Good humour, a positive outlook and staying away from toxic people is more important than genes, ice baths or spartan diets
Spaniard Maria Branyas has lived through earthquakes, war, pestilence and fire and, at 116, is still very much around. She is sound of mind, strong-hearted, mentally alert, and dispenses advice on X (formerly Twitter) on how to add those extra decades. “Order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity and staying away from toxic people,” she writes. Natural yoghurt, genes and luck have also helped.
Branyas has agreed to become part of geneticist Dr Manel Esteller’s investigation into why, while chronologically a supercentenarian, her biological age is so much lower. Ninety may not yet be the new 50, but those aged 100 or more are on the increase, many of them defying notions of decay and frailty.
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