| OCR Text |
Show The number ofcentenarians in the U.S. has doubled every decade since 1970. It will cause us to rethink our ideas about age. IS OLD? THE LIGHTS BURN LATE IN THE | | | | mountaintopstudio in Ojai, Calif., where Beatrice Wood creates the worksofart displayed in galleries and museumsaround the world. She is best knownfor her pottery, but herlatest showoffers erotic drawings.“I was broughtup onfairy tales,” she says.“I finally realized that every manI wantto kissis not a prince ona white horse.” Wood is 102 years old. In a small, weather-beaten housein Eatonton, Ida Eubanksdisplays the dozens ofjars of peaches and pears she has cannedinthe last month. “The other day a man brought mea great big hog’s headandribs anda great big boxof fat,” she says. “I worked for a whole week puttingit up withsalt.” Eubanksis 108 Something strange and wonderful has happened, and it challenges much of what we thought we knew about living to be very old. All overthe country, the number of people wholast to and beyondthe age of 100—the centenarians—has beensoaring. There are more than 52,000in America today, almost three times the numberin 1980. They have becomethe fastest-growing age the privilege of bending after 100 years,” She says. group not only in this country but also throughout the industrialized world New studies show that Americanslive longerafterthe age of80 than other naUional groups. In fact, after the age of85, the odds that you will die in the next yearor two actually level off. And half of today’s centenarians are in good health, both physically and mentally. Ask Willard Scott, the NBC-TV weatherman, whostarted celebrating 100-year birthdays on the air in 1981 “I've got a problem,”he says. Instead ofthe trickle of centenarianletters he receivedatfirst, he now gets 400 a week. Whoarethese centenarians? What makesthem solong-lived? What chance doyouor I haveofreachingtheir age? Theoddsof surviving to 100. “It's like betting on a horse,” says Leonard W. B Y Poon,directorof the University of Georgia’s Gerontology Center and head of the nation’s biggest centenarian study, “There are many factors you haveto take into consideration. Different combinationsare decisive for different people.” Of course, genes count. Those you inherit from long-lived parents can get you to 100 byhelping youresist major diseaseslike cancer andstroke. Recent CARYL research has uncovered specific genes that seem to protect againstthe onset ofAlz heimer’s andother age-related illnesses. Yet heredityis not all. You can have strong genes anddie youngforlack of a healthy diet, competent medicalcare ortheability to cope with stress. Good health habits matter. “That's the good news,” Dr. Poon says. “Weall have a chance ofbecoming centenarians.” STERN COVER PHOTOGRAPHBY TIM POTT PAGE 4 JANUARY 21, 1996 - PARADE MAGAZINE |
