An Octogenarian Shares His Secrets for a Long and Healthy Life

By Patricia Salber MD, MBA (@docweighsin)

Dov Michaeli shares his secrets to attaining a hard body and a strong mind in the 9th decade of life. Hint: It takes discipline and hard work.

Oftentimes, when you read stories about people who attain a remarkable milestone in aging, you will find that they have been asked the following question:

“What is your secret to a long and healthy life?”

The stories usually relate one or two things that the oldster supposedly pointed to as the key to living to such an advanced age. For instance, Emma Morano, an Italian woman who died at the advanced age of 117 was said to attribute her longevity to her genetics and a diet of three eggs a day, two of them raw. Jeanne Calment of France was verifiably the longest living human ever. Her story noted that she smoked cigarettes from age 21 to age 116. She also ate 2 pounds of chocolate a week. She died at age 122. American Sarah Knauss lived to be 116 years old. She credited not letting things upset her as being the “secret” to her longevity. The “secrets” shared by these supercentenarians make it seem like anyone could live to a ripe old age without really working at it. But, alas, if it were that easy to live to a ripe old age, many more of us would be doing it.