What are the most common habits of people who live to 100 years?

What can you do to live to 100 years? Is it diet, exercise, place of birth, spirituality or something else? Let's find out!

My People,

Happy New Year! I’m thankful for every new day, month and year. This year, our team at TVP Games is looking forward to launching new games and showing you the world in exciting ways. This is also a World Cup year so there’s a lot of footy excitement in the air. You tell me: what are you particularly excited about this year?

This year, we will continue feeding our curiosity about the world. If you have a question you’d like us to answer on this newsletter, please leave a comment and I just may add it to the roster. If you have a question, we will answer it :) Don’t miss out.

So, let’s start! How many people live to 100 years and what’s the secret?

Remember Betty White? Yesterday would have been her 100th birthday and the world of entertainment was looking forward to this celebration. However, on the last day of last year, Betty White passed away at the age of 99 years. Ms. White was much loved so her death was a shock. In reality, she lived much longer than the average person. On Earth, there are only about 573,000 centenarians (people who are 100 years or older). That’s only 0.008% of the global population. Talk about an exclusive list.

In the USA, where Ms. White lived, there are 97,000 centenarians. That makes the USA the country with the highest number of centenarians on Earth.

Some more cool facts about old people:

• Kane Tanaka from Japan is the oldest person on Earth at 117 years.

• Japan has 79,000 over 100 years of age, making it the country with the largest percentage of centenarians (0.06%)

• Saturnino de la Fuente from Spain is the oldest man on Earth at 112 years.

• The oldest verified person to have ever lived was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived to the age of 122.5 years from 1875 to 1997.

• On average, women live longer than their counterpart men.

• This portfolio by Czech photographer Jan Langer shows some centenarians while they were young and now that they are old. Pretty cool.

Kane Tanaka of Japan (age 117 years) is the oldest person on Earth.

Blue Zones are special places with more old people than usual.

Have you heard of a Blue Zone? That’s any area of the world that has more people living longer than other places. Right now, there are 5 places in the world that are considered Blue Zones. These places are:

• Loma Linda in California, USA

• Nicoya in Costa Rica

• Sardinia in Italy

• Icaria in Greece

• Okinawa in Japan

So, what’s special about these Blue Zones and what do they do to live long?

1. Move Naturally

   • People in Blue Zones tend to move naturally with regular walks, outdoor activity and continuous house activity. Interestingly, they don’t power through marathons or unnatural movement routines in the gym.

2. Have the Right Outlook:

   • Have a Purpose and Down Shift - these people have a reason to wake up in the morning and this knowledge of self and purpose adds longevity to them. You may have come across the Japanese term for this - ikigai. Everyone, even centenarians, experience stress. However, Blue Zoners have a routine that helps them regulate this stress. For some, this is prayer, for others it is a scheduled nap time or Happy Hour.

3. Eat Wisely:

   • Eat Plants, Eat Early and Drink Wine - instead of following fancy fad diets, Blue Zoners simply eat until their stomachs are about 80% full and they tend to eat their latest meals either late in the afternoon or early in the evening. Their meals are predominantly plant-based with few meat features throughout the week. They also often drink wine moderately.

4. Connect with Community:

   • Building life around a strong community has proven to be critical to longevity. Blue Zoners are mostly associated with a faith-based community and live close enough to their children and grandchildren. They are also part of social networks that encourage healthy lifestyles.

Here’s a clear chart that shows this:

Source: Blue Zones LLC

We know that the first person who will live to 200 years may have already been born. Are scientists correct about this? We may never know.

So, would you like to live to 100 years? Of course, no one has a clue when they could die but if your lifestyle could make a significant change to your longevity, what changes would you make today?

Also, who is the oldest person you know and how old are they?

Let me know!

Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.