Healthy Life Studies examine those who have the greatest longevity, the centenarians and supercentenarians. They have found that rather than experiencing a typical aging process and simply living longer, these individuals age at a slower pace throughout adulthood. Centenarians generally have controlled their weight, avoided smoking, and handled stress well. There seems to be a genetic component to longevity, demonstrated by the findings that long life generally runs in families. Given this, why is there such a strong push for healthy living when there are strong indicators that healthy aging is strongly related to genetics rather than other external variables?

Mason, M. (2011). Adulthood and Aging. Allyn & Bacon.