Call it a centenarian coincidence, or maybe there really is something to the belief that positive thinking creates positive results.

A recent landmark Yale University study reports that negative thoughts about aging can undermine a person’s health. In fact, one’s perceptions about aging proved to be a more accurate indicator of life span than blood pressure, cholesterol levels or whether a person smoked or exercised. So now the question is, are centenarians healthy because they’re happy or happy because they’re healthy?

While I’ve certainly met my share of centenarians, I can honestly say every one of them was always a positive person … and say they’ve been that way all of their lives.

I recently sat down with Marcella Masson, a healthy and happy 102-year old who honestly doesn’t look a day over 70!  Truly! Born February 16, 1907, she was one of seven children (five boys and two girls), including a sister who also lived to 100.

Marcella is a strong spiritual woman – faith is definitely her foundation. But from this faith comes an inner peace that she believes has kept her easy going throughout her life, and may have contributed to her longevity.

“It’s up to God … he’s in charge,” Marcella said. “I just take life as it comes, no stress, I just let it go and believe what’s meant to be will be.”

While this may seem like a simple philosophy, managing stress is a daily challenge for most people. Yet it’s important to recognize that physiologically, the negative effect of stress on our bodies is accountable for an estimated 60-80% of all health problems in the United States.

Being able to identify the physiological benefits of positive perceptions and attitudes in one’s life is an area of study that is gaining acceptance among the medical community. It’s no longer just a coincidence to see commonalities among positive thinking people. With regard to aging specifically, historically it has been viewed quite negatively. One reason for this may be because the majority of studies on aging over time were all done in nursing homes among the sick and the frail. However, that’s only one side of aging and when we step out beyond that, we find healthy, active people of the same age as those institutionalized and discover a very different mindset, set of lifestyle behaviors, and thus aging process.

Like most centenarians, Marcella has maintained a belief that age is just a number and lives her life like she always has. She’s pretty much the same weight she’s always been, continues to have close relationships with her family (who she claims is her hobby), eats a healthy diet of oatmeal every morning, a light lunch and dinner, and always has a little sweet before bed.

“It’s all about moderation,” Marcella said. “I never go overboard and eat too much – or do anything excessively. Never have, and I suspect I never will.”

While Marcella claims she doesn’t really exercise, she’s lived an active lifestyle and believes the California climate has been conducive to her daily activity. Since moving in with her daughter at age 98, Marcella also climbs a set of stairs to her bedroom several times a day, and has no difficulty doing so.

Marcella admits she rarely thinks about her age, and said the she never has, but she never expected to live this long. While she takes no medications and continues to keep her brain engaged by reading the daily paper and listening to Dodger baseball games, she is content with her life and believes all these things have contributed to both her good health and longevity.

“It makes sense what they discovered in that Yale study,” Marcella said. “And it’s nice to know that something I’ve believed all my life is now validated by real research. Too many people worry about their age, and instead, what they should be doing is just focus on living. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that those of us that do, just keep on living, do you?”

Definitely something for us all to think about …

Kelly Ferrin, gerontologist and author of “What’s Age Got To Do With It? Secrets to Aging in Extraordinary Ways” has been studying aging and retirement issues for over 25 years. She was one of the first to ever receive a degree in this field from the prestigious Andrus School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, the top school in the nation for age-related studies.

website: kellyferrin.com ••• email: ageangel@earthlink.net