A neighbor of Xinzo de Limia, Rosa Suárez García, became a centenarian this weekend. Fortunately, this type of advanced longevity is beginning to fade from the news in the province of Ourense. At Ourenstividad we have been promoting healthy habits for months and explaining some of the reasons for the long life of these super-grandparents.
Rosa is the prototype of a Galician centenarian. Decades of hard work in Germany and in its land, sober nutrition that does not rejoice in excess, and also balanced with local food, moderate exercise and physical activity and great positivity. There are several secrets to living for many years, apart from good genetics.
With a total population that in a few years will approach 50 million inhabitants, Spain already has around 19,700 inhabitants who are over 100 years old. A little over a decade ago, in 2012, the official registry included 11,156 citizens in our country with 100 or more.
In Spain there is a province that concentrates the highest percentage of centenarians in the country out of the total population. This is Ourense. It has 384 centenarians.
The average life expectancy is currently 83 years in the Spanish state. In all of Europe, only the Nordic countries surpass it.
The curious thing is where the so-called blue zones are, zones defined by demographers and scientists as zones of high longevity. All close to the 40th parallel north and which are areas defined by scientists and demographers as an area of high longevity thanks to their climate, customs and diet, factors all related to a similar environment, with the environment, with similar epigenetics. Thus we have: Okinawa , Icaria, Campodimele, Sardinia, Loma Linda (California) and Ourense.
Epigenetics is compelling, we remove the Japanese population from Okinawa and take them to Brazil and they would lose their longevity. It is not surprising then that the two people who hold the world record for longevity are a Japanese Kane Tanaka 119 and a Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment 122.
The oldest verified person in the history of Spain is María Branyas Morera, born on March 4, 1907 in and who survives in Girona at 116 years old after overcoming covid three years ago.
In Galicia, the oldest person in Galicia is the Vigo painter Luis Torras, at 110 years old.