100 Ways To Live To 100

Want to add more and better years to your life? Now is the time.

We’re living longer than ever: The average American born in 2013 will be alive nearly four years longer than someone born 20 years ago. But until recently, it wasn’t clear if the years we’ve added to our lives were good-quality years.

A recent study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School starts to answer that question. Researchers found that today, 25 year olds can expect to live “2.4 more years of a healthy life” and 65 year olds can look forward to 1.7 extra healthy years than people who lived two decades back.

Find out what you’re already doing right and where you can still improve in our list of 100 ways to live to 100. (This Huffington Post article expands on each of the items listed below.)

1. Be conscientious.
2. Find reasons to laugh.
3. Find a life purpose.
4. Go nuts.
5. Walk a lot.
6. Try a little retail therapy.
7. Be happy.
8. Win an Oscar.
9. Head for the hills.
10. Do unto others.
11. But don’t forget about yourself.
12. Put down the takeout menu.
13. Practice yoga.
14. Be optimistic.
15. But maybe not overly optimistic.
16. Go meatless.
17. Put a ring on it.
18. And while you’re at it, marry someone younger.
19. Or marry someone of the same sex.
20. Try to keep your marriage friction-free.
21. But get divorced if it isn’t working.
22. Brush those pearly whites.
23. Enjoy a cup of (Greek) joe.
24. Put the pedal to the metal.
25. Or be a super cyclist.
26. Get your Mediterranean diet on.
27. Stop smoking.
28. Eat your fiber.
29. Have a family.
30. But wait a few years to get started.
31. Hope for a daughter. (If you’re a dad!)
32. Hope for twins. (If you’re a mom!)
33. Stay in school.
34. Make healthy changes in your life (starting today).
35. Don’t dread getting older.
36. Go for the gold.
37. Be Japanese.
38. Lay off the vitamins.
39. Take a cue from the Latino community.
40. Go to church.
41. Drink alcohol. (But only in moderation!)
42. Get fishy.
43. Help someone else.
44. Take off.
45. Get busy.
46. Get enough sleep.
47. But not too much sleep.
48. Get a pet.
49. Join the 1 percent.
50. Eat broccoli.
51. Run — but not too much.
52. Wash your hands.
53. Drink your coffee — but in moderation.
54. Buddy up at the office.
55. Be a woman.
56. Grow from trauma.
57. Keep busy.
58. Don’t take it sitting down.
59. Cultivate your green thumb.
60. Pick up the pace.
61. Smile.
62. Hit the gym.
63. Take it easy on processed meats.
64. Avoid the gridiron.
65. Have a little extra. (But steer clear of obesity!)
66. Take the stairs.
67. Get a Nobel Prize.
68. Slow your resting heart rate.
69. Win the genetic lottery.
70. Believe in your own good health.
71. Don’t rush to first grade.
72. Think about… death.
73. Turn off the TV.
74. Tune in.
75. Cut the sugar.
76. Choose your job wisely.
77. Eat an Andean diet.
78. Move to the aloha state.
79. Or choose the Dakotas.
80. In the face of bad health, keep a positive attitude.
81. Eat less.
82. Get up when you fall.
83. Get a mammogram.
84. Have a happy childhood.
85. Live a spiritual life.
86. Find the healthy hobbies that make you light up — and do them.
87. Practice positive self-talk.
88. Be a city-dweller.
89. …But living in the country can be good, too (if you’re British).
90. Take a mid-day snooze.
91. Be a knockout.
92. Breastfeed your baby.
93. Be driven.
94. Stay active.
95. Take the plunge.
96. Putter.
97. Use your brain.
98. Finish college and then consider grad school.
99. Live in a blue state.
100. Be creative.