Why does anyone want to live to 100?
“Hope I die before I get old,” is clearly an old-fashioned sentiment. As I read about the possibilities of longevity, I also see the mounting care crisis among elderly people. On one hand, we are told of the sprightly inhabitants of Okinawa, the Greek island of Ikaria and Sardinia; on the other, we have falling life expectancy, especially for women in the most deprived parts of England. As ever, a social issue gets funnelled into individual advice about fasting, exercise and keeping your brain active. Follow the familiar instructions and you can live to 100.
But why does anyone want to? Maybe ask me that when I am 99, but, for now, I really don’t get this idea of going on and on. I can’t for the life of me understand what on earth possesses Bernie Sanders to keep going. This is not a political point, but does he really want to be running the world in his 80s?
If I mention mortality – my own in particular – people tell me to stop being morbid when I am merely being realistic. My youngest is upset that I do not want to be frozen and woken up in the future. It is a sign of my utter selfishness that I do not believe in or have the money to invest in cryonics. Stick me in an old chest freezer if it helps.
Some of us will be active and healthy way past their threescore years and 10, and some in chronic pain or with dementia. Ageing well, though, is down not just to lifestyle but also to the kind of society in which we live.
It is really noticeable in Japan, for instance, that old people work in the market and are part of the hustle and bustle, just as in Greece, where elderly people are eating in the taverns. In the UK, elderly people are segregated and lonely. You can eat all the wholegrains you want, but a good old age is one in which other people feature. Sudoku is no substitute for company.
• Suzanne Moore is a Guardian columnist.
