So you want to live to be 100?

December 19, 2020 6:20 PM

Why Japanese Live So Long The answers to living a long and happy life may come from Japan which has the longest average life expectancy in the world (83.84 years) and where 2 million people are over the age of 90. Believe it or not, 6 of the top 10 oldest people alive are from Japan including Nabi Tajima of Kagoshima who is 117 years old and the last human alive born in the 19th century!
posted by dancestoblue (51 comments total)

Nabi Tajima of Kagoshima who is 117 years old and the last human alive born in the 19th century

The math here isn't working for me.
posted by hippybear at 6:22 PM on December 19, 2020 [27 favorites]

The math here isn't working for me.

It was filmed in 2017.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:26 PM on December 19, 2020 [19 favorites]

Just looked her up and Nabi Tajima died in 2018. She was born in 1900 so technically, that is the 19th century but emotionally I still think of that as the 20th century. Same with the year 2000 - is that the last year of the 20th century or the first year of the 21st?
posted by NotTheRedBaron at 6:35 PM on December 19, 2020 [3 favorites]

Hasn’t it turned out that part of the secret to Japan’s high prevalence of supercentenarians is “poor record keeping?”
posted by atoxyl at 6:52 PM on December 19, 2020 [29 favorites]

I've seen 100 up close and personal. My dad died at a century with Alzheimer. Demented, paranoid and infantile. My mom died the same way, only she was totally vegetative and a mere 93. No thanks...
posted by jim in austin at 6:53 PM on December 19, 2020 [8 favorites]

Probably calorie restriction.
From the link to the NIH summary:

In these studies, when rodents and other animals were given 10 percent to 40 percent fewer calories than usual but provided with all necessary nutrients, many showed extension of lifespan and reduced rates of several diseases, especially cancers. But, some studies did not show this benefit, and in some mouse strains, calorie restriction shortened lifespan rather than extending it.

posted by wuwei at 7:06 PM on December 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

Nice. It baffles me that my foster grandmother was born in 1900. Lived to 94.
GAVE all her life despite being born into a political family with money but that's what you did she'd say. At 89, she drove to Arizona from Michigan by herself save the mannequin in the passenger side. She had a laugh that would encompass. The last act she did on her own volition was pull the fire alarm at her nursing home, as she always wanted to do that. She passed an hour later.
mold broken. my maternal grandmother lived to near 104.

Both agreed that a sense of humour is Paramount to long life.
posted by clavdivs at 7:21 PM on December 19, 2020 [41 favorites]

If I can die laughing at myself for not being "ready" yet, that'll be a win. And as long as I can die laughing at myself for having been ready way before, I'll still count it as at least not a total loss.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:34 PM on December 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

"Either that ancient Japanese dude also born in 1960 goes, or I do!"
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:36 PM on December 19, 2020

"The secret to living a long life is to have fun!"

(pulls up in Porsche)

Or, y'know, to be wealthy.
posted by fnerg at 7:46 PM on December 19, 2020 [3 favorites]

I have never understood the desire to live that long. I once had a friendly argument with a friend who was all about living well past 100. His only defense was “Think of all the things you’ll see!” Always seemed a weak reason to me.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:21 PM on December 19, 2020 [3 favorites]

I have never understood the desire to live that long.

Honestly, I'm 52, and I feel like 75 would be a perfectly fine run. I don't feel the need to continue here forever. Life is nice and all, but it becomes an increasing effort the more it continues. Just my personal opinion.
posted by hippybear at 8:24 PM on December 19, 2020 [13 favorites]

I've seen 100 up close and personal. My dad died at a century with Alzheimer. Demented, paranoid and infantile. My mom died the same way, only she was totally vegetative and a mere 93. No thanks...--jim in austin

It all depends. One of my grandftathers was pretty sharp up until he passed away at 98.
posted by eye of newt at 9:26 PM on December 19, 2020 [10 favorites]

30,000 days -- 82 and change -- is a good time to go maybe; 0 to 27, 28 to 54, 55 to 82 . . .
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 10:13 PM on December 19, 2020 [6 favorites]

A diet of primarily rice and fish probably has quite the influence.

That, and beans, nuts, seaweed, miso, pickles, heaps and heaps of vegetables. Also, small portions are the norm.
posted by zardoz at 10:17 PM on December 19, 2020 [8 favorites]

I once had a friendly argument with a friend who was all about living well past 100. His only defense was “Think of all the things you’ll see!” Always seemed a weak reason to me.

My grandmother's reason was to outlive not only her enemies, but to outlive the children of her enemies as well. It's important to have a dream.
posted by betweenthebars at 10:26 PM on December 19, 2020 [37 favorites]

I've seen 100 up close and personal.

My grandmother made it to 103. She was cognitively in good shape when she went, and in no pain. She'd also made her peace with the world long ago, and that definitely helped. I hope I can do the same regardless of how long I stick around.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 10:47 PM on December 19, 2020 [14 favorites]

Honestly, I'm 52, and I feel like 75 would be a perfectly fine run.

In ten, twenty years what a perfectly fine run will be may move a bit farther off, year by year:

A renter, apart from black iris, I like to grow black flower annuals such as snapdragons, scabiosa, Cardinal flowers, old fashioned Black Knight and Cupani sweet peas -- which smell five times richer and stronger than florist sweet peas -- Heavenly Blue morning glories and so on, all trimmed with electric blue Crystal Palace lobelia amid banks of night scented stock which along with the sweet peas honey the dusk through spring and summer with scents of cloves and jasmine.

Right now it is two days until the Winter Solstice and the nights are so long. But Spring is coming. Already I am thinking about digging up the pots and planting seeds and starts. There is always next year.
posted by y2karl at 11:09 PM on December 19, 2020 [23 favorites]

My grandmother’s husband turned 101 a couple months ago and he seems to be having a grand time. He’s mentally sharp and physically holding up very well and he enjoys the company of other human beings and is (as a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee) very excited about the latest and greatest in space exploration news. Plus he gets to be married to my Grandma Betty who is a stone cold foxy lady.

I’m very much in the Roy Batty “I want more life, fucker” camp but I don’t begrudge anyone the option of choosing otherwise.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:20 PM on December 19, 2020 [13 favorites]

My great auntie made it over 102. I’m told the last few months were rough but she was sharp and happy at her giant blow out party for 100, her large family dinner at 101, and her slightly smaller but joyful dinner at 102.

Her husband (2nd) had passed some years previously. I’m not certain how old he was, late 90s I think, but the last time I saw him at a family event he was sitting in his wheelchair beaming. Anyone who came over to talk had their hands gripped tightly as he looked at you, smiled, and said “Oh, so beautiful. You’re so beautiful!”

They were the kindest people in life and I’m so grateful we got that much time with them.
posted by lepus at 11:22 PM on December 19, 2020 [24 favorites]

I've seen 100 up close and personal. My dad died at a century with Alzheimer. Demented, paranoid and infantile. My mom died the same way, only she was totally vegetative and a mere 93. No thanks...

My Grandmother was still going strong at 99, reading her mystery novels, doing jigsaw puzzles, surfing Netflix, making her own meals, still very tidy, very communicative, still walking on her own, but her decline after turning 100 was sharp and steep, but 99 years of good health and mental clarity for one bad year, and it was bad, I dunno. I think most people would take that deal in a heartbeat.

But it was a really bad year.
posted by Beholder at 11:23 PM on December 19, 2020 [13 favorites]

I remember how much my grandmother wanted to die. She kept breaking her hip. I remember that she lost her faith at the end, wondering why God didn't end her suffering. I think she died before 90. My mom will die before she's 80.

I think that we view aging in such an unhealthy awful way. We celebrate someone dying so late in their life, as if it was an ordeal to put off that death. If someone has managed to carve out so many decades on this earth that's surely an accomplishment. But like, I can't celebrate someone's 9 decades of life when so many of my friends won't make it past 40. Even past 30 is dicey.

Cherish what you have, what you want, for as long as you want. I don't believe there's anything to celebrate about a very long life but if you want to clink my glass and cheers to your health I will.
posted by Neronomius at 12:13 AM on December 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

fwiw...
The Island Where People Forget to Die - "Unraveling the mystery of why the inhabitants of Ikaria, an island of 99 square miles that is home to almost 10,000 Greek nationals, live so long and so well."

A Greek island's secrets to long life, in 11 bullet points:

1. Plenty of rest: "Wake naturally, work in the garden, have a late lunch, take a nap."
2. An herbal diet: "Many of the teas they consume are traditional Greek remedies."
3. Very little sugar, white flour, or meat: "Low intake of saturated fats from meat and dairy was associated with lower risk of heart disease." A doctor cites "the absence of sugar and white flour."
4. Mediterranean diet: Olive oil, goat's milk, wild greens, wine, and coffee are all cited for health benefits. "Subjects consumed about six times as many beans a day as Americans."
5. No processed food: "Another health factor at work might be the unprocessed nature of the food they consume: as Trichopoulou observed, because islanders eat greens from their gardens and fields, they consume fewer pesticides and more nutrients."
6. Regular napping: Taking at least three a week was found to correlate with a 37 percent reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease.
7. Healthy sex lives after 65: "A preliminary study of Ikarian men between 65 and 100 that included the fact that 80 percent of them claimed to have sex regularly, and a quarter of that self-reported group said they were doing so with 'good duration' and 'achievement.'"
8. Stay busy and involved: "Social structure might turn out to be more important. In Sardinia, a cultural attitude that celebrated the elderly kept them engaged in the community and in extended-family homes until they were in their 100s. Studies have linked early retirement among some workers in industrialized economies to reduced life expectancy."
9. Yes, exercise: "It's hard to get through the day in Ikaria without walking up 20 hills."
10. Little stress of any kind: Relaxed work and social cultures, little emphasis on time, and a caring community all get frequent mentions. For example, "You're not likely to ever feel the existential pain of not belonging or even the simple stress of arriving late." Or, "Even if you're antisocial, you'll never be entirely alone."
11. "Mutually reinforcing" habits: "The big aha for me, having studied populations of the long-lived for nearly a decade, is how the factors that encourage longevity reinforce one another over the long term. For people to adopt a healthful lifestyle, I have become convinced, they need to live in an ecosystem, so to speak, that makes it possible. ... The power of such an environment lies in the mutually reinforcing relationships among lots of small nudges and default choices."

posted by kliuless at 12:56 AM on December 20, 2020 [24 favorites]

What usually gets forgotten are the "second order patterns" in the Mediterranean diet, namely the approx. 130 fasting days the Greek Orthodox Church prescribes: Greek Orthodox fasting rituals: a hidden characteristic of the Mediterranean diet of Crete
posted by kmt at 2:36 AM on December 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

So maybe all this talk of fasting and small portions and other calorie restriction just means we get the chance to enjoy a certain amount of food before our bodies give up processing any more. I have no interest in extra years if it requires giving up the foods I love. I would rather have a one-quarter or one-third shorter life span as long as I get to enjoy the sweet, starchy, fatty foods that are part of what makes life worth living for me.
posted by PhineasGage at 2:48 AM on December 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

Healthy sex lives after 65: "A preliminary study of Ikarian men between 65 and 100 that included the fact that 80 percent of them claimed to have sex regularly, and a quarter of that self-reported group said they were doing so with 'good duration' and 'achievement.'"

I'm going to need that measure validated for accuracy by some data from the women of Ikarian.
posted by srboisvert at 3:23 AM on December 20, 2020 [24 favorites]

In re food: I think this is why we're talking about societies. If I live in a society where the normal foods that everyone buys and cooks are very healthy, it's a lot easier for me to eat them - if no one is, eg, getting pizza all the time, if the sweets in the shops are traditional fruit-based sweets and not too many of them, if the celebratory meal is rich and delicious but not a pound of cheese and bacon. There's a big difference between having to say no all the time and being able to say yes because the society-wide food norms are pretty good.

Like, many traditional healthy diets are pretty delicious if you can make them with all the original ingredients. But for me many of them involve eating markedly less delicious versions - lots and lots of frozen spinach because fresh is expensive, low quality fish cuts that don't taste good, etc. And even then, one is constantly in the position of saying no to going out to lunch, refusing cake at work, etc, and that's fatiguing.

So yeah, faced with a life of saying no and eating really gross frozen salmon, I tend to find that the pizza calls loudly. But it could be different.
posted by Frowner at 3:31 AM on December 20, 2020 [13 favorites]

I've written lots here about having those heart attacks, being dead w/no oxygen a loooong time, being dead but w/oxygen for another 13 minutes whilst they broke my ribs with CPR and kept blasting me with that electric reset rig they've got, finally got me back going but then I died again and then yet again that night, blah blah blah.

I was 49 and a half when that happened and damned if I don't want another 49 and a half. I feel like I've done my bit for death.

~~~~~

And death, and the afterlife -- if there is one -- I've been interested in that for decades. And I've had people close to me die, some good deaths, some horrific, but I try to think about and write of the life before the decline also, to round it out.

~~~~~

So -- me. What do I want? I *do* want another 49 and a half years from my first death, sixteen years ago. I'm experiencing decline, lose the thread in conversations, cannot always find peoples names, can't always find my keys, even when the keys are in my hand. Yes, I have looked for reading glasses while they were on my head. So that's all humbling but I know many people have this when they hit their 60s, I clicked the dial to 66 a couple of days ago.

But I still love people. I still have people that love me, difficult as I am. I have a mentor, a man a few years older than I whose wisdom and love I know I can trust, and if/when I *don't* trust it I can ask about it, and get a straight answer. And I'm lucky enough that I get to mentor some younger men in this same way. I belong to a social organization which has an awfully stiff price for the dues but they're all pretty much paid before a person is really willing to join, and now I just get the benefits. (This has been set off-track by COVID19 but those vaccinations are coming on close now; we will have the most heart-felt meetings ever once we can join together again in person, and not just over a screen.)

~~~~~

My mother, who lived to 92, her mind sharp as a razor but the last ten years of her life in real pain, bone on bone in her shoulders, one hip also trashed. But she had our love, all of us sibs plus all of our cousins, since all of her siblings died and all of my fathers siblings died, my mother became Grand Central for curiosity and love. She really loved that and so did we all.

My father took of at 84. Could have been the brain tumor he had, could have been Alz, I personally believe it was both. His decline began maybe at 81, or 82, I'd see him looking at nothing, same look as an old dog has in its eye as it looks into a fire, looking across time. He had maybe a year of that, or two, but then the fear hit him -- terror a more apt word, truth be told -- he was losing his shit, he was separated from my mother maybe six months before his death, put into a lost souls ward (called a "Memory Ward" -- talk about double-speak). What was really most interesting is that while he was lost in life and lost in his life, when in prayer he was sharp as a razor, praying for the people suffering Katrina, praying for all of his children, his wife, praying for anyone suffering, that they would have peace. It hurt like hell, I'd be on my cell, pulled to the side of the road, crying like a kid, yet also knowing/feeling how beautiful that piece was.

~~~~~

I'm going to enclose here an excerpt I'd written about my ex-wifes death, as follows:
30 years ago, give or take, I picked up the phone one afternoon after getting in from work and someone said my name, and I said "Who is this?" and it was Kathy, first time since we met that I didn't know her voice. She was in Arkansas, some horses-ass doc said she had a cold or some shit, she had a tumor size of a small lemon in her throat, small but bigger by the minute. Her sister called me later that night, or maybe the next day, and told me that this is "IT." and I was going to hook it on up to Mineral Wells and pick up Brenda and together we were headed to see Kathy; Kathy was gone before I could pack a bag. I had them hold the phone to her ear "I love you, Kathy, I love you. You're so goddamn wonderful. I love you, Kathy." And she was gone.

Let me tell you a little bit about how fucking arrogant I am. I was of the belief -- and held hard belief, too -- that a life lived properly, well, you're straight with everyone, and needn't go rushing off to tell someone goodbye. That's one of the most stupid things I've ever held to, perhaps the most stupid -- I'd have give anything to see her, tell her in person, hold her hand, hug her, tell her I love her.

I didn't go to her funeral -- she had five other ex-husbands to show though. Six husbands, dead before 40. She was on the run, always. You want to know how sticky Kathy was; two weeks after her funeral her second ex, who she'd left me for, who had everything to live for, he put a .44 magnum into his mouth and ended the hurt. He'd done what I'd tried for years, he'd found himself another bitty redhead, but she was as stable as Kath was a runner. He truly had everything to live for. But Kathy was sticky as hell; I've had guns in my own mouth behind the foolishness of losing her.

~~~~~

Myself, I want to see more of this thing unfold. If I died tonight, it'd be like walking out of a movie that is really a good one, all kind of plot twists, all kinds of characters, characters of every description, and I get to interact with them, or not, as I'm willing or able to do so. I get to pray for people who I loathe -- it's a very effective way of lessening the burn of resentment and/or hatred -- and I get to pray for people I love, too.

I get to ride my dang bike every day, no matter hot or cold, rain or sleet or snow, thunderstorms, winds gusting 55 mph -- no matter, I'm gonna be on that bicycle, enjoying the beauty of this city I love so much. I love to ride in the heart of the night, anywhere between maybe 2 to 5 AM, as I'm generally the only person out, and I get to own the whole city. (Also, so many ppl refuse to wear masks so it's best for me to not ride when those fools are out and about.)

I have cried while riding that bike, cold and rain or sleet and a huge wind gusting way huger and it's like trying to push a truck uphill, I've cried, I've cursed god, I've begged god for strength. I've not missed a day in 4 years 10 months now, I've learned to not stop when it's overwhelming because then I've just got to face right back into it no matter what so I keep moving, glacial pace, crying, ranting, praying, playing games IE lying to myself (I've just got to make it to that clump of trees up there." and then after that "I've just got to make it to that one bench.") and while I know it's a big fat lie it still keeps me moving. Not sure how many years I can keep this up but that's not the point, the point is to do it Today. And then tomorrow do it Today again. This bicycle thing has truly brought me into a great relationship with One Day At A Time, a great place to be.

If I get hit by a bus while on a bike ride or if I end up somehow either in terror or braindead on some back ward I've arranged for my death, set it up with people who know where to get the drugs to put me down. I'd like to think I could deal with it if it's physical pain but I guess I'd have to find out.

~~~~~

I take my cue from John Yossarian -- "I'm going to live forever or die in the attempt."
Catch 22
Joseph Heller
posted by dancestoblue at 3:55 AM on December 20, 2020 [24 favorites]

I wonder how this correlates with the fact that Japan is also a country that has problems with overwork, even to the point where they have a name for people dying from it.
posted by JanetLand at 5:23 AM on December 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Great-grandpa Biscuit, whom I remember well, was born in the waning years of the 19th century. I myself have seen several decades of the 20th and 21st, and barring some disaster, I expect some of the primary-school-age relatives (nieces, nephews, children of cousins) I have will see some of the 22nd. I’m pleased having a personal connection to four different centuries.

I asked my youngest sibling once if he remembered our great-grandfather at all; he said, “Not really.” This was unsurprising, as great-grandpa cashed in when I was 19 and my little brother was 3.

Now aforesaid little brother is in his late thirties with several kids of his own, and as I recently crested fifty, it’s plausible I will be around long enough to to see at least one of these youngsters have kids of their own in turn. I realized at some point that in a decade or two, when talking to these future children, I can honestly regale them with, “I remember something your great-great-great-grandfather said to me once....”

“How old are you, uncle ricochet?!?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:31 AM on December 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have no interest in extra years if it requires giving up the foods I love. I would rather have a one-quarter or one-third shorter life span as long as I get to enjoy the sweet, starchy, fatty foods that are part of what makes life worth living for me.

When I was a kid, who did not know anyone with any visible disabilities or chronic conditions, I used to scare myself by attempting to decide if it would be better to lose my hearing or to lose my vision. I have no idea why I did this. Anyway, I don’t get to enjoy the foods that once were part of what makes life worth living for me. A year and a half ago my digestive system decided it hated me. None of the standard treatment for my diagnosis has been effective; an endoscopy did not find anything wrong. So I have a non-fatal, mildly annoying to massively upsetting chronic condition that is much less problematic than what many many other people face. There are definitely days when I feel like I would trade a few years off my life for a fully functioning digestive system.

But then there are days like today. I brought home the youngest grandchild and we built towers out of blocks and drew things and talked to each other on old-fashioned, non-functioning landline telephones. This kid is not yet four. I would hope to be around to see her turn 20 at least. But I am not interested in living that long if I have to suffer in the way some loved ones have suffered toward the end of their lives. I don’t know where the line is for me in terms of quality of life and choosing to shuffle off this mortal coil. But I’m definitely not interested in living to be 100 for the sake of living to be 100. That is a weird-ass goal but as the Swedes say, different people have different tastes.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:35 AM on December 20, 2020 [7 favorites]

7. Healthy sex lives after 65...

Does it start back up the minute you turn 65? Asking for...um...a friend...
posted by Thorzdad at 8:03 AM on December 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

It seems to me that what the Ikarian and the Japanese diet have in common is the variation and that both are strongly plant-based. I probably see it that way because for the last year or more, I've been really fascinated by the science of the microbiome, as described here by Tim Spector. My lockdown project has been to try to eat a much more varied diet, I try to get a bit more foraged food into it, and I mostly buy organic food. And my health has definitely improved.
In the Mediterranean countries, foraging is a huge part of culture. Or you buy wild stuff at the markets if you live in a city. I don't know if it is the same in Japan? At least, I suppose the seaweed is harvested from the wild? Wild plants are obviously different from industrial produce because there is a huge genetic variation, giving the good bugs in our gut more to work with. When I'm in the city, I don't forage much, because of pollution, but I do eat more seaweed, as a form of compensation.

After reading the NYTimes article about Ikaria linked above by kliuless, I think 2021 needs to be the year where I get serious about gardening. Not just for the vegs and herbs, but also for the slow exercise.

On my mother's side of the family, people have grown really old. Most more than 90, a couple of centenarians, all bright and full of energy till the last breath. My maternal grandmother was also a really talented and curious cook, who had grown up in a poor family where they always had good meals based on seasonal produce. She taught us to find mushrooms and berries, and to source local produce. There were good genes, but absolutely also good habits. On my dad's side, there is a gene that increases one's risk of cancer, and I have it, but thanks to modern science, I'm closely monitored. I'd love to see my grandchild grow up and have his own children and see them grow up, like my grandmother did.

When I was a kid I hated my parents for it, but now I'm grateful: we were hardly ever allowed to eat junkfood, sweets or processed food. A hotdog was a rare treat, and we were allowed to buy a small bag of sweets on Sundays only. So I never got the habit, and neither did my children. So it's probably also a lot about culture. If you grow up in an environment where processed food and snacking outside the meals is normal, it must be much harder to say no than if that isn't seen as an option, culturally. And culture is strong! My kids were curious about other lifestyles when they were in their teens, but today they find processed food disgusting and won't touch it. I went through the same experience.
posted by mumimor at 8:37 AM on December 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

As a way to relax I've started watching some 4K walking videos of Tokyo and environs. What's interesting is the number of elderly people you see walking around, riding bicycles, and just going about life. That, and all the cool vending machines everywhere.

A lot of my Mom's side of the family live for a long time. They're mostly farmers, though. Mom turned 80 this year and is still going strong, but she's had some health scares.

On my Dad's side of the family it was kind of a big deal when he turned 58, because he was the first male in his family to live that long for probably close to a century. His father, brother, grandfathers, and uncles/great-uncles usually died in their mid-50s, but my Dad made it to his mid-70s, mostly because my Mom regulated his diet.

I'm 56, almost 57. I need to pay better attention to my diet and start doing tai chi again, but this year has been weird, and that's not letting up until at least this time next year. That's really no excuse, though.
posted by ralan at 9:03 AM on December 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I used to scare myself by attempting to decide if it would be better to lose my hearing or to lose my vision.

I recall some comic saying that losing one’s vision is like being in a dark room, which almost all of us are at least daily, while losing one’s hearing is like being trapped on a planet full of mimes.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:39 AM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

the year 2000 - is that the last year of the 20th century or the first year of the 21st?

Last year of the 20th. Year numbers are 1-based, so the first century was the hundred years numbered 1 through 100, the second century was the hundred years numbered 101 through 200, and so on.

This is different from the way decades are numbered. Given that the twentieth century consisted of the hundred years numbered 1901 through 2000, it's clear that the tenth (i.e. last) decade of that century was the ten years numbered 1991 through 2000. But nobody talks about "the tenth decade" of any given century, or "the two hundredth decade" overall; instead we talk about the "nineties", of which the most recent is the ten years numbered 1990 through 1999.

Millennia, though, are numbered the same way centuries are. So the first millennium was the thousand years numbered 1 through 1000, the second millennium was the thousand years numbered 1001 through 2000, and we're right now nearly twenty years into the the third millennium, whose first day was the first of January 2001.

So the centuries and millennia both "clock over" one year later than the New Year's Eve celebration that marks the end of a decade. The last year of the Nineties was 1999, but the last year of both the twentieth century and the second millennium was 2000.

We're currently approaching the end of the twentieth year of the twenty-first century, which is also the twentieth year of the third millennium and the first year of the Twenties. 2021 will be the second year of the Twenties.
posted by flabdablet at 9:43 AM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

Honestly, I'm 52, and I feel like 75 would be a perfectly fine run.

I'm 56 and have no interest in going before I'm at least 85. I have quite a few friends and family members in their late seventies and into their eighties who are still leading full lives and as far as I can tell, still have all their facilities. Before covid, my 79 year old brother-in-law was out playing guitar live at least two night a week and didn't record his first album until he was 75.
posted by octothorpe at 9:51 AM on December 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

My own plan is to live to 104, having spent the time since my 103rd birthday working up a really solid heroin habit. With any luck at all it will be legal again by then. I figure by the time I'm 103 I won't be too fussed by any of a really solid heroin habit's typical downsides, which makes it the right stage of my life to experiment with that class of substances.
posted by flabdablet at 10:09 AM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

You, too, flabdablet?! That's one thing I really want to try, but only when I'm right near the end.
posted by PhineasGage at 10:15 AM on December 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I've always thought it makes sense to get the experiences on the bucket list into the right order. Dying is obviously going to be the one that puts the most restrictions on what can be done next, but a truly committed opioid addiction would surely have to run quite a close second.

Kicking an opioid addiction is, by all accounts, unpleasant enough that I don't want it on my list.
posted by flabdablet at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2020

For years after I quit smoking, I thought that if I got a terminal diagnosis the first thing I would do is go out and get some cigarettes, because at that point who cares, might as well enjoy the last few months, right? Now that it's been twenty-three years since I quit I don't really think that anymore.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:12 PM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

I recall some comic saying that losing one’s vision is like being in a dark room, which almost all of us are at least daily, while losing one’s hearing is like being trapped on a planet full of mimes.

Going deaf is pure hell. My advice to young people, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, for movies, for live events, for when you are exposed to any loud noise, always keep disposable ear plugs with you.
posted by Beholder at 1:41 PM on December 20, 2020 [9 favorites]

Turning 100 would be less surprising to me than the fact that humans still exist in 2084.
posted by mundo at 2:08 PM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, for movies, for live events, for when you are exposed to any loud noise,
I've lost most of the upper register of hearing spectrum. Construction sites. Always a great stereo and always like to set the volume to 11, or more. Rock and roll shows. Overall, I pretty much mostly lay the blame at construction sites; unless you've been inside when a grocery store is under construction you cannot imagine how loud it is.

My ears are constantly ringing -- tinnitus. I can mostly not hear it, in fact I've got it blocked pretty well, in that I don't hear it unless/until I think about it. Since writing about it here I now hear it ringing and ringing.

When mp3 files came out, music purists got all fussy about how they trash music. Makes absolutely no difference to me, as the register that is lost in mp3 file I cannot hear anyways.

I used to be able to awaken to an alarm on a wristwatch. Now it pretty much takes the sound of a train wreck, a train carrying bombs probably.

There are many people who talk very softly. I don't like them.
posted by dancestoblue at 2:09 PM on December 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Going deaf is pure hell. My advice to young people, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, ear plugs, for movies, for live events, for when you are exposed to any loud noise, always keep disposable ear plugs with you.

Yeah, due to (a) a variable neurological condition and (b) a fortnight-long serious ear infection in both ears, I have had sample sizes of both conditions (loss of vision and hearing). Neither one is great, but if you are a social sort of person, blindness might be preferable. Deafness can be more isolating -- if you're out with friends, full hearing and no vision still renders it pretty easy to participate in conversations. That said, I'm speaking only a a tourist: I was at 10% hearing for maybe two-and-a-half weeks, but there are several Deaf mefites who can probably give a much more nuanced view of the situation.

I have had the luck to work for some twenty years with someone who has gradually been losing his sight, and I have learned a lot from him about how to rearrange one's life to work around the challenges.

Anyway, with pretty bad uncorrected vision, my hearing shot from some lingering damage from the infection (and before that, a misspent youth passed in bar bands and steel mills), greatly diminished sensation from the aforesaid neurological condition, and a lifelong lack of smell, my sense of the world is largely guesswork and conjecture.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:55 PM on December 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

When mp3 files came out, music purists got all fussy about how they trash music. Makes absolutely no difference to me, as the register that is lost in mp3 file I cannot hear anyways.

I have standard age-related hearing loss at the high end, down to about 10kHz now in both ears, but otherwise my hearing is still good, apart from in high background noise situations when conversation can be more effort. I still listen to lots of music, across a wide range of styles/genres, with no need to turn the volume up and annoy the neighbours.

After some careful testing I converted my large collection of CD-rip & FLAC files to 256 AAC format (equivalent quality to 320 mp3), and it freed up a big chunk of space on my drive, without any loss in apparent quality to my ears. :-)

I am pretty sure that most adults of any age would have trouble picking 256 AAC from full lossless anyway in anything but strict lab test conditions, and often not even then.
posted by Pouteria at 8:00 PM on December 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

About to be 58. Can't imagine another 45 years...

Eyesight and memory failing, per usual. Have been half deaf in one ear for 45 years, and then degradation from that point. Lots of things hurt daily. But at some point, you have to be willing to accept, "I've had a good run". Dementia and pain are not the way I want to spend my final years, no matter how much I am afraid of not existing anymore.
posted by Windopaene at 8:27 PM on December 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I don't find the idea of living until I'm super old all that appealing because I can't fathom how to afford it. I am in my mid-40s and have an okay retirement fund but how long could that possibly last? If I retire at 70 and live to 100 there would be no way on earth that retirement fund would last 30 years. I might get a good ten years out of it but the idea of spending my 80s and 90s in utter penury sounds worse than dying earlier.
posted by Neely O'Hara at 10:43 AM on December 21, 2020 [3 favorites]

I thought of making an FPP out of this, but it is so long, I think it's mostly for those who are really into nutrition, who might have this thread bookmarked already: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Food Is Wrong | Tim Spector
I strongly recommend, if you can find the two hours in your life.
posted by mumimor at 10:11 AM on December 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Turning 100 would be less surprising to me than the fact that humans still exist in 2084.

We're the most numerous large mammal on the planet. We're also among the most adaptable. That puts us a long way back in the extinction queue.

None of which is to deny that the next century is likely to be nasty, brutish and short for many, many people and many, many, many more other species, or that the ecosystems we'll be leaving to our descendants are all going to be horribly impoverished compared to what our parents left for us.
posted by flabdablet at 4:09 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

True, I agree.

My sarcasm, not climate change, is likely the largest threat to me reaching 100.

I should probably restrict it to the lighter threads.
posted by mundo at 9:02 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]