ISU Professor in Ames Said Six Factors Affect Life Span

In the spirit of Michelle Obama's campaign and Blue Zones Project, an initiative to share the secrets of living a long and happy life, Ames Patch is sharing professor Peter Martin's tips on long living.

The director of Iowa State University's gerontology program has conducted research on centenarians and the “oldest of the old” for more than 20 years and said six factors lead to living longer.

1) Environmental support

"In other words, social supports," Martin said. "You cannot get there [long life] by yourself. You've got to have family, or community, or care facilities. And you also need economic support -- the financial resources to last into very late life."

2) Individual characteristics

"This has to do with such obvious things as gender, where women are more likely to make it to a very old age than men," Martin said. "Certainly there are also ethnic group differences or disadvantages. We know that life expectancy is higher for whites and lower for African-Americans. And we also consider personality, so a certain configuration of personality characteristics gives you a much better opportunity for long life."

3) Behavioral skills

"These are things that you do every day. And that has to do with good coping, being an active person, good cognitive functioning, etc. All of these are very important to promoting long life," he said.

4) Good nutrition and health behaviors

"There are articles in this special issue that indicate what we eat and how we stay fit are all important," Martin said.

5) Staying healthy

"These are the things that you can do to stay in good physical health," Martin said. "Of course some of it is biological, but much of it is our responsibility to stay healthy."

6) Good mental health

"Depressed people are not real likely to make it to very old age," he said. "We see that [very old age] in optimistic people."