We really don’t know how to extend health span or life span with any certainty. You could avoid smoking, and war, and getting repeatedly hit in the head. You can be conscientious about vaccination, hygiene, exercise, not working too hard, being warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and eating noncontaminated fresh produce all year long . . . Or you could be like Jeanne Calment and smoke until you’re 117. Or like Richard Overton, the oldest surviving World War II veteran (at the time of his death), who lived to be 112 and whose secret to a long life was cigars (twelve a day), whiskey, and
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