[music playing]
-Hi.
-I'm Mark.
-I'm Nadine.
-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, too.
Ready to see Edna?
-Yeah.
-OK.
-Behind locked doors, huh?
-Yeah, she likes to roam and wander around, and if we
didn't, she'd find her way out.
I've got her up here waiting on you.
-We like poetry today.
-[singing]
-What's she singing?
-[singing]
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: This film represents about three
years of my life.
It'll take up around an hour and half of yours.
When I turned 50, a friend sent me this cartoon.
It cracked me up at the time.
I'm 53 now, and with each passing year I find I laugh
less and less at it.
It's not that I lack a sense of humor about the realities
of aging, but I'm bothered more and more by the speed on
that downward slope.
I guess I wouldn't be in this rather morose frame of mind if
it wasn't for my mother.
She died recently.
Her downward slope began in 1996.
She was an accomplished painter.
She lived for work.
But that year, she lost her studio and most of her
canvases to a fire that took to the canyon where she lived.
She seemed sadder after that.
That's why even though she died at 85 I prefer to picture
her like this, high-spirited, creative, young.
So planning her funeral was really difficult, but it had
to be done, and it got me thinking about the inevitable.
-I've spent my career, 30 years, whatever it's been, as
the guy that nobody wants to do business with
professionally.
One of the challenges that we have is no one wants what I
have to offer.
-Though this is not an easy subject to deal with, we have
to do this because death is no respecter of age.
-Come here, look.
I don't know why we don't think about death.
I think it's just because we think we're
going to keep on living.
Isn't that smart for a blonde girl to say?
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: A funeral director's convention
is not unlike a medical soiree where all the, you know,
urologists get together for a couple days.
Always there is one part of the conference that has sort
of a social aspect to it, the sort of hail and farewell, how
you been type of thing among strange colleagues who speak
in odd lexicons, you know.
-We're focusing on our embalming fluids.
They're formaldehyde-based, used to preserve human remains
after they die.
And I'm the embalmer that can walk them
step-by-step through that.
So a lot of fun.
-This is the Body Scoop.
The Body Scoop is designed to make a one person lift, a
person of almost any size.
I do think we confuse the essential obligations of a
funeral with the accessories to a funeral.
There's nothing I can sell you that'll get you into heaven or
keep you up.
These are accessories.
They're boxes.
-Our caskets are designed for those families that appreciate
style and beauty.
We've added some specialty items like 24 karat gold for
the hardware.
-These are caskets made out of paper veneer.
It's a very similar process just like
brands of Ikea furniture.
People are changing their styles from traditional burial
caskets to a rental type of casket where the deceased
stays in a cardboard container.
You open the front, and now you're able to remove the
deceased through the front of the casket.
-A typical person would fit in an urn that size and still
have some room left over.
Right I never wanted to make one that things just fit.
So mine are always just--
just a little bit bigger than you need.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: To deal with mortality, you must
deal with the mortal thing, you know, the corpse, getting
it to its grave or tomb or fire.
But ours is truly the first generation that has tried to
accomplish this without having to deal with the dead guy.
-And we just have fun with it.
It's all about celebration of the cowboy's life.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: We are constantly organizing
these memorial services or celebrations of life, whatever
euphemism du jour is.
The talk is uplifting.
The music is life-affirming.
The finger food is good.
Someone is on hand to declare closure, usually just before
the Merlot runs out.
And everyone is welcome except the one who has died.
-The boomers want something different from the traditional
funeral, and that's kind of the niche where we fell into.
We've done some really special funerals for people where you
went actually bar-hopping with the body.
-Once families get started going through the grieving
process online, at funeralOne.com they can
actually to through, choose their loss experience type.
Was it sudden death?
Was it general grief?
Death of spouse?
Suicide?
We're even expanding right now into pet loss as well.
[music playing]
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: Ours is a culture that's very
comfortable with a good laugh but hasn't a clue about the
usefulness of a good cry.
It's hard to laugh in the face of a corpse.
Everything is sort of diminished in importance by
this dead thing and the mystery it represents.
It makes me think things I wouldn't otherwise think.
It makes me wonder more.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I wonder a lot as well about
every new grey hair, every new nose hair, every new pound in
my ever-widening midsection.
Each one is a cruel reminder that maybe my best
years are behind me.
Is this it?
Am I past my prime?
Actually, it's not death I fear so much as it is being
stuck with the uncool trappings of old age.
Early bird specials, senior discounts,
Lawrence Welk reruns.
WILLARD SCOTT [OFFSCREEN]: Happy birthday from Smucker's.
How sweet it is.
Take a look at our Smucker's far.
Cordelia--
I love that name--
Cordelia Figgatt.
The centenarians are one of, and if not, the fastest
growing group in America.
There's over 100,000 out there now, and most of them are in
pretty good shape.
They have that makeup in 'em where
they're, you know, resilient.
They don't look back, like [inaudible], something's
gaining on you, you know?
Something is gaining on all of us.
When your colon's out of whack--
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Thanks for
reminding me, Willard.
-My doctor told me I should be doing more for my high
cholesterol.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: That's not exactly a
comforting thought, especially since American pharmaceutical
companies do such a great job stressing out the boomers
about the perils of getting older.
-[singing]
Viva Viagra!
When I saw a picture on the front page of my paper, a
senior woman eating dog food out of a garbage can, I said,
what's wrong with this picture?
[music playing]
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: So I decide well, what would happen
if an older woman got as much attention as a MIss.
America?
So you're at the Ms. senior America Beauty Pageant, and
the women are 60 years and older.
-I'm 75.
-And I'm 74.
-We tell our ages because it's promoting the positive image
of aging, and we're having a ball.
[music and applause]
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And there they are, the delegates
competing for the title of Ms. Senior America
National Queen, 2007.
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: We have a pageant which has to
address the older person, but I have a problem.
I can't have swimsuits or else we might have
wrinkle city winners.
I had to replace that category with something else, and
that's called philosophy of life.
-Life is like a river, sometimes
calm, but often turbulent.
-I want to live life like a ray of sunshine.
-Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow, a mystery.
-I may be a senior, but I'm still hot.
It just comes in flashes.
-Life is a journey, and I am enjoying the trip!
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: And with the evening gowns, very
elegant, and the philosophy of life, and the talent, and
interview, the women had four categories
in which is to compete.
[singing]
-I'm 80 years old, and I never really found myself until
about 7 years ago.
I kind of woke up one day and thought, well, I don't even
know who I am, so I started looking for who I was.
And I found me, and I liked me.
-How do you do that?
I mean, I said my knees are never going to last that long.
Didn't you say you were 80?
-Yes.
-I mean, how can you do this?
Your knees, they work so well.
DOLORES BATES [OFFSCREEN]: I found out in 2005 I had to
drop out because I had a total knee replacement.
And then I thought, well, at least one more shot this yea.
And I set my goals to win and be Ms. Senior Arkansas.
[music playing]
DOLORES BATES [OFFSCREEN]: There were 12
of us in the contest.
Most of them were in their 60s, and me being in my 80s, I
had positive thoughts.
I put doubt out of my mind, and just worked to achieve it.
And I did.
My pastor really didn't approve of this, and they
don't really approve of dancing.
And he said, "You won't be in the paper, will you?" And I
said, "Yes, I will." And he also warned me that this was
supposed to be sin city.
He said, "You will face all kinds of temptation." I said,
"Temptation?
I don't drink I don't gamble." And my boyfriend's back home.
I'd face more temptation if I was in Arkansas!
[laughing]
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: Our first runner up, ladies and
gentlemen, Ms. South Carolina.
[cheers and applause]
DR. AL MOTT [OFFSCREEN]: This is not a competition.
This is a corporation.
People at that age level do not think in terms of
competing in the sense that, oh, if I win, I'm going to get
a job with the Ford modeling agency or something like that.
They want to build up their self-esteem, find companions.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And Ms. Senior America
National Queen, 2007.
[cheers and applause]
-How are you feeling?
-I feel good.
I'm just happy to have been here.
How many women my age get to appear on the stage in Las
Vegas?
-A little disappointment, or--
-No, no, no.
No disappointment.
I'm still a winner.
Life's been good do me, and I'm gonna get married.
I've been a widow for 17 years, and
finally found a man.
Took me a long time.
A good man.
Good man loves me.
To him, I'm beautiful.
I'm the perfect woman.
I'm everything, you know?
I said, Jerrold, I'm 80!
I don't want you to be disappointed in me, but what
you see is what you're gonna get.
[laughing]
And I'm older than he is, but he can drive at night.
That's a plus when you get older, you know that?
JOHN ROBERTS [OFFSCREEN]: Images that a lot of us carry
about aging are unduly negative and harmful to us.
They actually found that the type of belief system that a
person has about aging, whether it's positive,
hopeful, and constructive, or whether it's negative and just
looking-- there's no good side to it, has more impact on
their health as they get older.
And their blood pressure, then their cholesterol level, even
then whether they smoke, all of which are important, but
they found this was even more important.
-For me, it was turning 50.
It was hard, you know?
There are some monsters that come out of those
caves late at night.
No amount of sex, and no amount of sleeping pills, and
no amount of drugs.
I mean, we do so much in our society to try to mask and to
hold at bay these thoughts and feelings and memories.
-People have often said to me, aren't you
afraid of getting old?
I said, no, I've never had that fear.
I knew that I was collecting truths along the way.
I--
I have a stick with a nail that I go through life jabbing
it at truths.
And I pick them up, and put them in my trash bag.
TEACHER [OFFSCREEN]: You've had a little bit of time to
read this quote.
Atticus says to Scout, "You never really understand a
person until you consider things from his point of view,
until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." We're
going to be starting our visits to the Linda Valley
Villa, which is a retirement facility.
So, we're going to try this experiment.
You are going to get a taste of what their
life is like today.
When you get older, something that happens are cataracts.
I want you to take some Vaseline, some petroleum
jelly, and just smear the glasses, the outside of your
glasses, with it.
And these will be your eyes for the rest
of the class period.
Take out the rocks.
Take off your shoe, and put them in your shoe, OK?
When you get older, you know, you've been walking on your
feet for years and years and years, and your
feet begin to hurt.
[music playing]
Marisa, wrap these around your knees.
Arthritis in your knees, OK?
So wrap them around.
Tighten them.
Put these gloves on.
We're going to fix you with arthritis in your-- your
joints and your hands.
I want you to put these pants on you.
-Really?
-Yeah.
MARIANNE WILLIAMSON [OFFSCREEN]: The issue is not
to deny the limits of age.
There are physical limits, but spiritually
there are no limits.
Psychologically and emotionally, this can be not
when we retire, as someone said to me
recently, but refire.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: And now here is the man who will show
you how to feel better, look better, Jack LaLanne!
-You know, what's all this middle age and all this old
age business?
You know, what it?
Is there a law somewhere because you're 30 or 35 or 40
years old or 50 or 60 or 70, you have to get in a rocking
chair and die?
Jack LaLanne can't afford to die.
Wreck my image.
Ready, begin.
One.
Two.
That's why I tell people, you only live once, because that's
why you should take care of yourself.
The exercise is king, nutrition's queen.
Put them together, you got a kingdom.
Inhale.
Blow it out.
Inhale again.
Fine!
I'm a salesman.
You know, think about it.
If you believe in something, you sell it.
Now I have the answer to all of your problems, the new,
long-play, high fidelity, glamour
stretcher, time record.
Why did Jesus Christ perform all those miracles?
To prove that His philosophy worked.
You know, if Jack LaLanne's philosophy doesn't work for
Jack LaLanne, it's not going to work for you, is it?
That's why I did all those incredible feats.
When I did the thousand chins and the thousand push ups, and
I towed the 2,000 pound boat from San Francisco across the
Golden Gate.
Then on my 70th birthday, I towed 70 boats with 70 people
in the boats, my feet and hands tied, a mile and a half
to Long Beach.
This is my workshop.
This is where I take care of the most important person on
this Earth, me.
I work out every day for two hours.
I invented a lot of the equipment's in the gym today.
The first weight selector, leg extensor machine.
I started inventing equipment way back in 1931.
You know, in those days, physical fitness, that was
unheard of.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: Put in the carrots?
I'll put the carrots in first, OK.
Push this down, and the juice comes out here.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: That makes everything raw, whole.
JACK LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: Oh,yeah.
Oh, that looks wonderful.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: See how you like it.
That's carrot juice.
-Beautiful.
-Is that good?
-See what you're doing?
You're doing something for you.
And it tastes good while you're doing it.
You're putting raw, vital food in this raw, vital body.
ELAINE LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: At lest we know he likes it.
-I'm a selfish person.
When I put something in my Jack LaLanne mouth, I say,
what is it doing for me?
Am I going to be lover for my mate?
Am I'm going to get rid of these aches and pains?
Am I going to be better with my family?
-Jack, I was wondering whether you could
tell me any kind of--
what I should be doing to love for of a
long and healthy life.
What kind of exercise is it?
-Walking's good, but you've got to do it vigorously.
You've got to walk like.
You're walking like this.
When you walking, you go like, one, two.
Hands over head.
Push to the ceiling.
Bring those legs in, pull that waist in.
Just like that.
You folks out there, try it.
Here we are.
Up, down.
Push.
Almost.
[inaudible]
No, straighten your arms overhead.
-Like this?
-Hit the ceiling.
-Jesus.
-Like this.
Punch it, punch it.
Now you've got it!
Now, when you're walking, see.
And pull that gut in.
OK?
-OK.
-Straighten 'em out!
Put something into it.
Punch the ceiling.
Don't you know how to punch?
It's like this.
Boom, boom--
-Ow!
Boom, boom, boom.
-There you go.
Now walk are you're doing it.
Your health account and your bank accounts are the same.
The more you put in, the more you take out.
That's it, good.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: There are plenty of examples of
graceful aging, so why be afraid of it?
All it takes, it seems, is a little
commitment and a blender.
Jack sure makes it look easy.
JACK LALANNE [OFFSCREEN]: There's so much
work to be done yet.
I can hardly wait for tomorrow to get doing something.
Sitting on your big, fat backside thinking, oh, I
remember the good old days and the-- the gold old days are
this second!
[singing]
This is the moment I waited for!
This is it.
This moment controls the next moment.
As I said before, who makes it happen?
You!
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: When I was growing up, my mom had
exercised every morning in front of the TV with Jack.
But even though his old school cheerleading got results,
aren't we a bit more advanced nowadays?
Does it all need to be so strenuous?
DR. AUBREY DE GREY [OFFSCREEN]: I've often said
that aging is a barbaric phenomenon.
It's an uncivilized phenomenon that should just not be
accepted and tolerated in polite society.
I started off being a computer scientist.
I did my undergraduate degree business in computer science
in the mid-'80s, and I did computer science research for
several years after that.
While I was doing that, I met my wife, who is a biologist.
And we got together, and I learned a lot of biology just
sort of by accident over the dinner table over
the next few years.
And I was not just learning biology.
I was also learning about what biologists are interested in
and what they're not interested in.
And I was extremely surprised to discover that actually the
biology of aging was a real backwater.
So eventually, I became sufficiently annoyed about
this that I decided to get into it myself.
I thought, well, you know, if these people are not trying to
make a difference to the biology of aging, then maybe I
can do something.
Aging is a repair and maintenance problem.
The human body, of course, is a very, very complicated
machine, but it's still a machine.
So in principle, one ought to be able to figure out ways to
repair that damage so that the decline
in function is postponed.
If we think about the way that postponement of the aging of a
machine works for really simple machines, like cars for
example, if you maintain your car only averagely, then maybe
it'll only last 15 years.
If you maintain it a little bit better, you
maybe last 20 years.
But there is a threshold level of, if you like,
comprehensiveness of repair and maintenance above which
basically the sky's the limit.
That means that if we didn't have aging at all anymore, the
average lifespan would be somewhere around 1,000 years.
Some people would die much younger than that just because
they got unlucky or they were careless crossing the street,
and some people would live a lot longer than that.
I predict that within about 10 years, so long as the funding
for the research is sufficiently good, we may have
breakthroughs in the laboratory in mice that will
make it clear that it's only a matter of time before we can
essentially eliminate aging in humans.
There's going to be a wide variety of different stem cell
therapies to repopulate tissues
that are loosing cells.
There's going to be vaccines involved.
There's almost certainly going to be standard small molecule
drugs involved.
Lot's of different things put together.
Now, the aging process will not, of course, be eliminated
from the body in this way.
It'll be just like repair and maintenance of a machine, so
it'll need to be reapplied periodically.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I'm a little worried, Aubrey.
I'm 52 years old.
Is that too late for your therapies?
Are they going to benefit me at all?
-I can make no promises on this, but I think by the time
these therapies come along, you'll be
biologically 70 or 75.
Now, these therapies will be bona fide rejuvenation
therapies, therapies that actually restore the body to a
biologically younger, so you'll be taken back to
biologically 40, shall we say, by these therapies.
And as the therapies are progressively improved in
their quality, then the next time you're re-rejuvenated,
you may be going back to biologically 30.
So absolutely, I think you've got a fair chance
of making the cut.
-15 years from now, we're really going to have the
fruits of this biotechnology revolution where we can very
dramatically reprogram the information processes that run
in our bodies.
We're going to be able add new genes, turn off genes, really
reprogram who we are.
We'll have not just designer babies, but
designer baby boomers.
The computers that are now in your pocket
will be blood cell-size.
They'll be very intelligent.
We'll have millions of these nanorobots, nanobots, going
through out bloodstream, keeping us healthy form
inside, going inside our brains, interacting directly
with our biological neurons, and really
extending who we are.
Putting our brains on the internet, giving us access to
vast resources of knowledge, memory, problem-solving
capability.
So to my Baby Boomer peers, the message is you really need
to be very aggressive, and yes, then you can get into the
theater of radical life extension.
You don't want to be the person who doesn't get into
the theater.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: If there is a pill someone could
offer you, if you took it, you'd live for 500 years,
would you take it?
-500 years?
Give me 500 more years?
Hell yeah, I'd take it.
-500 years?
Sounds good to me.
Off a pill?
-Since I've been through two cancer operations and six
weeks of radiation, I probably would.
It would make sense.
But I don't have to speak to the Devil, do I?
-The most significant revolution of our lifetime
will be the creation of the ageless society.
It will dwarf the creation of the computer.
Aging is no longer inevitable.
Anti-aging medicines are a very contained, very
scientific, very objective clinical science, but the
anti-aging marketplace, you know, is everything from Botox
to plastic surgery to sports medicine.
So it's around the kernel of what anti-aging medicine is.
-I am proud to say I created the Seven Dwarfs of menopause,
and they are itchy, bitchy, sleepy, sweaty, bloated,
forgetful, and all dried up.
For many years, they lived inside my body.
I just closed here in Las Vegas a week ago, and people
would come backstage because I run and leap and jump and do
and sing, and for 90 minutes all by myself.
And the constant comment was where do you get the energy?
Good thing I'm on hormones!
Oh, my God!
Hormones are the juice of youth.
Hormones is what gives us our quality of life.
Every single time use squeeze Thigh Master, you straighten
and tone right where you need it.
Everybody's focused on the outside, but what I'm focused
in is on the inside.
I don't want my insides to have accelerated aging because
that's not going to serve me well down the road, especially
now that they're keeping us alive longer than ever before.
I love that I can be at 60 years old and feel so good.
It's not old anymore.
DIANA SCHWARZBEIN [OFFSCREEN]: As we get older, we lose the
ability to rebuild ourselves.
Our cells start to age, and they lose the ability to make
hormones, and hormones direct the rebuilding process.
-See, hormones are this.
You go to the symphony, and Zubin Mehta is the conductor.
And in the symphony, all the players are professional
players, great players.
That's why they're there, they're the best.
The major hormones, adrenal and cortisol, are Zubin Mehta.
All the rest are the professional players.
If Zubin's out of sorts or doesn't show up or is burned
out, nobody knows what to do, and so they all try to do it
the best they can, but nothing's working right.
[awkward music playing]
So I got Zubin working really well.
My adrenals are pumping out perfectly.
[good music playing]
They're all playing the same song, It's
all in perfect tune.
It's perfect inside me.
I take estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, pregnenolone,
testosterone, HGH, and melatonin.
That's my song.
And I do find that men, once this light bulb goes off,
they're the first ones at the doctors.
They're the first ones wanting to do it, because what man
wants to lose his edge, his maleness?
-Do you know how often you should go and have a bowel
movement in a day, or--
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]: So I look forward to being 100,
120, and we actually never have to die.
-Will this make me live a longer life, do you think?
-Yes.
Help you live younger, stronger, and longer.
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]: I really believe I'm going to
live to 100 or more, and with my brain.
I want my brain.
I do not want to live without my brain.
-OK.
It's very special.
SUZANNE SOMERS [OFFSCREEN]: And then I want to play
Chrissy Snow again.
[laughing]
As a really, really smart old lady.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: If I was to offer you a pill you
could take that would make you live 500 more years,
would you take it?
-I wouldn't take it because I wouldn't want
to live that long.
I don't know, there's something very, um--
it motivates me to know that I have a limited time.
-500 years is a long time, long time to live.
I think there's a reason why we get old and die, just
spiritually.
-No, I wouldn't take it.
No.
I think everything has an expiration date, and you
shouldn't make it longer just by taking some magical pill.
-Life is sweet because it's short?
I don't know.
That's why.
[music playing]
SHERWIN NULAND [OFFSCREEN]: The reason there's interest in
people like Aubrey de Grey and the other life extenders has
to do with the temper of our age, which I think of as
narcissistic.
There is something about my life that is so important that
it must continue on and on, regardless of the demographic
costs, regardless of the environmental costs.
Every generation comes with new ways of
thinking, new ideas.
And were I to crowd this Earth, there will be no way of
clearing the atmosphere of the rancid staleness that has come
on the present generation.
-It's not a question of living to 1,000, or
living to 200, even.
I mean, I don't even know whether I want to live to 100.
But I do know that I'd like to make that choice when I'm 99
rather than having those choices gradually taken away
from me by my declining health.
-It's my debt to everything that has come before me, and
it's my obligation to everything that comes after
me, that I die within my allotted time.
-Lots of the people watching this movie wouldn't be around
if we hadn't, in fact, extended who we are.
Life expectancy was 23 a thousand years ago.
So we go beyond our limitations, and we're going
to continue to do that.
And that's not narcissistic, that's creative.
That's expanding our horizons.
That's what being human is all about.
[music playing]
-It's called Newton's Mathematical Bridge because it
was designed by Newton in honor of the college where he
was an undergraduate.
So for me, I would obviously like to benefit from the
therapies that I work on, so I've decided to sign up to be
cryopreserved at and when, if I'm unlucky enough to die of
anything related to old age or anything, and that's because I
feel that once you've decide that living a long time would
be a good thing, well, clearly living a long time with a bit
of a gap in the middle is just as god a thing.
[music playing]
-Cryonics is an experimental research project whereby
people who are suffering from incurable ailments today can
be preserved in the hopes of basically transporting them to
a time where future medicine can restore
them to healthy life.
We believe it is possible to preserve a person and then
ultimately bring them back.
However, a lot of the technology that's going to be
required to wake these people up has yet to be developed.
ANNOUNCER [OFFSCREEN]: Ad the pace of life all around us
quickens, science is on the verge of making mankind's
dream of having more time a reality.
RABBI MORDECAI FINLEY [OFFSCREEN]: Some people, they
have more time, would just fritter away more time.
They wouldn't get anything done because they had more
time not to get things done.
Other people would use their time and live several
different productive lifetimes.
Other folks would just watch a lot more TV.
-I'm not in any hurry to see the other side.
I'm, um--
I think I will--
I currently have two graduate degrees.
I think probably three, four, five more would be great.
I love to learn.
I like to travel.
I love my family.
I would love to see my great-great-great-grandkids.
-This is Alcor Station [inaudible].
Our 83 patients are currently stored.
We currently have 10 [inaudible] that are in
operation right now.
Each of them holds four whole body patients
inside, neuro patients.
They in effect act as giant, stainless steel thermos
bottles requiring no electricity, no support of any
kind except for the occasional addition of liquid nitrogen.
This is one of our whole body pods.
Each whole body patient is wrapped in a sleeping bad and
strapped inside one of these pods for
the long-term storage.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Does it ever kind of creep you out
to think that there are people here that could be revived, or
sitting here?
-I'm not creeped out by the fact that there
are people in here.
I'm actually quite excited.
I know quite a few of them.
They're my friends.
I would love to see them again, and it'll be one great
party when they come back.
-I'm not anxious to be dead.
If it works, I'll be part of history and part of the future
at the same time.
-You know, as a science fiction fan, it was something
that was extremely compelling to me and didn't really
requirement much thought.
I signed up basically right away, as soon as I found out
it was happening for real.
Our membership demographic has traditionally included a lot
of engineers, scientists.
We see that demographic changing now.
What we're seeing is more families signing up.
Husbands, wives, a couple of kids, because nobody wants to
go into the future alone.
-I worry that my family hasn't signed up, but I'm not the
pushy type despite having been a life insurance agent.
My wife is not certain that she wants to sign up for
cryonics yet.
She's still wrestling with that.
She's not quite as sure.
But I also realize that people do move on after
death in the family.
People do move on after bad things happen.
And so, I'll make a new future if, um, if it comes to that.
-It seems like a good idea to me.
I'm enjoying life.
I think life's wonderful.
-Not me.
I don't want to live with him for another 500 years.
-No, that's right.
She doesn't want to.
I could get another woman, though.
But I mean, the thing is, just think of the fun you'd have.
Fantastic.
I've had so much fun now.
I'm scared of dying because I'm going to miss out.
-So Mark, I've been wondering, what moves you
to make this movie?
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I'm, uh, I just want more.
-More of life.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: More of life.
And I feel like--
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: This is my friend, Pico Iyer.
He's probably the sanest person I know.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: And do things, have experiences I
haven't had before.
-Is that-- so that suggests that you don't feel a sense of
fulfillment.
Huh.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Besides being a successful
writer, he's traveled just about everywhere in the world.
He has a youthful spirit and a wisdom beyond his 50 years.
-I think what we're seeing right now is that everybody's
excitingly jumping on the bandwagon of extended life and
new possibilities, but it's too early to see what the
shadow side is or what the cost is.
And so we're like people in a restaurant greedily ordering
more and more dishes and not realizing that at some point
the bill is going to be presented, and
we're going to faint.
So it's going to be much different than we imagined.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Maybe Pico has a point.
Even though I'm hungry for as much life as I can get, how
would I fill up 500 years, 1,000 years?
-Would you like to give it a try?
-Sure.
-The cost of a cryopreservation is $150,000
for the whole body, and it's $80,000 for a
brain-only neuro patient.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I mean, that
can get really expensive.
How many careers will I have to pursue?
How many marriages?
How many documentaries are out there to make?
Does a really long life guarantee us a filled one?
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: One thing I've noticed in the last
few years in my own life is that I seek out older people,
much more than I used to.
And it's as if they've climbed to the top of the mountain,
and they're looking out on a much broader expanse than the
rest of us who are still huffing and puffing, not even
knowing if we'll get to the peak or not.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I decided to ask the winners of
life's lottery, some of the oldest people in the world.
But to find them, I needed some help.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: Well, as the senior consultant
for Geritol [inaudible] for Guinness World Records, my job
is basically to decide for Guinness who is the world's
oldest person according to scientific concepts.
The point is is they don't want somebody to get a record
and to be embarrassed by investigation that finds out
that it's not true.
We have people exaggerate their age for
any number of reasons.
We have people claim to be I'm divinely blessed by God, and
if you give me money, you're going to life to be 120.
We've had people claim that this is a spiritual thing,
that it's a religious thing.
And then we have bragging rights.
People exaggerate their age to say my people live longer than
your people.
I'm more interested in both a quantitative and
a qualitative approach.
I want to know about their history.
I want to know how they managed to
survive such a long time.
I want to know about their positive or
negative mental state.
-You want to say anything to everybody in Los Angeles?
-[inaudible]
-Do you want to say anything?
-What?
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: We often find that these people
have stories to tell.
It helps to remind people that, you know, history
doesn't have to be dead.
So you are now the world's third oldest person according
to "Guinness Book Of World Records." So, I'm here to
bring you this copy.
-That's for you.
I'll be back next year if you're going to
be here next year.
-OK.
I'll be here.
[laughter]
-Don't want to settle for third place now.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: Sometimes you make friends
with these people.
Normally, I try to only make friends with them if they
appear to be in good shape because if they look like
they're nearing the end of the line, I don't want to
emotionally invest in someone that is fixing to pass away.
And in cases where the person appears to be healthy, such as
Bettie Wilson or Susie Gibson, I was able to emotionally
invest in them because I realized that they would
probably survive at least a year, and we know that many
average friendships don't last more than a year or two.
-Everyone stand for the National Anthem.
[HARMONICA PLAYING - NATIONAL ANTHEM]
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: I'm realizing over time that I
used to believe you have 100%, 100% of the time, and I
realize that you're simply going to burn
yourself out and die young.
And most of the people, it's more of a 90% solution.
You have 90%, 90% of the time, they're steady, they get up
the same time every day, they go to bed at the same time
every day, they eat the same thing on Wednesday that they
ate last Wednesday.
They don't get upset about things.
They maintain family connections.
They're just generally positive people, but they're
realistic people as well.
How did you get this far?
-Hmm?
-How did you get this far?
How did you get this far?
-Ask the Lord, because I can't tell you.
ROBERT YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: The that are living to be 114,
120, in addition to having all the proper genes, they also
has a positive mental attitude, and they made the
most out of their genetic inheritance.
[music playing]
-[speaking japanese]
There's a difference between longevity and long life.
Long life means living a long time, even if you're
confined to a bed.
Longevity means you are healthy and happy until the
day you die, so you die quickly and peacefully.
DR. CRAIG WILCOX [OFFSCREEN]: One of the things that
interested us about the Okinawans was their very low
rates of diseases associated with the aging process,
particularly the big three killers, heart disease,
cancers, and stroke.
Living to the age of 100 is not an unusual thing, so 70 is
very young.
80, well, you're starting to get up there.
90, well, a little bit, but you're still going.
OK, maybe I'm thinking about going to the other world at
age 100, but any time before that is too soon.
What we're finding in our studies is a lot higher levels
of disability as people age in America versus Okinawa.
People are not only living longer in Okinawa.
They're living longer and in better health.
If we talk figures, we're looking at approximately seven
years of disability at the end of your life in America versus
about two and a half in Okinawa.
If you look at why the Okinawans live so long, we've
boiled it down to four main factors.
One is diet.
It's a very low-calorie diet but very
high in nutrient density.
Yeah, this would be a typical Okinawan meal.
We've got a little bit of fish here.
This is actually a bonito.
It's a tuna fish, very high in omega-3 fatty acids.
This is sea grapes.
They're a type of seaweed.
One of the reasons why the Okinawans have lived so long,
because of this very nutrient-rich,
calorie-poor diet.
The key combo, full of micro-nutrients antioxidants,
flavonoids.
-So low calorie density.
You're eating a lot of food that actually the calories in
that quantity or that weight of food is way less.
-Exactly.
Calories per grams.
So you're eating more food int total volume, but it has much
less calories in it, so you get fuller faster,
and you stay full.
The second thing that we've looked at is how active these
people are.
You don't see these older people out
jogging on the street.
They're not going to the gym.
They're gardening, they're walking.
They love traditional dance.
These activities are not things they consciously follow
to keep active and healthy.
They're things they do because they're
part of their lifestyle.
When we're looking at these very old people, almost all of
them have something that gets them out of bed in the
morning, something what they call in Japan is
[speaking japanese].
There's a fisherman I know up in the village.
His name is Nakamura Zeneisan, and his [speaking japanese],
what gets him going every day, is fishing, fishing done in a
traditional way.
In Okinawa, there's no word for retirement.
People just keep on going with what they've been doing.
They slow down, of course, but they keep involved in some
kind of activity throughout their lives.
It's my experience that people in Okinawa are much more
relaxed, happy go lucky.
Things operate at a little slower pace in Okinawa.
Nobody's ever on time.
I've been fishing with Nakamurasan in the past, and I
was diving with diving gear.
All he had on were his little handmade goggles,
no fins, and a wetsuit.
And I couldn't keep up with him.
How many 92-year-old fishermen do you know are out there
fishing the traditional way, not just in a boat with a rod,
but diving without air, putting the nets under the
water, chasing the fish in there.
It's absolutely amazing.
-If I lived another 100 years, it wouldn't change because
there'd be the excitement of being alive, and getting up in
the morning, and saying which way do I jump today?
How do I explode?
I put a stick of dynamite in my mouth and light the fuse,
and it blows the hell out of my head.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: What's your secret to a long
life, Tyrus?
I've seen people age so differently.
I've seen some people become bitter and cynical and
defeated and broken, and I've seen others become luminous
and joyful and radiant as they age.
It's not that when they were 80 years old, they could run
the 100 yard dash as fast as when they were 20, but they
weren't trying to do that.
They were in touch with the beauties and the opportunities
of each life stage.
ELLSWORTH WAREHAM [OFFSCREEN]: I think everything can be
divided into two big classifications pretty much,
and that is the things you can do something about and the
things you can't do anything about.
I don't go to bed at night and try to solve the problems of
tomorrow or in the past.
I don't have any fear about becoming mentally incompetent
because I don't find myself deteriorating in that area so
much as I do in my physique, as far as what I can do
physically.
I've been a cardiothoracic surgeon all my
professional life.
There's a sort of a general opinion that people at my age
are inclined to be incompetent, and I don't want
them to think that they're getting poor care so I don't
mention my age very often.
But I have thought maybe I might quit at, say, 95.
It's a round figure, you see.
I suppose when I quit being in the operating room, I'll miss
it, because it's a sort of a social life, you know?
Those are very fine people you work with, and you get
acquainted with them, and there's a social interaction
that goes on.
And I'll miss that, but I'll find other things to do.
I sort of look at all my life as being in chapters, and when
a chapter's over, I close it, and that's that.
So the day I quit work, why, I'll find something else to
keep myself occupied.
If I didn't have something that I work at, then I would
be inclined, I think, to be much more lethargic and to
give in to my periods of fatigue or whatever it is that
you have when you're old.
-[laughing]
You worked 15 hours yesterday!
ELLSWORTH WAREHAM [OFFSCREEN]: But when I go into the
operating room, there's something about it that it
stimulates me, that it's a challenge there.
And my body then draws on its reserves, and I feel a
energetic while I'm doing the surgery, and I feel energetic
when I'm finished.
And that's one of the reasons why I keep it up.
[music playing]
[rock music playing]
BUSTER MARTIN [OFFSCREEN]: You wouldn't have wanted to know
me when I was a kid.
They used to call me the little bastard because you
never knew what I was getting up to.
SCOTT MULLINS [OFFSCREEN]: Buster's the oldest employee
in [inaudible].
He specifically washes the vans, and we're privileged to
have the guy working for us.
And I mean, he puts the youngsters to shame at times.
You know, sometimes you hear the youngsters huffing and
puffing a little bit.
Not Buster.
He smokes, he drinks, he's out all hours, but the guy's
always in on time, you know?
SAMM MULLINS [OFFSCREEN]: Well, we started training for
the London Marathon six months ago.
He's done one.
Now he wants to do the one up in Edinburgh in Scotland, so
there's no holding him back now.
He wants to keep doing them, and if he wants to keep doing
them, I'll keep training him.
BUSTER MARTIN [OFFSCREEN]: I've always been fit.
I don't eat fish.
I don't eat dairy products.
I do not need red meat, veg.
I don't drink tea.
I don't drink water.
No, I don't drink any water in a marathon.
Give me a beer.
Yeah, I'll have that.
That's different.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: How many years have you been
smoking for?
-Since I was seven.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Can you say, "I was smoking since
I was seven?" Sorry, Buster.
-I just said that!
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: I know, but we're cutting out my
questions for the interviews, so could you answer the
question again, if you could?
-How about you answer your question to come first, and
then my answer like it's just I'm waiting for a cue?
That's not how I speak.
You ask me a question, and I'll answer it straight away.
So if it intermingles with yours, that is
complication, isn't it?
See, he asked me to keep repeating his words.
I just--
I'm following--
[interposing voices]
-Look, don't try and put words!
I'm not an actor!
ELEANOR WASSON [OFFSCREEN]: Oh, Mark, my life's always
been wonderful, but the best part of it was over 50.
You don't care anymore about what people think about you.
You're just your own person.
You've accumulated a lot of information and knowledge, and
you're ready for new adventures, and
you take them freely.
It's a good time to be.
I wrote a book that's called "28,000 Martinis," and I'm a
vegetarian because I don't believe in killing.
You know, there are lots of vegetables and fruits, but I
always have vodka every night.
The book is about martinis.
It's about evolution.
It's about my life and my family.
So
I remember--
I think the most vivid memory of my whole 100 years is the
day that peace was declared, the First World War, because
we were told there would never be another war.
Just think how you would feel if you really believed there
would never be another war.
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
If only is it become a reality.
My husband and I, we saw the approaching of the Second
World War, and we said, well, when the war comes, we want to
be able to do something, but we're too old to join the Army
or the Navy.
And we had children, anyway.
Uh, what can we do?
We said perhaps we can learn to fly so we can ferry ships.
So we learned to fly.
I don't believe in a God, and I don't go to church.
I don't believe in churches.
I think they're too controlling.
I believe there are only really three laws.
One, the law of cause and affect.
What you give out comes back to you.
The others, free will and free choice.
People say, why did God let that happen?
God didn't let it happen.
We let it happen by making bad choices.
And then the most important one is the law of love.
I don't think one person could possibly learn all those
things in one life, so I think this is a kindergarten.
I think we're here to learn all of those special lessons.
I'm thinking of writing a book on miracles.
One miracle that I love is that I was working with a
committee to banish nuclear weapons.
Unfortunately, we thought we were getting
somewhere, but we didn't.
We--
you know, one thing I don't want you to do is tell
yourself you're going to forget, because you do.
I can't remember where I was.
[music playing]
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: My mother struggled with dementia
in her later years, and every time I forget a name or an
interview question, which I confess is happening more and
more, I worry that the illness is creeping up on me as well.
LISA SCHOONERMAN [OFFSCREEN]: Members come to vibrantBrains
just like a health club where it's convenient for them to
use the variety of software programs through our Neurobics
Circuit Training program in an environment that's conducive
to a good work out.
Just like at the gym where you might have someone telling you
how many reps to do on which machine, which day, we have a
similar program here.
So as you can see, the gym consists of 20 different
computer stations, and I'd love to show you some of the
games, if you'd like to walk through yourself.
-Great.
So I'm finding recently I walk into a room, and I have no
idea why I walked in, or I forget someone's name.
Are any of these exercises I'm going to be doing going to
improve that?
-Yes, they will.
The programs that we have here at vibrantBrains help increase
a person's chances of staying cognitively
fit longer in life.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: OK, so I didn't do too well with
those exercises.
I always hated going to the gym, anyway.
-OK, I have a prescription for everyone.
Just to laugh for 10 minutes every day for no reason.
Put your hands like this.
I'm going to warm up exercise.
Go huh, huh, huh.
Ha ha.
Huh huh.
Ha ha.
[faster]
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
Huh huh!
Ha ha!
MADAN KATARIA [OFFSCREEN]: My name is Madan Kataria.
I'm a medical doctor from Mumbai, India.
Laughter yoga, laughter club, is a new concept where anyone
can laugh for no reason.
The yoga part of laughter yoga comes from combining yoga
breathing with laughter exercises.
-This is the starting your engine laughter.
You take an imaginary key, and you crank your
engine in four laughs.
[laughing]
MADAN KATARIA [OFFSCREEN]: I frequently tell them that the
reason we are sad, depressed, the reason we have stress and
all the illnesses because there is a lack of oxygen in
the body cells.
With the 15 to 20 minutes of laughter yoga and breathing
exercises, it energizes, it brings more oxygen to your
body and brain.
[laughing]
Then take a long, deep breath.
Hold it.
Hold it!
[laughing]
My dear laughter friends, today is the world laughter
day, a very special day.
Some people claim that laughter has tremendously
helped them recover from cancer, from pretty harsh and
serious physical illnesses.
Good health is not about vitamins or
taking good food only.
It's about breathing, your breath and oxygen.
We use laughter as a primary excuse to breath, as a
secondary excuse to [inaudible] happy feeling,
happy chemistry, to change attitude.
If you laugh, you are happy, you live longer.
Laughter will not change your life.
It will change you.
[laughter]
PHYLLIS DILLER [OFFSCREEN]: It's in the Bible, the old,
old book. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." They've
known this for thousands of years.
Now before we get off the subject of old, I have some
tricks for you.
If you visit an old folk's home, don't ever set a drink
down, because every time I did, somebody dropped their
teeth in it.
I would urge people to laugh more.
Children laugh as much as 400 times a day.
Adults, 20 at the most.
You know you're old when your walker has been airbag.
And they discontinued your blood type.
Somebody compliments you on your alligator shoes, and
you're barefoot.
Laughter fluffs up every cell in your body.
All the time you're laughing, every cell is laughing.
Because what you do in your mind your whole body is doing.
Always.
And then you have long life, and a good life, and people
want to be with you.
And that keeps the whole fire burning.
ROBER YOUNG [OFFSCREEN]: Jeanne Calment, who lived to
be 122 years of age, is by far the oldest verified person in
scientific history.
We have more documents to prove her age than for any
other case.
She had three of the longevity keys.
She loved olive oil, she loved wine, and she loved chocolate.
We know that she smoked about one or two cigarettes a day.
She tended to stay active.
At age 85, she took up fencing.
At age 100, she was riding her bicycle.
Jeanne Clement lived on her own, by herself, without
assistance until two weeks before her 110th birthday when
her cooking started a fire, and they decided it was time
to move her into a nursing home.
And if Jeanne Clement had great genes, then she had a
great constitution, and she had a great mental fortitude.
At her 115th birthday party, basically they asked her what
does she do all day?
She said, "I think, I dream, I go over my life.
I never get bored." Just this very positive attitude, that
joie de vivre, seems to be the way to go.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Jeanne Calment certainly had a
great set of genes.
I wonder if I'm as lucky as she was.
My mother lived to 85, and my dad is still
going strong at 87.
100 years shouldn't be out of question for
their son, should it?
It just doesn't seem fair.
I exercise.
I don't eat red meat.
I take dozens of daily supplements.
I drink oceans of green tea, and I can still develop colon
cancer tomorrow.
But some Frenchwoman lives on wine and chocolate and
[inaudible], and makes it to 122.
Why should I work so hard if there's no
guarantee for a long life?
Or maybe there is.
BRIAN M. DELANEY [OFFSCREEN]: Initially I knew nothing about
calorie restriction and didn't really care about longevity.
I just went to the medical library
to learn about nutrition.
And then I happened upon Roy Walford's research with
rodents showing that when you give them less, in some cases
a lot less, than what they normally eat--
30%, 40%, 45% less--
they live much, much longer, sometimes as much as 50% or
60% longer.
So I thought, well, it works in rodents, and then I
discovered later it works in fish, it works in insects, it
works in basically every species in
which it's been tried.
Maybe it works in humans as well.
The average American man probably eats about 3,000
calories a day.
People on the calorie restriction diet, I think I
know someone who's eating about 1,500 calories a day.
If you were on a strict and somewhat severe version of
this diet for, let's say, four years, you'd probably gain an
extra year of life.
And given that I started the diet when I was 29, I can say
in my case I could expect to live to be maybe 140.
Food can be a comfort to a lot of people, especially people
who are alone, people who don't have a lot of other
sources of joy in their life.
And for someone like that, a diet like
this might be difficult.
They would have to get joy from food in a different way.
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]: It is a grand thing to be a food
critic in the age of Lipitor.
I will be the first person to say that.
That being said, I have to be cognizant of what the food is
doing to my body, and I'm sort of the experimental stomach
for the city of Los Angeles and a lot of places.
My doctor talks about it a lot, but I could probably
stand to lower my croissant intake.
I've always been pretty interested in food.
In sixth grade, I had a bulletin board that had all my
poems, and my poems were all about food.
You know, banana fritters, and green tea, ice cream, and
potato chips.
And you know, I suppose that potato chips were for me what
daffodils were for Wordsworth.
Eating is one of the great pleasures of life.
Sitting at a table with your friends and with your family,
having food that you spent hours preparing.
It's a way of expressing yourself.
And I think people with severe dietary restrictions--
and believe me, in Los Angeles, they are legion--
are indeed missing out on a lot that life has to offer.
This kitchen does a really good job.
They have a nice, lose texture.
They're-- they're luscious.
They have a soft--
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]: I find it very difficult to talk
about food with people who talk about what they aren't
eating as opposed to what they are eating.
And this is the, um, insalata caprese.
JONATHAN GOLD [OFFSCREEN]: Sometimes it seems like
everybody in Los Angeles, or everybody in certain zip codes
in Los Angeles, is on some kind of a diet or another.
You know, there's Scarsdale, there's the Zone diet, there's
the 20/40/40 or whatever that one is.
People are eating only protein, or only fat, or only
carbohydrates.
And I the idea of going to place like Spago and asking
for your halibut grilled, no oil, sauce
on the side if perverse.
[music playing]
It's like deciding not to have sex because that somehow is
going to dissipate your vital fluids.
To the extent that libido, per se, is closely linked to
testosterone levels-- in men at least, and it
might be also in women--
it's likely that libido would decrease in men on this diet.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Well, as far as the calorie
restriction diet, that's a real deal breaker for me.
-The best contraceptive for old people is nudity.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: I'm in no hurry to compromise my
sex drive in my senior years.
[music playing]
SHIGEO TOKUDA [OFFSCREEN]: [speaking japanese]
When you retire, you have no work.
Many retirees experience a feeling of emptiness.
They have a hard time finding something to do
with their free time.
Everybody's different, but spiritual uplift is
necessary for all.
Some find it an art or in sports.
Others find it in volunteer work.
In any event, to find a purpose in life is important.
I've done over 200 adult films.
Elder porn has increased in popularity, and I am partly
responsible.
When I was young, I had little experience with women.
I was very serious, and very proper.
Nowadays, I tell my wife that I'm a late bloomer.
I'm making up for lost time.
[laughing]
I personally think the right amount of sex is uplifting for
the spirit.
t even helps one stay youthful.
Sex, after all, is a method of rejuvenation.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: But not every Japanese senior is
as lively as Shigeo.
[music playing]
AKIMITSU YOKOYAMA [OFFSCREEN]: [speaking japanese]
The Japanese have a fondness for robots.
You can see it in their anime and manga.
So the domestic robot is very advanced in Japan.
They find it easy to believe that souls exist within
various inanimate objects.
ROBOT SINGING]
AKIMITSU YOKOYAMA [OFFSCREEN]: We introduced robot therapy to
replace animal therapy for seniors.
-I came up with the idea for a personal robot.
It doesn't do any work.
It's more like a pet.
Paro is about the same size as a baby.
We tried to design it to trigger the memory
of holding a baby.
It's not just its size that accomplishes this, but we try
to emphasize body contact.
We encourage stroking, cuddling, and embracing Paro.
Paro provides useful therapy for both men and women.
There was a 94-year-old man who purchased Paro and named
it after his wife who had passed away 10 years earlier.
Since his wife's death, he had spent many days all by himself
without speaking to anyone.
Through his interaction with this personal robot, Paro now
exists as his new partner, and he is very happy.
[speaking japanese]
-I'm married.
DR. CRAIG WILCOX [OFFSCREEN]: In Okinawa there's a folk
belief that older people have this kind of spiritual power
that helps achieve their health and longevity, and they
can pass this on to other people.
It's called [speaking japanese].
It's a ritual in Okinawa.
The older person will touch you, or if you touch the older
person, they can pass this on to you.
It's very interesting.
It shows this kind of folk belief in Okinawa in the
spiritual power of older people.
-Tomorrow you will be partnered up
with a senior citizen.
Please be respectful, which you are, and use your manners.
When I first found out, I was kind of,
like, oh, my goodness.
We're going to the nursing home.
Because I just pictured, you know, kind of like awkward
situations, and it kind of being smelly. just kind of
took the stereotypes of what a nursing home was.
-Right here in the lavender.
-I've heard that, you know, like, the older people, you
feel you've lived so long, you want to tell
your story to somebody.
Otherwise it just seem pointless that
you've lived that long.
-My job every morning was to take my little syrup buckets,
take it to the back door of the creamery, and they would
fill it for me for $0.05.
-I used to play the ukulele.
-Really?
-I think about getting old quite often.
I try imagining, and I don't have a picture
in my head at all.
It's kind of more frightful.
I'm kind of scared of it.
It's a really great experience to talk to somebody who's been
there, done that, but isn't trying to, like I say,
influence you in a certain way, just to tell you their
life story.
And then you take from that what you will.
-Oh, good morning.
-Hi, how are you?
-I have no secrets to a long life.
God gave me one day at a time.
I don't have any dentures, and I don't have any hearing aids.
My hearing is not perfect, but if you speak distinctly, which
everybody should, I can hear very well.
MARGE JETTON [OFFSCREEN]: I didn't feel that I was old
until I was 95.
I went to Disneyland on my 90th birthday, and I drove the
car until I was 101.
At my age, it isn't how you look.
It's how you feel that's important.
I ride the bicycle 15 minutes for seven to eight miles a
day, five days a week at least.
And then I life 5-pounds weights, two of them, for
about five minutes.
Not any big deal.
It would be nice if we could pick out how we're going to
die, just go to sleep, but each one of us has to take it
as it comes.
So you often wonder what's going to get you.
[music playing]
-We live a long time here at Loma Linda.
I'm 84, and she's over 100.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Why do you live so long?
-Because we don't eat meat.
I think that's one big reason.
And then we're happy.
-Yes, you seem happy.
-Yes, we're very happy, because we love the Lord.
Yeah.
RANDALL ROBERTS [OFFSCREEN]: Loma Linda is one of those hot
spots in the world where people live longer.
Some of us have jokingly said, well, it's not longer, just
seems longer.
[laughing]
It's within the advent of theology.
We understand the body to be a temple in the sense that God
values our physical being, therefore we
want to care for it.
It's one of the ways of honoring Him.
That is the driving issue--
-What we have with Seventh Day Adventism is we've got a sort
of healthy way of processing stress.
They keep the Sabbath.
They rest from sundown to sundown, Friday to Saturday.
But that's one of the things we're studying.
How many people do that, and does it help them?
-It's a time when you pull back and just realize I can
have a period of time where I'm not so relentlessly
pursuing the duties that I have every other day of my
life.
-Can you say, "My husband passed out on the plane?"
-That sounds like a nice idea.
I wouldn't mind having a 24-hour period off, you know?
It's like, yeah.
You know, unplug, contemplate, connect with the sacred.
-Turn here and keep going.
Don't stop.
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: You know, Mark, I think you've got
to take a break.
You're just spending too much time on this movie.
You've got to get away from it.
-I'm totally, totally drained by it.
I don't know what to do.
-I can believe it because you're spending all your time
thinking about death instead of enjoying your life.
I've known you 16 years.
I've never seen you so stressed.
This movie is taking up your life.
It's a movie about extending your life.
It's clouding and complicating your life.
You just need to get away, take a vacation.
Go somewhere completely different.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: Pico suggested Iceland because of
its natural beauty and its rejuvenating waters.
He was right.
It was a great place to unplug.
For a while, that is.
NEWSREADER [OFFSCREEN]: NBC News In Depth tonight, a small
country that's giving the whole world valuable
information about our health.
In recent months, a biotech company in Iceland--
yes, Iceland--
has been making important discoveries about genes for
common conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer,
even mental illness.
MARK WEXLER [NARRATING]: It turns out Iceland is another
longevity hot spot.
It boasts the longest lifespan for males on the planet.
But the prospect of talking to yet another gerontologist
about the benefits of cod liver oil or another amazing
100-year-old about his daily exercise routine
just left me cold.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: I've buried people who just came
out of the doctor's office, and people coming out of the
health food store, you know, getting their soy bean
solutions, et cetera, et cetera.
But I've never, ever, ever buried anybody that dropped
dead coming out of a Coney Island hot dog stand.
And I thought it might be the safest place in the world.
Take a walk, have a hot dog, you feel better, you know?
Can we get an Oki Dog, a pastrami burrito, no cabbage.
This is a signature creation.
It's a Oki Dog.
It's a tortilla, and inside is cheese, two hot dogs, prize
pastrami, and pickles, mustard, and chili.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Oh, my God.
-If we get too concerned about the diet or medication or
eating or any of it to excess, the very fact that we're so
obsessive about the body is going to make you sick anyway.
-You've got to have a bite of the Oki Dog.
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: I see the hunger for a long life as
a kind of craving, and any craving makes us its subject
and leaves us the poorer, whether it's a craving for
food, or craving for sex, or craving for money, or in this
case a craving for life.
-It looks like you've barely touched you Oki Dog.
-So I don't see the hunger for long life as being
narcissistic so much as being short sighted.
It's like a child saying I don't want to go to sleep.
I want to stay here in the room with the adults even
though it's 10 o'clock.
And in fact the child is tired, and is making it's own
life a misery and making everyone else's life misery.
So I think a part of us is that whining, bawling child
refusing to accept our natural limitations.
[music playing]
-[inaudible]
-What does what?
Oh, that's Sugar.
She's taking your picture.
Grandma?
Do you realize that you are the oldest
person in the world?
-What?
-You are the oldest person in the whole world.
-Me?
-Yes!
-No!
-Yeah.
Doesn't seem like it, does it?
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Edna, if I could give you a pill
that would let you live 500 more years, would you take it?
[music playing]
PICO IYER [OFFSCREEN]: If you think of life as a movie or a
book, really the most important thing is the end.
That's what makes sense of everything that's come before.
That's what puts it into perspective.
Death makes sense of everything that
comes before it.
So either to eliminate the end of the story or not to think
about it is almost to distort, to deform, the
whole shape of it.
[clock ticking]
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: Can you ask my mom if there's
anything to fear about death, of the process of dying?
-Just like being born, it's just another part of the
living experience.
And you're dead longer than you're alive, and there's
nothing to fear because all your relatives and friends are
going to be here to meet you and greet you, and the
animals, and everything that you've loved.
And what you do here in life will be expanded on the other
side as well.
And there's nothing to fear on your leaving the body.
You're ascending to just another level of intelligence.
MARK WEXLER [OFFSCREEN]: That's you're saying that?
-It wasn't me.
Your mom is saying would you really want to live to be 100?
Would you want to be 100?
She says after a while, you're not going to want to be 100.
She wants you to just stop worrying.
LINDA SALVIN [OFFSCREEN]: She's only a part of you
because you're a part of her.
It doesn't go away.
There will be signs.
You might hear a song on the radio that she liked, or
you'll be looking at her artwork or a painting that she
did, and you'll be reminded of her.
You may even hear her voice speaking to you.
[music playing]
WOMAN [OFFSCREEN]: Is there a light in here?
-Yeah.
[music playing]
WOMAN [OFFSCREEN]: Mark, what are you looking for?
-I don't know.
I'm looking for my mom's--
something of my mom.
Me as a baby with a dog.
THOMAS LYNCH [OFFSCREEN]: I'm sure artists and musicians,
you know, and painters and filmmakers and every other
kind of creative person is trying to get something on the
planet that will outlive them.
Maybe because or maybe unrelated to
the fact that they--
they're not certain about heaven.
They're not certain if they'll really,
properly haunt somebody.
So, yeah, maybe.
Maybe not.
Wait and see, I always say.
That's the answer to almost all prayers.
Wait and see.
Yeah.
[music playing]