All Super-Agers Have These 3 Simple Longevity Habits In Common

The U.N. estimates there will be eight times as many centenarians in the world by the year 2050, and half of today's 5-year-olds can expect to live to 100, according to demographers. Welcome to the era of super-aging. 

But as we know, longevity is not just about adding more years to your life. How do we stay healthy and mobile well into our 80s, 90s, and even 100s? William J. Kole, an editor, foreign correspondent, and author of The Big 100: The New World of Super-Aging, is here to find answers.

While based in Paris for the Associated Press, Kole featured Jeanne Calment, who is considered the oldest person who ever lived. She lived to 122 years and 164 days. 

Kole's biggest takeaway was not Calment's specific diet or exercise routine but her incredibly positive attitude. "This was a woman who liked to crack jokes at 121," he notes. "She said she stopped wearing mascara because she laughed so much, so she was crying it off all the time." If there's anything we can learn from Calment, it's that laughter really is the best medicine. 

People with a strong sense of purpose wind up living longer lives. Research even shows that people with a sense of meaning in life have better overall physical health. Of course, there isn't one specific way to find purpose, but Kole suggests a learner's mindset can help you identify what makes life worth living. 

"She took fencing lessons when she was 85 years old," he says regarding Calment. "She recorded a rap album at 120 [or] 121… Even at the very end of her incredibly long life when she was confined to a wheelchair [and] lost most of her sight, she was shown how to use a computer at 120 and set up a website. She was definitely a curious individual." 

Or take Jane Goodall, the acclaimed animal behavior expert, who at 89 years old is "working and traveling more than she did as a young woman," Kole notes. "It's palpable, her sense of purpose." Even if you can’t travel, find an activity you look forward to that brings purpose to your days—poetry, gardening, volunteering, and the list goes on. 

"Faith, interestingly, seems like it adds years to our lives," claims Kole. "It doesn't matter whether it's Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam… studies have been done to suggest that people who have a religious belief tend to live up to five and a half years longer2 than people who don't." 

The theory is that religious spaces foster community, and we know how important social connection is for longevity. Kole describes Goodall as a person of faith, noting that "she sees no inconsistency between believing in God and trying to unravel the secrets of the universe."