Thirty minutes of sport a day, protein at every meal, a circle of friends: it is possible to stay healthy until age 100. The Journal offers you simple and realistic tips for fending off illness and the secrets of centenarians about their longevity.
A century-old Montrealer believes that the secret to her longevity lies in her active life, during which she never stopped learning, until she mastered the violin at age 87.
“I was never at home. I took painting lessons, singing lessons, dance lessons, lists Marie-Thérèse Dupuis-Dostie, aged 103. And I was never alone.”
At age 87, she even challenged herself to learn to play the violin, an instrument she had always loved.
Photo Hugo Duchaine
And today, she is still part of the choir at the Jardins Millen residence, where she lives. Every day, she has her coffee in the common room, surrounded by her neighbors.
“I love living, I love the world and the world loves me,” says the eldest, ready to live as long as the “good Lord” wants me to.
Treat polio
Retired nurse, Mme Dupuis-Dostie worked for more than 40 years at the former Pasteur hospital in Montreal. She particularly remembers the polio epidemic that broke out in Quebec in 1959 and all the patients who were treated there.
She was responsible for 20 patients under iron lungs, a huge device used at the time to allow patients to breathe.
The long life of Mme Dupuis-Dostie was also accompanied by health problems, such as a bladder transplant in 1988. “I thought about leaving, but I went up the coast quietly,” she recalls.
Late marriage
Widowed for several years and without children, she explains that she married late, at 46.
Back then, nurses often remained “old maids,” says Mme Dupuis-Dostie with humor. The boys did not hang out with them because they worked on weekends.
Despite her health problems – rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes – she is delighted to have an excellent memory. “I see my life all over again in my head,” she emphasizes.
If she has one piece of advice to give to those who want to live a long life, it’s to sleep well. “Sleep is important. I have never spent a night staying up and I have never taken a pill to sleep,” explains the 103-year-old woman.
