Super-Agers’ Longevity Secrets
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A doctor who studies centenarians said they're often just as likely to have unhealthy habits.
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It's a myth that aging is inevitable or that it's all about either lifestyle or genetics, she said.
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Instead, increase your odds of living longer by focusing on small daily habits like exercise.
Dr. Sofiya Milman spends her days studying some of the longest-living people on the planet — humans who are living proof that it's possible to live decades past the average American lifespan of 75 to 80 years old.
What she's learned so far — about lifestyle but particularly about DNA — is opening up avenues that could lead to a new era of anti-aging treatments for the rest of us.
"We have people who live to 100 and are healthy, so our bodies are capable. It's biologically plausible, therefore we just have to tweak things to get us there," she told Business Insider.
Milman, director of human longevity studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is leading a study to recruit 10,000 people aged 95 and older, along with their relatives, to find out what makes them live longer and healthier lives than their peers.
These so-called "super-agers" may owe their long lives to luck and good genes, but the studying them could help scientists give the rest of us a biological edge, too.
"Then we can have a drug that will benefit the other 99.9% of the population that didn't win the genetic lottery and wasn't lucky enough to inherit that gene," she said.
In the meantime, don't get sidetracked on common misconceptions about living longer. Here's what Milman said really works (and doesn't) for longevity.
Aging isn't inevitable
While we can't control the passage of time, medications and treatments could help us delay, prevent, or even reverse the process of getting older, at least in the sense of becoming frail or ill over time, according to Milman.
