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The will to live is a positive factor that transcends gender, age, and comorbidities.

Continuing to enjoy life in later years depends on health, viewpoints, and absence of pain.

Socially, having a confidant is particularly important to centenarians.

Many of us are familiar with the reminder, “Life is short.” Not so, for some people. According to the members of the Centenarians’ Club, the experience of living past 100 depends on quality of life.

Lia Araújo et al. (2021) studied a sample of 121 centenarians, examining attitudes and life satisfaction at an advanced age.[i] They began by acknowledging that one predictor for survival into ripe old age is a will to live—a factor that transcends gender, age, or comorbidities. Yet they also note that at an advanced age, life satisfaction and positive attitudes are tempered by longing for death. They sought to add to existing data by exploring the factors associated with centenarians' will to live.

Of their sample, 31.4% expressed a willingness to live longer, 30.6% did not, and 38% had no clear position on the matter. Yet they found that participants’ answers depended on the presence of other factors. The most common factors cited as reasons for reluctance to live longer were uselessness, loss of meaning annoyance, loneliness, and disconnection. Factors........

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