Lifehacks from a longevity expert who just died at age 105

Andrea James

6:22 am Wed, Aug 9, 2017

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara died last month at age 105. Over his long life, he helped many others achieve long lives by popularizing annual medical checkups and by sharing what he knew, which was one of his tips for longer living: Via his New York Times obituary:

He ministered to victims of the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II. He was taken hostage in 1970 when Japanese Red Army terrorists hijacked a commercial jet. He was able to treat 640 of the victims of a radical cult’s subway poison gas attack in 1995 (all but one survived), because he had presciently equipped his hospital the year before to handle mass casualties like an earthquake.
He also wrote a musical for children when he was 88 and a best-selling book when he was 101. He recently took up golf. Until a few months ago he was still treating patients and kept a date book with space for five more years of appointments.

Here’s the short and sweet version based on this list:

Keep your diet simple.

Plan ahead on everything.

Don’t set too many rules about mealtime and bedtime.

Share what you know.

Take two stairs at a time.

Have fun, even at places like hospitals.

Think twice before committing to surgery.

Don’t collect clutter. You can’t take it with you, and you could die any day.

Ask how your role model might handle a situation.

Find a favorite long poem and read it often.

He also suggested finding a job where you never want to retire, and taking the time to enjoy music and animals.

• 10 Longevity Tips from Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan’s 105-Year-Old Longevity Expert (Open Culture via NYT)