Arizona Center on Aging -Optimal Aging

TOPIC 2: Secrets of the Centenarians

Once a year a very special group of people is honored in Tucson. It's an elite group, with strict age requirements.

It's the annual "Salute to Centenarians."

Tucson is home to the largest group of one hundred year olds in the country. The census bureau says there are about seventy thousand centenarians living in the United States today. That's about three times the number that was recorded in 1980. There are about 350 centenarians in Arizona, one hundred of whom reside in the Tucson area.

There are several ongoing studies in different parts of the country and worldwide, that examine the lifestyles of hundred year old people. Is it what they eat? Is it how they've lived their lives? Or maybe it's their genetics that have enabled them to live so much longer than most others.

Dr. Evan Kligman is a Tucson geriatrician and co-producer of our "Living Younger" series.

He specializes in helping his patients, young and old, age successfully. In addition, he develops and coordinates optimal aging programs at Canyon Ranch.

Dr. Kligman firmly believes that you have control over your aging. He says "All of the studies that have been looking at the aging process tend to also look at the fact that we decline somewhat differently. There's no question that we reach our peak at age 30. But the rate of decline is controlled by how active we remain, mind and body, the kind of food we eat and the way we control our stress."

Molly Batten is 100 years old.

She says "I don't know why I've lived so long. I just have a feeling that God has something more for me to do."

She lost her husband many years ago and now shares their home with her dog. She cooks her own meals, does her own laundry, does her crafts and heads up her neighborhood watch program.

"Being the neighborhood watch leader.. I have people calling me." Molly says, "I had a woman call me to tell me her trash wasn't picked up. She should have called the trash people, I called them. Well, it's easier for me to call them."

Every decade the number of centenarians doubles. By the middle of the 21st century - just 50 years - there will be one million people who are 100 hundred years or older.

According to one of the largest studies ever done on 100 year olds, the four most important things you can do in your quest to live younger and longer are: Lighten your emotional load Eat and drink in moderation Consciously challenge your brain Stay in touch with your friends and make new ones.