When it comes to knowing the secret to a long life, who better to talk to than a centenarian? Some say it all comes down to eating healthy or exercising daily and others say they’ve just been blessed with good genes. There was even one woman named Susannah Mushatt Jones who claimed eating bacon was the reason she reached 116-years-old.
In 2015, Holiday Retirement commissioned a national survey of American centenarians – real people who have lived for 100 or more years. It included questions about what it takes to live a long and meaningful life. In short, the secrets included spending time with family, saving money early on, working out your problems instead of running from them, and being active.[2]
Possibly the most unconventional response we’ve ever heard came from Scotland’s 109-year-old Jessie Gallan.
Jessie Gallan’s Secret to a Long Life
Gallan was born on a farm in Kintore, Scotland in 1906 to a family with five sisters and one brother. In a tiny two-room cottage, all seven of them would sleep together on a straw-filled mattress. Although she attended school for a while, she left to work in a farm kitchen and then a housemaid in the city for a wealthy businessman. This was followed by a career in the service industry in both the city and countryside.[3]