An Italian nun celebrated her 107th birthday on February 20, attributing her longevity to “living in joy.”

Sister Candida (Alma) Bellotti, who is believed to be the world’s oldest religious. A native of Verona, she joined the Camillian order 80 years ago. She now lives in Lucca, in Tuscany.

For her birthday, Sister Candida was at the Vatican, where she attended Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae and spoke briefly with Pope Francis. She declined to choose a favorite among the nine Roman Pontiffs who have led the Church during her lifetime.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=20557

Seeking advice on how to live a long time? You could do a lot worse than Misao Okawa. The Japanese woman will celebrate her 116th birthday on Wednesday.

Okawa (pictured above, celebrating her 115th birthday in 2013) spoke to the U.K. Telegraph about her secrets for longevity. Those hoping for an obscure secret trick ("Always jump on one foot at exactly 3:43 a.m. while playing the banjo") are in for a disappointment. Okawa attributes her incredible life span to getting plenty of sleep, eating well, and taking a nap as needed.

She told the paper, "Eat and sleep and you will live a long time. You have to learn to relax."

Easier said than done, of course, but when advice on living a long life comes from the world's oldest person, it's worth heeding. Okawa, born in 1898 and great-great-grandmother to six, eats sushi "at least once every month," Tomohito Okada, head of the retirement home where Okawa has lived for the past 18 years, told the Telegraph.

When asked by the Telegraph about her happiest and saddest moments, she spoke about her 1919 marriage to her husband and the birth of her three children. Her husband passed away in 1931. Her surviving children are 94 and 92, according to the Telegraph.

Okawa became the world's oldest living person last year when the previous title holder, Jiroemon Kimura, passed away at the age of 116.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/eat-well--sleep-eight-hours-and-relax--world-s-oldest-person-offers-tips-a-long-life-181916538.html

At 111 years old, Dr. Alexander Imich of New York City has been crowned the new world's oldest living man, according to Guinness World Records.

The world's oldest living person and oldest woman, Misao Okawa of Osaka, Japan is 116 years old; she was born on March 5, 1898. The longest a person has been known to live, at least an age that could be authenticated by Guinness World Records, is 122 years and 164 days; that person, Louise Calment of France, was born on Feb. 21, 1875, and died in a nursing home in Arles, France, on Aug. 4, 1997.

Imich, who says he owes his longevity to good genes and a moderate and healthy lifestyle, was born in in present-day Cz?stochowa, Poland, on Feb. 4, 1903. He and his wife, Wela, immigrated to the United States in 1953, where his wife died in 1986. Imich has been living alone in Manhattan since she died. [The World's 7 Weirdest World Records]

His motto, he told Guinness World Records, is that one should "always pursue what one loves and is passionate about."

This latest oldest-man record was verified after the passing of the prior record holder, Arturo Licata of Italy on April 24. Licata was 111 years and 357 days.

So what's the secret to such long lives? While plenty of research has focused on longevity and what makes centenarians stand out from those who don't make it to such an old age, no single fountain of youth has turned up. Even so, both genes and a healthy lifestyle do seem to play roles. In a study detailed in 2010 in the journal Science, researchers found 150 genetic markers could predict 77 percent of the time whether a person lived into their late 90s and beyond. Another study out in 2011 also points to longevity genes, as the study participants who were 95 and older lived no more virtuous lives than the general population when it came to healthy behaviors.

But don't grab the doughnut just yet. In 2012, researchers reported centenarians living in mountain villages on the island of Sicily adhered closely to the Mediterrranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, while low in red meat and refined carbs.

http://news.yahoo.com/111-old-worlds-oldest-man-151501105.html

>50 ?

 A south Arkansas woman celebrated her 116th birthday Friday with cake, a party and a new title — she's now officially the oldest confirmed living American and second-oldest person in the world, the Gerontology Research Group said.

Gertrude Weaver spent her birthday at home at Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation in Camden, about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock. This year's festivities included the new award from the Gerontology Research Group, which analyzed U.S. Census records to determine that Weaver is the oldest living American, rather than 115-year-old Jeralean Talley, who was born in 1899.

The research group, which consults with the Guinness Book of World Records, found that the 1900 Census listed Weaver as 2 years old — putting her birthday in 1898, said Robert Young, the research group's database administrator and senior consultant for Guinness.

That makes Weaver the second-oldest person in the world behind 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan and the 11th oldest person of all time, he said.

"Normally, 116 would be old enough to be the world's oldest person," Young said. "There's kind of heavy competition at the moment."

Weaver was born in southwest Arkansas near the border with Texas, and was married in 1915. She and her husband had four children, all of whom have died except for a 93-year-old son. Along with Census records, the Gerontology Research Group used Weaver's 1915 marriage certificate, which listed her age as 17, to confirm her birth year, Young said.

Although no birth record exists for Weaver, she celebrates her birthday each year on July 4 and did the same this year. At her 115th birthday party last year, Weaver was "waving and just eating it all up," said Vicki Vaughan, the marketing and admissions director at Silver Oaks.

"Most people want to know, 'Well, can she talk?'" Vaughan said. "Her health is starting to decline a little bit this year — I can tell a difference from last year, but she still is up and gets out of the room and comes to all of her meals, comes to activities. She'll laugh and smile and clap."

Weaver first stayed at the Camden nursing home at the age of 104 after she suffered a broken hip, Vaughan said. But Weaver recovered after rehabilitation and moved back home with her granddaughter, before returning to the nursing home at the age of 109.

Weaver cited three factors for her longevity: "Trusting in the Lord, hard work and loving everybody."

"You have to follow God. Don't follow anyone else," she told the Camden News this week. "Be obedient and follow the laws and don't worry about anything. I've followed him for many, many years and I ain't tired."

http://news.yahoo.com/116-arkansas-woman-named-oldest-american-162923684.html

I highly doubt that man is a day over 80yo.  Someone mentioned the English man a couple centuries who claimed to be older.  It turned out he just "assumed" his grandfather's identity.

Anyway, 123yo is pretty old.  I think I'd be anxious to meet the good Lord by then.  If I make it to 80yo in good health, I'd be satisfied.

You are probably referring to Thomas Parr.  Please cite your proof that he assumed his grandfather's identity.
 

Quote from: Brennus

Quote from: Cato

I highly doubt that man is a day over 80yo.  Someone mentioned the English man a couple centuries who claimed to be older.  It turned out he just "assumed" his grandfather's identity.

Anyway, 123yo is pretty old.  I think I'd be anxious to meet the good Lord by then.  If I make it to 80yo in good health, I'd be satisfied.

You are probably referring to Thomas Parr.  Please cite your proof that he assumed his grandfather's identity.
 

"While Parr was undeniably old, the scenario sometimes posited is a confusion (deliberate or no) of this Parr's birth record with that of his grandfather."

http://www.nndb.com/people/609/000096321/

That isn't proof. That's just assertion.  I don't want to sound hostile, thought, it's just that I've read about Tom Parr over the last 25 years and I still haven't found exactly WHAT records of his grandfather they supposedly confused or misrepresented. I am not sure there would have been anything in 1483 because they didn't uniformly record baptisms in England until about a century later (It was a gradual compliance with a law to do so, throughout the 1500s. See, I know something of English genealogy -- can trace some of my ancestry back to the 1100s, in fact.)  Parr doesn't seem to have been of significance enough for there to be such a record of his grandfather. I could be wrong though and am waiting for more on this subject.

In the meantime, even if that is the case, that it was a mistake, it is hard to see how it could have been made without Parr still being very old. The chain of events of his "later" life is pretty clear, adultery and penance, married the paramour 22 years later, died 30 years after that (continuing to have sɛҳuąƖ intercourse up to 12 years before his death._ SO, that is a 52 year stretch. For him o be mistaken with his grandfather, I think the story would have to start at a time when he was already old enough that he was the oldest man in the village. Let's be conservative and say that is in his 60s, let's say 62. Then we have to add 52 years to it and we are up in the 110s. Most researchers of this story have concluded that Parr, even if he wasn't 152, would probably have been more than 100 when he died.

When we get that through our heads we then must confront what Harvey wrote about the condition of his body and we start to suspect that there might have been something genetically unusual about the man. There was a cat once that lived to be 30 something. That was highly unusual. Perhaps Parr was like that. Maybe they should dig up his bones and see if they can find anything out.

I think I shall try to find out more. If you find out more, let me know.