Qualities of Happy, Healthy Centenarians - Well Being Journal

Sixty may not be the new forty, and who knows if seventy is the new fifty, but one thing is for sure: many people are living longer, and more are refusing the sedentary approach to their later years.

What about centenarians? 

Amazingly enough, some centenarians drink alcohol, others don’t; some eat “healthy,” others don’t; some pay attention to their weight, others don’t; some smoke, others don’t; some exercise, others wouldn’t dream of it.

These are not reasons to cut loose with unhealthy foods and tequila shots and declare that being a couch potato is the life for you (because all those behaviors do indeed negatively impact your short- and long-term health). However, what is abundantly clear is that centenarians pursue a variety of lifestyles.

The one thing—the only thing—that centenarians have in common is their positive attitude. They aren’t whiners. They are happy. They are optimistic. Above all, the long-lived appreciate the ordinary moments of everyday life. We could all learn something from them. http://bit.ly/1RGqxOS

Longevity: A Young Person’s Game

Your attitude when you’re young—how you think and feel about yourself and the world—sets the tone for how you live your life when you’re older.

To live a long happy healthy life, kick your appreciation into high gear now. Why? Appreciation of the ordinary experiences of life is the number one attribute that sets those over 100 years of age apart from everyone else; the younger you are, the easier it is to get the appreciation habit going--and going and going. That’s why longevity is truly a young person’s game. Start now.

This can be especially important since the FDA has recently approved clinical trials on a drug that could increase life expectancy to 110 or 120 years. Just imagine if you could live that long in a happy, healthy state as opposed to spending your last 20 or 30 years in miserable, decrepit decline?

Whether you’re 20 or 30 or 40 or older, appreciation is the quickest, easiest way to gratitude, which in turn engenders happiness and fosters optimism. Those four attitudes, appreciation, gratitude, happiness and optimism, are all linked in study after study to better cardiovascular health, less stress-related diseases, and even less risk of Alzheimer’s. All of which add up to a long happy, healthy life.

What you think is what you live. You are in charge of what you think. And what you think impacts how your body responds. Choose thoughts that support positive emotions and you’ll reap the benefits throughout your life, now and tomorrow.