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Would you like to live to 100?

(149 Posts)
Chestnut Mon 18-Sept-23 17:14:02

Apparently 'Coastal towns dominate league table for centenarians - as numbers in England and Wales top 13,900 compared to just 110 in 1921'

Wow, that really shows the change in 100 years.

So would you want to be resuscitated if you were in your 90s or would you like to reach 100 (assuming your health is reasonable)? Although can anyone really be in reasonable health at 100, or are they going to be in constant pain one way or another?

Grantanow Wed 20-Sept-23 11:21:55

My mother is 104 but is demented. She smoked cigarettes when she was in her 20s and was subject to my father's continual secondhand smoke until he died. She may survive to be 105.

Blackcat3 Wed 20-Sept-23 11:14:38

Only if I am of sound mind and am able to care for my own basic needs! Family around would be nice too! I’d hate to end up gaga and incontinent in a home.

nanna8 Wed 20-Sept-23 04:43:35

Yes- but a few provisos

Health number one
Mobility number 2 and
People to talk to number 3- they are all dying off as I get older!

Oh- and a bit of residual brainpower might be nice,too.

ileea Wed 20-Sept-23 03:41:22

I fully plan on reaching at least 100. (36 years to go)
I have several relatives that have reached 100+. I attended my aunties 100th birthday this spring. She still lives at home and is active at community events.

Dickens Wed 20-Sept-23 00:47:42

This is my DIL's great-aunt on her 100th birthday...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/31888028

I met her at a drinks-party years earlier when she'd just completed her first sky-dive!

Callistemon21 Tue 19-Sept-23 22:55:39

Lovely post Whitewave

I don't mind getting to 100 if I am still able to look after myself, hold a sensible conversation, do Wordle and crosswords.

I hope to boast about my new knees (hips too?) and how I can still get up and down the stairs.

If not, them I'd rather not reach 100.

Luckygirl3 Tue 19-Sept-23 22:22:11

Another 25 years of this relentless pain? - heaven help me!

Kim19 Tue 19-Sept-23 21:38:36

WWM2 and Primrose53, Very well said. First rate. Thank you both.

Blossoming Tue 19-Sept-23 20:56:50

No, I’m disabled and will get progressively worse. I prefer a shorter life with a better quality.

Urmstongran Tue 19-Sept-23 20:45:54

Definitely - if my quality of life is decent. Life is so precious!

My stepfather will be 91y next week. He is tall, sprightly, mentally sharp as a tack and totally self caring. His brother enjoyed his 98th birthday at the weekend - lives in the Midlands too, not the coast! He too is totally self caring. If I were like either of these brothers, a long life would be wonderful thank you very much.

A lovely post from you Whitewave and a great photo of your grandmother Susan56!

Hiraeth Tue 19-Sept-23 20:28:40

Well said Whitewavemarket2 I agree totally..

M0nica Tue 19-Sept-23 20:14:39

My experience of extreme old age is entirely good.

Apart from my centenarian neighbour, my father lived to be 92 and was running several village organisation ontil his last short illness. Another of my aunts is still alive. She is 96 and still living independently. Another lived to be 91 and a fourth had just been cleared as being sound in wind and limb and on no medication, when he was killed in a car accident a few days short of his 90th birthday. Who knows how long he would have lived.

VioletSky Tue 19-Sept-23 18:33:06

I don't want to live to be an age I can't look after myself, whenever that was

M0nica Tue 19-Sept-23 18:13:29

If am sound in mind and reasonably fit in body, why not?

Our neighbour was 100 two weeks ago. He lives independently, although he has some help, and he goes out for a mile walk everyday. He is as mentally alert as ever and was driving well into his 90s, when failing eyesight stopped him.

Callistemon21 Tue 19-Sept-23 17:15:07

Charleygirl5

Thank you GMS. I am meeting GNs locally for coffee and on Sunday I am going out with a friend for lunch.

I will have an extra 25p added to my state pension each week, how did I cope before? Insufficient to buy a cup of coffee.

Happy 80th birthday for Friday, Charleygirl 🎂🥂

You'll need to save up the 25ps for a coffee!!

silverlining48 Tue 19-Sept-23 15:34:33

Happy birthday 🥳 for Friday Charleygirl. Hope you have a lovely day.

amazonia Tue 19-Sept-23 15:24:59

Me aged 7 ish..'Grandma, do you want to live to be 100?'
Grandma - 'Oh goodness, I hope not!'
I was absolutely baffled. Why on earth not?
Her husband died when she was 85 and she managed another good 10 years living alone until she fell and broke her hip. She then went into residential care and died just before her 99th Birthday. My parents thought we really were going to have to organise a party!
In my 60s I can now see that being 100 isn't necessarily a great idea!
A lady in our village has just turned 105. She was living alone until last year. We are coastal!

Charleygirl5 Tue 19-Sept-23 15:13:38

Thank you GMS. I am meeting GNs locally for coffee and on Sunday I am going out with a friend for lunch.

I will have an extra 25p added to my state pension each week, how did I cope before? Insufficient to buy a cup of coffee.

Germanshepherdsmum Tue 19-Sept-23 15:04:46

Happy birthday for Friday Charleygirl. 💐

timetogo2016 Tue 19-Sept-23 15:01:32

I would be happy to get to 70.

dogsmother Tue 19-Sept-23 15:00:38

Oh my goodness yes!
I would love to see all that is to come provided of course I am healthy and managing.
Age is just a number and I have been privileged enough to have cared for enough people over the years to have witnessed this.
So if all goes well why ever not.

Charleygirl5 Tue 19-Sept-23 14:58:19

I will be 80 on Friday. Divorced, no children, an only child and both parents died early 60's.

I have a good head of hair, admired by many.

I am independent at present but becoming forgetful. I doubt and actually hope I do not reach 90 as I am partially sighted and my mobility is not good.

Eirlys Tue 19-Sept-23 14:53:36

This question makes me think of the old joke:

Who on Earth wants to be 94?
Answer: A 93 year old!!

As I've mentioned before, I am 93. I just hope I die quickly and painlessly before I begin to show the worst signs of old age.

My Offspring know I have DNR on my medical records.

AreWeThereYet Tue 19-Sept-23 14:39:57

Not unless I am in very good health and at least some of my friends and family are still around me.

I know too many people (not even aged 100) who have no family or friends left, so no one who knew them when they were young, the things they had done, the people they knew, the way life was. I don't live in the past but at least some of my enjoyment of life is meeting up with old friends and family and rehashing old family jokes and past times.

AGAA4 Tue 19-Sept-23 14:33:51

There can be some downsides to living to 100. Not just health issues but losing friends and family.