Stay Engaged and Positive

What are the secrets of successful aging? Ask someone who is 100 years old. That’s just what EverCare Health Plans did and they found that centenarians are staying in tune with the times. Like the rest of Americans, they are following current trends like reality television, video games and iPods, worrying about health and diet, and keeping up on news and current events.

Edith Jansky, an Evercare enrollee in Cambridge, MA, attributes her longevity to a positive outlook. “If you are happy you can live longer I think, and I am happy… To tell you the truth, I would not want to be anywhere else but here,” she said. “I have seen so much, I don’t think there would be much more that I could see or hear [if I were to live another one hundred years].”

Keep up with trends
Centenarians keep up with what’s new, don’t shy away from innovation and are open to seeing what technology can do to enhance their lives.
“I want my MTV.” When it comes to entertainment, the survey found that nearly a third (31 percent) have watched a reality TV show and 27 percent have watched MTV or music videos. Nearly a quarter of centenarians have purchased a music CD, and one in seven has played a video game.

Sorry, Oprah, Johnny is still king. When polled on their favorite TV talk show host, Johnny Carson topped the list with 14 percent of the votes — more than double those for Oprah Winfrey (6 percent).

Some centenarians have tried the latest technology. Six percent said they have been on the Internet and four percent said they have listened to music on an iPod.

Sixty-eight percent of centenarians polled turn to the TV for news and current events, while 40 percent turn to newspapers, a change from fifty years ago when newspapers (56 percent) and radio (45 percent) were their primary sources of news.

Better diet and a healthy heart
It’s no surprise that living to 100 means you watch your diet and stay away from behaviors that are proven detrimental to health.

A full 82 percent said that their dietary habits have improved or stayed the same as compared with 50 years ago. Just 23 percent said they have ever smoked cigarettes, and on average, those who quit did so 41 years ago.

The oldest Americans have also tried specialty coffee and enjoy fast food. Seventy-two percent did report having eaten at a fast food restaurant and 11 percent have ordered coffee at Starbucks.

Maintaining the brain
Increasingly research shows that exercising the brain can improve our memory — and keeping that brain active is important to these 100 year olds.

Given the choice, centenarians voted for having a better memory (34 percent) over less aches and pains (27 percent) or taking fewer prescription drugs (13 percent).

Their favorite memory in the last 100 years? Twenty-eight percent said their wedding day followed by a tie for the birth of a child and their 100th birthday (both at 13 percent). One adventurous centenarian felt his best memory was “when I learned to fly at age 76.”

Answering to a higher power
Centenarians trust their spiritual leader the most to tell the truth, with more than one in three (34 percent) saying they believe a priest, rabbi or preacher is the person most likely to tell the truth when given a choice that included their doctor or nurse (28 percent) and a police officer (8 percent). This trust in clergy echoes the results of last year’s survey, which revealed that the oldest Americans attribute their longevity to faith and spiritual care more than genes or medical care.

 “As Americans strive for healthier, longer lives, the ‘Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey’ provides us with a prescription for longevity from those who have aged successfully, and finds that tuning in to trends and current events, leading healthy lifestyles and holding faith and spirituality in high regard are key themes,” said Dr. John Mach, CEO of Evercare. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are nearly 80,000 centenarians in the United States, and that number is projected to increase seven-fold, to 580,000, by 2040.