Who better to talk to about the secret to living a long life than a centenarian? Some attribute their success to healthy nutrition and regular exercise, while others believe they were just born with good genes. One woman, Susannah Mushatt Jones, said that eating bacon was the reason she lived to be 116 years old.
Holiday Retirement commissioned a national survey of American centenarians – those who have lived for 100 years or more – in 2015. It asked about what it takes to live a long and meaningful life. In summary, the secrets included spending time with family, accumulating money early on, dealing with difficulties rather than avoiding them, and being active.
Scotland’s 109-year-old Jessie Gallan provided one of the most unusual responses we’ve ever heard.
Gallan was born in 1906 on a farm near Kintore, Scotland, to a family of five sisters and one brother. All seven of them would sleep on a straw-filled mattress in a tiny two-room house. She went to school for a while before leaving to work in a farm kitchen and then as a housemaid in the city for a wealthy businessman. This was followed by a career in the service industry, both in the city and out in the country
Gallan eventually moved into the Crosby House, a senior care facility. “Jessie is a nice woman,” Gillian Bennett, one of her support workers at the time, told STV. Sarah Jane, her best friend, is here, and they are always together. She enjoys music and fitness, and she is a self-sufficient individual. She’s always on the move.”
According to Bennett’s nice words, Gallan appears to have attributed her long life to remaining busy and social. Despite the fact that she died in March 2015, her secret to living a long life is unlike any we’ve heard!
“My key to living a long life has been to avoid men,” Gallan explained. “They’re simply more bother than they’re worth.”
Although we hear a resounding AMEN from other women all around the world, Gallan’s secret does include a dietary component…
“I enjoy my porridge. I have my entire life.”
While Jessie Gallan did not expressly state any of the survey topics listed above, she did live them out… From socializing to being active, perhaps staying away from men was the unstated icing on the cake that kept her going for so long!
We’re not advocating avoid marriage if you want to live a long life. Rather, we’re emphasizing how a combination of healthy (and sometimes unusual) habits and lifestyle choices can help you live longer… potentially into your hundreds!
