Centenarians say the biggest key to a long life wasn't diet or exercise

• A disciplined diet and exercise regimen may seem like the key to a long life.
• Business Insider's interviews with centenarians revealed other important longevity factors.
• Staying engaged with life, through hobbies and relationships, mattered more than optimized habits.

Living past 100 is often framed as the reward for discipline. Eat carefully, stay active, avoid excess, and the years will add up. For people who actually lived that long, the explanation they arrived at in hindsight was often different.

In seven Business Insider stories published since 2023, centenarians, their families, and people who have spent years meeting the oldest adults alive said they once assumed longevity would hinge on health habits. Looking back, they emphasized something else: What endured was staying engaged with life through people, routines, and interests that gave their days structure.

Staying connected through hobbies and community

For Ruth Goldberg Jaskow, who was 101 when she spoke to Business Insider from her home in Florida last year, longevity was not framed as a plan. She joked that her motivation was simply to "beat" her husband, who died younger than she did.

For Ruth, staying active did not mean following strict rules.

"You just need to keep moving," she said. Others emphasized enjoyment and social connection over restraint.

"Just smile, be happy, and enjoy life," Katie MacRae said in 2023 when reflecting on what carried her into old age. She was 106 at the time. MacRae spoke about hobbies and routines that lasted because they were familiar and social, not because they were optimized.

Social connection also showed up through shared activities. Janet Gibbs, a former nurse born in New Zealand who spent most of her life in Australia, played golf until she was 86. She described the game as a way to stay connected to younger friends who expected her to show up when she spoke to Business Insider in 2023 at the age of 102. Staying connected did not mean staying busy for Gibbs. It meant remaining part of something ongoing.

What surprised centenarians

Several centenarians Business Insider spoke to said that earlier in life, they assumed longevity would come down to discipline, restraint, or avoiding mistakes. Later, those details felt less decisive. Aging itself did not narrow their lives. Losing interest did.

"There's not a single centenarian I've met who was actually aiming to live that long. They're all kind of surprised," longevity researcher Ben Meyers said in 2023 after meeting hundreds of people in their 100s. He said many described themselves as happy to still be here rather than focused on extending life.

Staying engaged with life

The through-line linking all of these accounts was an orientation toward staying engaged with the world. Researchers who study centenarians consistently describe the same pattern.

"Even if they're not working at 100, they find a way to fill their days," Meyers' fellow researcher Fabrizio Villatoro said, describing how people stayed mentally stimulated through family, reading, or community.

Purpose shifted forms as bodies aged and roles changed, but it did not disappear. In hindsight, living a long life looked less like discipline and more like continued engagement with life as it unfolded.