When it comes to knowing the secret to a long life, who better to talk to than a centenarian? Some attribute their success to healthy eating and regular exercise, while others believe they were simply born with good genes. One woman, Susannah Mushatt Jones, claimed that eating bacon was the reason she lived to be 116 years old.
In 2015, Holiday Retirement commissioned a national survey of American centenarians – real people who have lived for 100 years or more. It asked about what it takes to live a long and satisfying life. In short, the secrets included time with family, saving money early on, working out your difficulties instead of running from them, and being active.
Possibly the most unconventional reply we’ve ever heard came from Scotland’s 109-year-old Jessie Gallan.
Gallan was born on a farm in Kintore, Scotland in 1906 to a family with five sisters and one brother. In a tiny two-room farmhouse, all seven of them would sleep together on a straw-filled mattress. Although she attended school for a while, she went to work in a farm kitchen and later as a housemaid in the city for a rich businessman. This was accompanied 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. Gillian Bennett, one of her assistant workers at the time told STV:[3] “Jessie is a lovely woman. Sarah Jane, her best friend, is here, and they are always united. She likes her music and likes her exercise class and is a very independent person. She is always walking about.”
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 secret to living a long life has been to avoid men,” Gallan said. “They’re just more trouble than they’re worth.”
Even though we can hear a resounding AMEN coming from other women around the world, Gallan’s secret does have a diet and lifestyle aspect.
“I like my porridge. I have all my life.”
While Jessie Gallan did not directly notice any of the survey points above, she lived them out… From staying social to being active, perhaps staying away from men was the unsaid icing on the cake that kept her going for so long!
We’re not advocating avoiding marriage if you want to live a long life. Rather, we’re emphasizing how a combination of healthy (and sometimes unconventional) habits and lifestyle choices can help you live longer—potentially into your hundreds!