Aging gracefully

I come across an article by Faiza Elmasry in VOA News, entitled "Centenarians provide model for aging gracefully",which I think is another good topic for a blog. In less than two month my aunt Sanyih will be 98 years old, but in her mind she is already 100. I think the important thing is that she thinks she can live many more years beuond that. I talk to Sanyih on the phone from time to time, it was always an enjoyable thing for me to do.

This VOA News article listed a few traits that researchers found centenarians have in common are:

• The most prominent trait is a love of life, which includes a sense of humor.
• Then a positive, yet realistic attitude.
• Third is a strong spiritual or religious belief.
• Fpurth is personal courage, because it's not easy growing older, and there are a lot of things that can go wrong.
• Last, and also most important, is a remarkable ability to renegotiate life at every turn and to accept changes with aging and not let it to stop them.

These are given by Lynn Adler who has been working closely with centenarians for more than two decades and is the author of a book "Centenarians: Bonus Years."

The article also quoted Thomas Perls, Physician and reseqrcher, as "That positive attitude toward life and oneself is part of what makes many centenarians such inspiring role models. Another important lesson young people can learn from these remarkable seniors is that healthy lifestyle choices early on in lifeare key to living healthier . . . and living longer."

I am still a few years before getting closer to the centenarian stage, so I count myself as one of the young people looking forward to join their ranks one of these days!