9 Secrets on How to Live Well to 100

Dr. Hinohara was born in 1911 and passed away on July 18, 2017, in Tokyo. He served as the honorary president of St. Luk’s International Hospital and chairman emeritus of St.Luke’s International University.  He treated victims of the firebombing in World War 2, treated victims of a subway poison gas attack in 1995, and introduced wellness physicals into the Japanese national medical system.

Among other accolades, Dr. Hinohara wrote a children’s musical at 88 and a best-selling book when he was 101.

Dr. Hinohara came to understand that he was treating people and not diseases. He insisted on fully understanding the whole of an individual as much as one would the illness.  He came to believe that curing illness would involve the use of visual and liberal arts in addition to standard modern medical treatments.

During his journey of 105 years, Dr. Hinohara crafted a philosophy to help others and himself live longer healthier lives.

1. Energy comes from feeling good, and not from eating well or sleeping a lot.
2. Make efforts towards everyday fitness. Take the stairs, carry your own packages, walk to your destination. Even if you have to start by walking to the mail box. We all start somewhere.
3. Remember that doctors can’t cure everything. Challenge your doctor and ask them if this is the treatment they would advise for their son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, or father.
4. Music and animals are a powerful medicine.
5. Never retire, but if you must do so much later than 65.
6. Stay busy. Dr. Hinohara worked 18 hour days, 7 days a week until his last few months of life.
7. Keep a schedule well in advance, he was looking forward to visiting the 2020 Olympics when he passed.
8. Find time to give back. Share your knowledge, expertise, skills, or time.  Dr. Hinohara gave 150 lectures a year even in his old age has given some 4500 lectures throughout his life.
9. Enjoy yourself.

These are not hard and fast rules to be obeyed.  He had an often quoted philosophy on rules,”We all remember how as children when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe we can keep that attitude as adults– it is best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.”