've mentioned the important of diet, exercise and friendship, but some people want more radical ways of defying death and staying young. Dr Nir Barzilai, director of the American Federation for Ageing Research, has developed three scenarios in his work with centenarians in the US. 

The first scenario, called Dorian Gray after the fictional character who didn't age, involves delaying the aging process. Here's Dr Barzilai explaining more to BBC World Service programme, The Inquiry:

The second scenario is what we call 'The Wolverien' or the Fountain of Youth: taking old people and make them young. This is very, very hard, this will be the most complex things we can do. And the third scenario, and this is a very excting scenario, and we have some evidence that it works, is the Peter Pan scenario. Peter Pan didn't grow old- the idea that you take people when they're 20 or 30 and give them a treatment every few months or every year. And you'll basically erase their ageing and let them age very, very slowly, which also will mean probably that they'll pass their 115 year maximum potential lifespan. 

All Dr Barzilai's treatments are aimed at extending lifespan, the length of time someone is normally expected to live. His second treatment, making someone who is old, younger, is called the Fountain of Youth, a legendary source of magical watr that keeps anyone who drinks it young forever.