The Key to Longevity

Alice Dembner

Posted December 13, 2002

Centenarians share old-age tips

Two weeks short of his 99th birthday, Reuben Landau still works seven days a week as a lawyer, helping clients with estates and trusts. He reads voraciously, exercises twice a day in his Cambridge, Mass., home office and regularly meets friends for $5 games of gin rummy.

Charlotte Chipman, 100, takes yoga and aerobics classes weekly, attends lectures and concerts to stay sharp, and maintains a Rolodex of family birthdays to keep connected.

While genetics and exercise may play a role, both seniors say a key to their longevity is their ability to roll with the punches. New research suggests that those who live to be 100 are less likely to dwell on problems and have a better ability to handle stress than those who die younger.

"Life has a way of mixing grief with joy, evil with good, darkness with light," said Chipman, who lives in Newton, Mass. "You have to be good at handling this, and go along with whatever comes your way."

A small study of women centenarians conducted by the New England Centenarians group at Boston Medical Center and discussed last week at the national meeting of the Gerontological Society of America found low levels of neuroticism among the oldest people, as did a similar study in Japan. Neuroticism typically includes symptoms of anxiety, obsessions and phobias. Studies of other groups of centenarians around the world, also discussed at the conference here, suggest that centenarians have higher morale than other seniors and that psychological health is more important than physical health in maintaining well-being late in life.

"The two major things you need to do is exercise your brain and manage your stress," said Margery Silver, associate director of the New England study. "Centenarians appear to be temperamentally natural stress managers, but the rest of us can learn ways to manage our stress."

Landau and Chipman are among a small segment of centenarians or near-centenarians still living independently. They appeared along with two other chipper centenarians and their "kid" relatives at the conference to answer questions. They spent much of two hours making jokes and laughing.

Dr. Thomas Perls, who heads the New England study, said there are no data yet showing a link between humor and longevity, but that centenarians in the study tended to be funny and gregarious and "able to build the kind of social networks that are important to cognitive vitality."

Landau says he has few people to joke with since "all my peers are up in heaven," but he enjoys the company of his 72-year-old only son and a Tuesday-night routine of gin rummy with new friends, whom he typically beats by memorizing the cards. "I marvel at why they come, why they're willing to risk their $5 against mine," he joked.

Two of Landau's seven siblings are in their early 90s, both also lawyers but no longer practicing. His son, William, also practices law at Landau. He said he'd like to retire, but his father won't let him. "Whenever there's a fire, I'm the one who has to put the fire out," said William Landau.

Reuben Landau attributes his longevity to an epiphany at age 59, when he suffered a heart attack. "I decided to slow down in my work and to avoid confrontation and tension, and begin an exercise program," said Landau, who has escaped other major illnesses. "I have no complaints about anybody. And I don't try to tell anybody how to live."

Landau appears to be among a group of centenarians Perls calls "survivors." About one-quarter of male centenarians and 43 percent of female centenarians fall into this category. They are people who've persisted despite illness, according to a study of 409 conducted by a collaborator, Jessica Evert. An additional 40 percent of men and women are "delayers," making it to age 80 before suffering a serious illness; and 15 percent of women and 32 percent of men are "escapers," having avoided ailments such as cancer and heart attacks.

Until a few years ago, when he moved his office to Cambridge, the older Landau had walked to his office in downtown Boston regularly as part of his fitness routine. Now, he does calisthenics at home, readily demonstrating his reach above his head and his spryness at marching in place. He has given up driving, yet retains his drivers license. It shows both his date of birth - 12/12/03 - and its expiration date, 12/12/03, which he hopes is not his own.

Date: December 6, 2002

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