It's possible there's a regional or generational gap there. If you're pushing 110 you probably haven't worked in 40 years. You could even argue that the ones literally working themselves to death are the very ones paying for the older generation's happy carefree lifestyle.
Hey now, we only know that pfas cause nerological disorders in children and that they don’t go away and are difficult/expensive to filter at scale, maybe they make you live forever, too.
Also the whole missing centenarians thing they have going. 100+ year old people that haven't been seen or heard from in years or even decades still marked as alive when most are long dead.
If it’s about diet, then what’s so special? African countries have simple and natural diet too, why doesn’t that work?
Quality of life in Japan vs an African country isn't comparable. It's a combination of a healthier diet and higher standard of living. Also, it isn't unlikely that some of those people's ages aren't accurate.
Historically, a lot of walking and eating home-cooked meals that were high in veggies and fermented foods and probably eating lots of seafood and seaweed with other proteins being less frequent.
Milk wasn't even a part of school lunches until after the war, so people still kicking from the pre-war times mostly grew up without it.
I suspect, though, that life expediencies here are going to drop. Lots of fried food and such these days and I see more and more obese people.
Yep everyone will trot out their favorite health gimmick to answer this. Or highlight their favorite narrow aspect of Japanese culture or lifestyle. But genetics is the overwhelming factor, much though that serves no one’s narrative.
I had some relatives that lied about their birth date making them seem older so that they could join the arm forces (strange, if things like that were possible now it would be younger to escape them). Maybe some of these people at 14 suddenly became 18 year Olds to fight in WW2 or the Russian-Japan war before that.
Estrogen provides a great defense against heart disease, which is a huge killer. Now, this diminishes significantly after menopause, so it only explains things to a point.
Significantly lower female suicide rate probably also helps. Especially when plenty of those suicides occur quite young. Low numbers drag down an average quite quickly.
My guess is that it's more social than biological. Women have a tendency to form closer, more emotionally available, and more plentiful relationships with others -- I believe partially due to hormones/brain development and partially due to culture. They've done studies that show that having strong social relationships is important to lower stress and loneliness, which can lead to a longer life. I'm not sure if that's all of it but it definitely couldn't hurt to work on those things :)
My theory that I just made up without any research or noteworthy knowledge on the topic is that women have a slower metabolism (which is related to hormones as their muscle mass and density is lower).
The slower your metabolism and your caloric intake the less cells are replicating. When cells are being replaced there's always some degradation of genetic information involved. If you don't require much energy and thus keep your metabolism low your body is under less pressure. It's basically like a car with high mileage that has only seen constant slow long distance rides.
Generally to grow old: be content! You don't need heaps of money, don't fill a hole in yourself, that's unfillable, live reasonable (!) healthy, do things in reasonable doses, learn your whole life and in particular: don't try to get old. It's not the length of the way, it's what you experience during your journey.