25 Ways to Live to Be 100

Change Your Meal Patterns

The standard American meal pattern consists of a cup of coffee for breakfast, a sandwich and a soda for lunch, and then a mound of food for dinner. This gorging meal pattern would do a lion proud, but is it right for you?

Count Cholesterol Seventy percent of your cholesterol comes from that which you yourself manufacture, mostly in the liver; only one-third comes directly from the diet. This is why a low-cholesterol diet is not as important as a cholesterol-lowering diet.

Drink Up!

Few of us pay much attention to the amount of fluid we drink -- it's just a part of our lives that takes care of itself, right? Wrong. The recommended daily allowance for water proposed by the National Research Council is a quart and a half a day (48 fluid ounces).

Be Smart About Alcohol

Do you use alcohol to settle your nerves? Do you become angry or depressed when you drink? Are you truthful with yourself about your alcohol use? Be honest with yourself. If you're drinking too much or for the wrong reason, alcohol could be your foe. However, if you drink a glass of wine a day and practice moderation, experts say alcohol can work as your friend.

Eat to Fight Cancer

A wide variety of foodstuffs appear to act as protectors against cancer, including fiber, vitamins, and some sulfides contained in garlic and onions. Vegetables, greens and fruits, which are beneficial for other reasons, seem to supply substances that act as cancer shields. Conversely, fatty meat and some processed foods are suspected villains.

Find Meaning Life's later years give you the wonderful opportunity to search for meaning, to take the voyage to yourself. That will give understanding of where you have been and the relationship of your time to the cosmic order. Not all people will reach -- or even desire to reach -- this platform for survey of the grand panorama of life. But with more knowledge and involvement, opportunity for deep understanding appears.

Take Risks Risk-taking means writing your life history at 85, climbing a peak or taking sailing lessons at 80, serving in local government or baby-sitting at 90. Risk-taking is buying a pet, dating again after widowhood, learning to square dance or waltz, or buying a convertible. You've got to have the guts to grow old.

Be a Good Neighbor To be 100 is a cherished destiny, but when you get there you want the earthly house in which you live to be habitable and generous. The world should be better because you were here. Plant a tree, pick up litter, feed the birds, honor nature. This is the only home you have.

Train Your Brain Intellectual challenge and enrichment cause actual structural changes in the brain. It grows, just like your biceps do when you perform chin-ups. But how to build your brain power? Write a letter a day. Do volunteer work. Learn a language or a musical instrument. Stay social.

Be Attractive If you want to be 100, be bright, pretty and clean. Keep a sparkle in your eye and in your step. Keep your hair neat and groomed. Be well-shaved. Be strong. Keep your teeth in good shape, and maintain good hygiene.

Sex Is for Life Sex is very close to the essence of life. Some biologists even claim that it is all there is to life. Yet no one is more repressed than older people. The truth is that older people can. Older people do. Older people are sexier than younger people perceive them to be and are sexier than they perceive themselves to be.

Know Your Primary Doctor Your participation is important in your health. Your doctor is not the boss; you are partners in maintaining your well-being. Your ability to communicate with your doctor is also essential. Ask questions and be an active patient.

Be a Good Loser Inevitably, aging does bring losses, and it is possible to fall victim to helplessness and hopelessness. But when hope perishes, all is lost. So learn to confront life's losses, laugh at them, grow from them, and thus turn them into life's gains.

Think Travel Any wish list of things to do during retirement includes travel at the very top. The opportunities that travel offers -- adventure, culture, novelty, revisiting, and education -- have broad appeal to all ages, but retirement offers the crucial advantage of time availability. On whatever level you can achieve it, travel helps life attain a higher meaning.

Afford Retirment Financial planning and savings are the keys to maintaining financial independence as you reach toward 100. If your later years are to carry the brightness and promise you anticipate, you must have plenty of both health and wealth.

Keep Working For most of us, work provides not just money, but a sense of identity. A regular paycheck can provide continued evidence of our value and meaning. Yet retirement also provides the opportunity to rethink your job. Almost infinite choices exist, so do something you love.

Sleep Enough Many of us go months and even years on four to five hours of sleep a night, but the deficit is cumulative and costs us in decreased performance. If you have problems sleeping, a warm bath two hours before the desired sleep time can often do the trick. Other tips: Exercise, avoid stimulants and worry early, not late.

Steps for the Woman The principal risk of the woman alone in late life is financial. Educate yourself about your money situation, and be sure to participate in budgeting and planning. It's also important to stay social and stay needed. Those who can sustain a support system do well; those who can't fall by the wayside.

Steps for the Man Men are more likely to indulge in self-destructive practices, such as heavy alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use, irresponsible sexual behavior and fast driving. Job stress, while certainly not uniquely male, is also a large contributor to earlier mortality.

Make Time for Exercise Three hours of life can be gained for every hour spent exercising -- a good bargain, no? The timing of exercise is not so crucial. What is crucial is that it is done regularly -- not episodically, in extreme cold or heat, or in an initial burst.

Be Strong Many people who are 80 years old can no longer climb a flight of stairs, lift 10 pounds, or even get out of a chair. They are frail because they stopped moving. If a muscle isn't used, it shrinks. So start a strength-training program and stick with it.

Stay Loose Stretching probably gets even more important as you age because stiffness and loss of elasticity are part of the aging process. Be sure you put your muscles through their full range of exertion at least twice each week.

Stay Balanced One in every three people over the age of 75 suffers from at least one major fall each year, and falling can be deadly. Those in midlife should include balance exercises in their repertoire of fitness workouts. Stand on one leg for half a minute, then the other -- four or five minutes a day.

Respect Your Back Your back is your main pillar. It needs to carry you through your whole life journey, which means that you should buttress it with regular exercise and flexing. If you don't, it will start to ache and diminish the quality of your later years.

Honor Your Neck Headaches, numb hands and dizziness are the three main symptoms of a bum neck. Keep it strong by alternately pushing your head forward and then back against your cupped palm for a count of 10 several times a day. Keep your neck supple by gently moving it forward, backward and sideways.