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The number of centenarians in the United States was under forty thousand in 1990. In 2014, more than one hundred thousand of us have lived one hundred years or more.

I enjoyed reading a New York Times article: “Secrets of the Centenarians”68 on how some centenarians answer the question they get asked most: “What is your secret to a long life?”

Mae Anderson, 103, of Great Neck, New York, said:

I think not looking into the past and just living in the present is a very good thing, because picking up certain things from the past—what you should have done or could have done—is not going to help you. We’re always grateful for what we can do, and we try to forget what we didn’t do or shouldn’t have done.

Esther Tuttle will not reach one hundred till next July, but she is bound and determined to get there. At ninety two she wrote her memoir and titled it No Rocking Chair for Me. She told the reporter her secret: “Being conscious of your body. Your body is your instrument. So I always did exercises, did a lot of yoga, stretching exercises, and walking. Eat in moderation and drink in moderation.”

One-hundred-year-old Travilla Demming of Tucson said: “I always put anything disagreeable or bad out of the way. That’s the secret of life. Don’t emphasize anything that is evil or bad, but just get rid of it or rise above it.” She concluded: “I’m having a fun old age, except I’m getting rustier and rustier by the day.”

Most longevity researchers agree that 20–30 percent of longevity is genetically determined. That leaves lifestyle (think Esther Tuttle) and attitude (think Mae Anderson and Travilla Demming) as dominant factors. Although not in control of our genes, we do control our lifestyle and attitude.

Maybe old Jonathan Swift had it right: “The best doctors are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman.”