Living to be 100 years old requires incorporating a few healthy habits into your daily routine.

Not smoking, keeping off extra weight, and getting a good night’s sleep are just a few very simple things that you can do to reach the 100 year mark in good health.

“The vast majority of individuals we study live independently for most of their lives, and we have found that the older you live usually means the healthier you’ve lived.” Dr. Perls and other researchers have connected activities and factors that may tack on additional months and years and those that’ll whittle down your time. “We have a great deal of power over our longevity, and the decisions we make every day contribute to our life expectancy,” says Dr. Perls. “I know that after working with centenarians, I have changed my habits. I lost 30 pounds and think twice before grabbing a high-fat snack at the checkout counter.” To better your chances of joining the 100 club, check out what researchers have learned about these life extenders and enders.

In fact, the secret to living to 100 or more may be all in the genes.

New research suggests that your life choices might not be the crucial factor in determining whether you make it to 95 or beyond; it finds that many extremely old people appear to have been as bad as everyone else at indulging in poor health habits during their younger years.

This is not an excuse to make unhealthy diet choices or to skip regular exercise.

You may be genetically blessed with long lived genes but the quality of your life may be impacted by your environment and habits.

A long life can still be plagued with chronic illness or debilitating ailments.

A healthy lifestyle is still the best defense against disease.