Longevity refers to the ability of living a long life. It’s a goal for many people. It’s a sign of prosperity (see prosperity) and good health. For religious people, it’s a gift from god.

Thanks to medical and technological advances, human life expectancy is getting longer. More and more people live for more than 100 years.

So the question is: How to live longer? There are so many different answers to this question.

Some say that to live longer, you have to stay healthy from a very young age: do not drink too much alcohol, don’t smoke or take anything illicit, eat well and exercise.

Others say that, in addition to that, you have to be mentally healthy : stress, negativity, depression (see melancholy)... These affect our physical health and in turn our longevity. Of course, it’s not always easy to avoid stress and negativity, but you can try to not let these affect you too much : in order to do so, you can make sure to often take time for yourself, to do things you like, to spend time with your loved ones, you can also do relaxing activities such as yoga or meditation (see contemplation).

When we think about longevity, we may ask ourselves: Why do we want to live for so long? Probably because most of us are scared of death. If you don’t believe in life after death, or in heaven, then you don’t know what to expect after death.

In fiction, many characters are looking for an object that would have the power to make them immortal and young forever.

However, there are also people who don’t want to live very long. Because they’re scared of getting too old and to becoming dependent on other people to live (cf independence), because they’re not scared of death or simply because they know that after they pass a certain age, they won’t have any reason to live anymore.