If you are like most people, the thought of longevity means focusing on your physical health. And usually, that boils down to diet to optimize physical health. But did you know there is something even more important we should focus on? Our social health. The whispers about our social connections being a key to living healthy to 100 are becoming screams.
That’s right. Ken Stern, the co-creator of the Longevity Project and host of Century Lives, argues that we need a cultural rewrite if we want to live a healthy life to 100. A key is how we value later-life contribution, structure our neighborhoods, and tell the story of aging itself. Our longevity cannot be thought of as simply due to a new medical …
If you are like most people, the thought of longevity means focusing on your physical health. And usually, that boils down to diet to optimize physical health. But did you know there is something even more important we should focus on? Our social health. The whispers about our social connections being a key to living healthy to 100 are becoming screams.
That’s right. Ken Stern, the co-creator of the Longevity Project and host of Century Lives, argues that we need a cultural rewrite if we want to live a healthy life to 100. A key is how we value later-life contribution, structure our neighborhoods, and tell the story of aging itself. Our longevity cannot be thought of as simply due to a new medical breakthrough. We must treat social connection like exercise and diet. Plan it, schedule it, and build environments that make it easy.
Ken Stern traveled the world to learn about longevity from those who’ve lived the longest. He authored Healthy to 100: How Strong Social Ties Lead to Long Lives (2025), drawing on data and his travels to the Blue Zones around the world. Here’s what he found: Communities with longer, healthier lives share one feature: rich, routine social connections. From Texas border towns to New York’s Co-op City, and Spain’s intergenerational centers to Singapore’s family-first housing, Ken found that people thrive when everyday life is designed for belonging. This is counter to the myth that we must diet, exercise, and focus on finances as we grow older to have a long life.
What Ken found is not new. All that we need is to heed the work of those who’ve been researching this for decades. Laura Carstensen’s (English/Carstensen, 2014) socioemotional selectivity theory states that as we age, we prioritize people, and those social networks increase our emotional well-being as we grow older. Studies from the Harvard Longitudinal Study show that close relationships buffer us from the problems of getting old (Waldinger, 2023).
What is required is updating our 20th-century assumptions. Stern believes that we need to review our take on retirement, for instance, that we should have a hard retirement at 65. We need to think about flexible later-life work, lifelong learning, and intergenerational mixing. Loneliness, he notes, is as toxic as a pack-a-day smoking habit, while purpose (often delivered through work, volunteering, and mentoring) is protective. Technology can help, but should not replace face-to-face contact.
We need to keep in mind that we need to:
- Schedule people like workouts. Treat social plans as non-negotiable health appointments. Get your calendar out and make sure it is full of social plans.
- Redesign work, don’t ditch it. Retirement doesn’t have to mean you never work again. Explore part-time, project-based, or job-share roles for purpose and structure.
- Mix generations on purpose. Getting out with people of all ages helps you stay relevant. Volunteer where kids and older adults intersect; get involved in intergenerational projects and programs.
- Keep learning. Take classes. Leverage state programs that offer free and discounted courses for those 60+.
- Mentor. Convert expertise into relevance; invite “lateral mentoring” across ages and skills.
It’s time to start a culture shift. When you think about longevity, use social connections as a health engine. Continue to work — however you choose. Later-life work, especially when flexible and purpose-driven, supports longevity. We have so many opportunities to look forward to. So, stop thinking of the lifespan as full of challenges in our later years, and think of aging as full of connection, purpose, and meaning. Let’s reset the narrative.
References
English T, Carstensen LL. Selective Narrowing of Social Networks Across Adulthood is Associated With Improved Emotional Experience in Daily Life. Int J Behav Dev. 2014 Mar 1;38(2):195-202. doi: 10.1177/0165025413515404. PMID: 24910483; PMCID: PMC4045107.
Stern, K. (2025). Healthy to 100: How strong social ties lead to long lives. PublicAffairs.
Waldinger, R, Schulz, M. (2023). *The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. *Simon & Schuster.