5 signs you are going to live past 100, according to experts

Living to 100 or more is now a very real possibility, scientists say, as death rates among centenarians plunge - and are set to drop even further.

A new American study using Census Bureau data found that the death rate for over-100s is dropping dramatically - and the population of centenarians has grown 44% in the years from 2000 to 2014.

Experts believe that the increase is partly due to improved health care in the first decades of last century - so that today’s centenarians didn’t die in childhood.

Rates could drop even further, according to an expert from the New England Centenarian Study.

The study has analysed people who live past 100 for more than 20 years.

‘It could decline as we have better medical care, as people take on healthy habits and exercise more and don’t smoke,’ Dr Thomas Perls said this week.

But why do some people live to 100 - and others don’t? Perls says it has a lot more to do with your DNA than you might imagine.

‘It’s many complicated pathways that feed into what determines your rate of aging and your risk for age related diseases.’

But there are certain common factors which people who live past 100 often share, according to experts from the New England Centenarian Study.

If you’ve got time for 40 questions, the experts behind the study have a calculator which predicts whether or not you will live past 100, based on your health data.

If not, the New England Centenarian Study has picked out five common factors among people who live past 100 - based on data from people who have participated in the study since 1995.

1) Centenarians don’t tend to be fat

In particular, men who live past 100 tend to be on the thin side.

2) People who live past 100 are good with stress

The researchers found that people who live past 100 seem to be those who can deal with stress better than average.

3) If you want to live to 100, don’t smoke

This one is a little more obvious, but it’s borne out by data from the New England study. People who smoke don’t tend to make it past 100.

4) Women over 100 were able to bear children late in life

Women who have children aged over 40 are four times as likely to live to 100.

The researchers believe that the ability to have children late in life may show that someone is ageing slowly.

5) People who are going to live a long time don’t ‘lose their marbles’

Not everyone loses their ability to think as they get older - and this seems to be common among those who are going to live past 100.

Up to 15% experience NO big changes in their mental abilities as they age.

Images: Rex