Why do some people live for over 100 years, even if they drink and smoke and never exercise?


Quote:

What Matters More for Longevity: Genes or Lifestyle? It depends on what your goal is.

Whatever happened to stem cells? Were they not going to allow us to regrow damaged organs and stuff?


Quote:

When Dr. Nir Barzilai met the 100-year-old Helen Reichert, she was smoking a cigarette. Dr. Barzilai, the director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, recalled Mrs. Reichert saying that doctors had repeatedly told her to quit. But those doctors had all died, Mrs. Reichert noted, and she hadn’t. Mrs. Reichert lived almost another decade before passing away in 2011. There are countless stories about people who reach 100, and their daily habits sometimes flout conventional advice on diet, exercise, and alcohol and tobacco use. Yet decades of research shows that ignoring this advice can negatively affect most people’s health and cut their lives short. So how much of a person’s longevity can be attributed to lifestyle choices and how much is just luck — or lucky genetics? It depends on how long you’re hoping to live. Research suggests that making it to 80 or even 90 is largely in our control. “There’s very clear evidence that for the general population, living a healthy lifestyle” does extend the life span, (my emphasis] said Dr. Sofiya Milman, a professor of medicine and genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

So step 1—live a bit healthy, good diet and moderate exercise. The older you get the less red meat you should eat and you should also eat more vegetarian dishes.


Quote:

One study published last year, which analyzed the lifestyles of more than 276,000 male and female United States veterans, found that adopting eight healthy behaviors could add up to 24 years to people’s lives. They included eating a healthy diet, getting regular physical activity, sleeping well, managing stress, having strong relationships, and not smoking, abusing opioids or drinking to excess.

For those reaching the late 80s and 90s genes seem to matter more than lifestyle. Not just one gene but a combination of genes:


Quote:

Some genes may affect people’s likelihood of developing specific conditions. For example, the APOE gene is known to influence the risk for Alzheimer’s disease: Those who carry the APOE4 variant have an increased risk, while those with the APOE2 version are at a decreased risk. Dr. Province said that long-lived families have a higher prevalence of APOE2 than the average population. Other genes appear to influence the aging process itself. One that has cropped up in several studies of centenarians is called FOXO3, which is involved in many fundamental aspects of cellular health. Because these genes affect the biology of aging, it’s possible that they can protect against multiple age-related diseases, Dr. Milman said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/well/longevity-influences-genetics-lifestyle.html