A study from the American Federation for Aging Research is looking at what makes people live beyond age 95. SuperElders and their adult children can participate in the study. Sally Froehlich, 95, talks about her journey as a SuperElder.
At 95 years old, Sally Froehlich has a wealth of life experience.
In 1950, she began working at Macy’s department store in New York City and eventually landed a job at Bloomingdale’s, where she was tasked with interviewing people while serving breakfast. Her interactions with customers led to the creation of “The Sally Froehlich Show,” which aired for more than 20 years.
“Guests talked to me and the audience asked questions. It was a lot of fun,” she told Healthline.
She recalls a series called “The Vital Years,” in which she spoke with various experts about the ageing process.
“I was about 60 years old then, and it was really about people my age now: remarriage, activism, different issues, grandchildren,” Froehlich said.
It’s a very emotional moment for her to reminisce about this series, as she is currently one of 600 people taking part in the SuperAgers Family Study conducted by the American Federation of Research on Aging.
The study aims to recruit 10,000 super-elderly people, which researchers define as people aged 95 or older who are in good physical and mental health.
The study also included adult children of SuperAgers and spouses of children who do not have SuperAger parents.
“It’s just as important as superagers because we need to compare gene frequencies,” Sophia Millman, M.D., a national expert on aging and director of Human Lifespan Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told Healthline.
“The ultimate goal of this research is to understand what biological contributions people make to living a long and healthy life. Specifically, we are interested in what genes contribute to the ability to stay disease-free as we age.”
Millman hopes that by identifying the genes that contribute to people’s longevity, scientists can develop drugs and medicines that can mimic the functions of SuperAger genes, allowing people who don’t inherit those genes to live longer, healthier lives too.
She said previous studies have suggested that genes likely contribute to longevity, including genes that regulate HDL cholesterol and genes that control growth hormone.
Furthermore, she said that genes play a more important role than lifestyle in super-aging, which she found by comparing the lifestyles of super-aging people in previous studies with those of people of the same generation who did not become super-aging people.
“We found that their lifestyles were very similar – no differences in smoking, tobacco, alcohol intake, diet, exercise – there really are no differences – and yet a small group achieved superager status and another group did not,” Millman said.
Although more Americans today are living longer than past generations, only about 0.1 percent of them live to be 95 or older, and that’s probably down to genetics, Millman said.
For the remaining 99.9 percent of the population, lifestyle choices can help prevent age-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, she said.
“The difference is that if you lead a healthy lifestyle, you’re likely to delay the onset of age-related diseases. But the question remains whether a healthy lifestyle will enable you to live to 95 or even 100 years old,” Millman said.
One way to think of it is that 20 to 40 percent of your lifespan is determined by your genes, meaning 60 to 80 percent of what happens while you’re alive, said Rosanne Leipzig, M.D., a geriatrician at Mount Sinai and author of “Honest Aging: An Insiders Guide to the Second Half of Life.”
Part of the reason for this, she noted, is a fortunate set of circumstances.
“We have limited real control over things that may contribute to our health and longevity, such as the education we receive, our prenatal environment, our early childhood nutrition, our access to health care, and whether we live in a contaminated area,” Leipzig told Healthline.
She points to the concept of “weathering,” which suggests that African-American women’s health may begin to deteriorate in early adulthood as a physical consequence of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage.
But when given healthy lifestyle choices, how you choose to make them can make a difference, Leipzig added.
“We have a lot of control,” she said. “Let’s just say we can make sure we die early.”
In addition to genetics, there are many lifestyle habits that have long been recommended to help keep you healthy. Frohlich:
Eat a balanced diet. “I eat three meals a day, and I don’t overeat,” she says. Don’t smoke or drink excessive alcohol. Smokers are three times more likely to die prematurely from heart disease or stroke than nonsmokers. Plus, one study found that adults who drink between seven and 14 cups a week have a six-month shorter life expectancy at age 40. Maintain a healthy weight. Froehlich’s weight has remained the same for 50 years. “My body has definitely changed. I’ve gained weight, but that’s part of life,” she says. Exercise regularly. Froehlich has played sports most of her life and still plays golf two to three times a week. She also stretches every day and wakes up doing 80 sit-ups in bed, working out for 20 minutes six days a week. Three days a week, she lifts eight pounds for her arms and five pounds for her legs. Use your brain. Froehlich plays bridge with friends once a week and online a few times a week. She also listens to audiobooks and watches TV in the mornings and evenings. Stay socially connected. In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report stating that half of American adults are lonely and that loneliness poses serious risks to health and life expectancy. In addition to golf, to stay connected with others, Froehlich goes out for lunch or dinner every week. She also tries to see her children once a week and her grandchildren in person or over Zoom. “I realized that if you’re at home a lot, you just need to go outside and walk around the block,” she said. Find joy. Froehlich feels lucky to have lived into her 90s, and says it’s important to “do what you want to do and what makes you happy.” Eat ice cream and good chocolate. Take care of yourself. Instead of not caring about your appearance, “keep your hair done, your nails done, make sure you look good, and make sure you have someone who can tell you if you have any blemishes or abnormalities,” Froehlich says. Think of aging as a good thing. A person’s perception of aging influences how they age, but not necessarily how long they live, says Leipzig. “There’s good research that shows that people who view aging positively live about 7.5 years longer and better lives,” she says.
While living a superager life may not be in everyone’s genes, Millman said disabilities and illnesses aren’t a given as people age.
“There are many people who can live healthy, independent lives and have a high quality of life as they age, so ageing should not necessarily be confused with disease or disability,” she said.
The SuperAgers give her hope of discovering “the secret to healthy aging.”
“I hope this research will help all of us live longer, even if it’s not the 0.1% of the population that inherits the gene,” she said.
To register for the SuperAgers Family Study, visit the organization’s website.
