A delightful 103-year-old woman — currently in the midst of planning her next trip to Paris — recently told me the secret to her longevity was largely about diet.
Two poached eggs in the morning and a brandy at 5pm, every day for 40 years.
She also revealed that she had always loved a party. In fact, in her younger years, friends would travel far and wide for her legendary New Year’s Eve parties.
Good food, a daily brandy and a lively social life. It seemed like the kind of advice I could take to heart.
But a few weeks later I had the privilege of meeting another centenarian, who put paid to my hopeful brandy theory that I had been telling anyone who cared to listen.
He was aged 100 and had never touched a drop of alcohol in his life.
And he had exercised every day. Nothing too robust — usually just some golf — but it was daily movement.
He liked to joke that he was in such good shape that he looked 10 years younger than his son.
Despite the stark differences, there were also some striking similarities between the two.
They had both loved their working lives before retiring.
Both had been happily married, enjoyed their children and maintained strong social circles.
And both, without prompting, told me essentially the same thing when I asked about the secret to their longevity: They had never let too much worry them.
Neither had lived a life without problems or genuine concerns.
They had seen death and financial hardship. But they had a remarkably pragmatic attitude towards life’s challenges.
A problem was simply seen as something to be dealt with.
They would work out what could be done, do it — or decide it did not warrant further action — and then move on with as little fuss as possible.
It is concerning that some people these days still believe that the link between stress and physical illness is some kind of wellness clap-trap simply because it is not the type of thing that can realistically be tested in a double-blind clinical trial.
There is, however, nothing particularly new-age about the idea that prolonged psychological stress can affect physical health.
There is now substantial evidence that chronic stress affects the nervous, hormonal and immune systems and is associated with increased risk of a range of illnesses, particularly cardiovascular disease.
One of the clearest studies showing the impact of stress is the common cold experiment, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1991.
The experiment involved giving 420 healthy adults low doses of several types of respiratory virus and infection while in individual quarantine.
The adults were assessed for their stress levels, based on things such as stressful life events and their emotional state of mind.
They were then medically tested for things such as sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat and cough.
The results were that about 27 per cent of the lowest-stress group developed a clinical cold, compared with about 47 per cent of the highest-stress group.
About 74 per cent of people in the lowest-stress group became infected, compared with about 90 per cent of people in the highest-stress group.
The experiment provided unusually strong evidence that psychological stress can increase susceptibility to respiratory infection.
A separate 1995 study in The Lancet compared 13 women caring for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease with an equal number of controls.
Each participant received a standardised 3.5mm skin biopsy wound. The carers’ wounds took about 24 per cent longer to heal.
These two tests consider fairly low-level impacts from stress, but Japan has a word for one of the more extreme forms of this phenomenon: karoshi, generally translated as “death from overwork”.
Japanese authorities recognise deaths associated with excessive working hours, including from cardiovascular disease and stroke.
It seems that while many can mask the effects of prolonged psychological stress through their behaviour, the body keeps score.
It knows when it is being asked too much, and sooner or later, it will make you pay for it.
For those who don’t like sitting still, it is important to remember that rest is productive.
But those who like sitting still a little too long should remember that exercise is also an antidote to stress.
Relaxation, or time spent doing something you enjoy, will soothe your frazzled nerves and help reduce stress hormones.
The centenarians may have discovered the secret to a long life.
Or perhaps they had discovered something almost as useful: how to live the life they had without worrying it away.
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