Former President Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Tuesday, becoming the first U.S. president to live a full century. Living the last 19 months in home hospice care, the 39th president keeps defying expectations.
The number of Americans ages 100 and older is projected to more than quadruple over the next three decades, from an estimated 101,000 in 2024 to about 422,000 in 2054, according to projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, as reported by the Pew Research Center.
What can be done to increase the longevity odds? Dr. John Dooley, with Foxhall Internists, wonders whether genetics played a large role.
“We can’t pick our parents, but if you could pick your parents, there are probably some sets of genes that are better suited to a long life than others,” Dooley said.
However, he prefers to look at things patients can control.
“First, I’ll throw out the negatives — things not to do,” said Dooley. “Don’t smoke — that’s a big one. Don’t drink to excess. Don’t drive too fast, and don’t text while you drive.”
Dooley said when people discuss longevity, the focus is usually on medical aspects, including disease, drugs, and screenings.
“When you’re 18 years old and you’re driving a car, you’ve got a lot of years of life ahead of you, in all likelihood,” said Dooley. “You can shortchange yourself by many decades with an error behind the wheel.”
As people age, they should try to maintain a reasonably safe environment, which could mean limiting potentially dangerous activities “like falling from ladders or falling downstairs,” Dooley said.
According to Dooley, exercise is important, even as a person approaches old age: “Taking a walk for 20 or 30 minutes a day, even if it’s at a slower pace, and they have to stop from time to time.”
He said, sometimes, exercise has to be tailored to a person’s abilities: “Standing and sitting repeatedly, as a way to work on leg strength and such.”
Dooley recommends saving your money on supplements that claim they’ll help you live longer.
“Big picture, I don’t think there’s any potion that’s yet been shown to meaningfully extend the life of an actual person,” he said. “Multiple servings of fruits and vegetables have been pretty conclusively linked to longer life.”