免费

100-year-old sisters share 4 tips for staying mentally sharp as you age—and they don’t say crossword puzzles

Centenarian Ruth Sweedler has impressive recall and can make good conversation about what’s going on in the world. Over the years, strangers and family members alike have commented on it.”My doctor loves to talk to me,” Sweedler says. “He’d say, ‘You’re amazing.’ And I’d say, ‘Because I’m old?’ And he’d say, ‘No! Because you’re sophisticated.’”Sweedler, who lives in a retirement home in Connecticut, is proud of the way she’s retained her faculties: “I don’t talk like an old lady.”It probably helps that she doesn’t think of herself that way: “I don’t feel that I’m old,” says Sweedler, who turned 103 in December.Her sister Shirley Hodes, whose independent living facility is about 800 miles away by car, in North Carolina, echoes those sentiments. “I’m not that old!” says Hodes, who’s 106. “I don’t feel old, that’s the truth.” She’s still excited to learn new things, especially from books.”I never did crossword puzzles,” Hodes says, but “I always did a lot of reading. That’s the best thing…