Dr. Robert Waldinger

So the people in our study became attached to her.

And her name was Louise Gregory.

And she would write them thank you notes when they would return a questionnaire.

She would send them birthday cards, condolence cards.

Wow.

And they would write to her about their lives.

Yeah.

No, it didn't feel robotic.

Now, what it means is we were not your typical hands-off study, right?

You're supposed to not have anything to do with your study members because you don't want to influence them.

We weren't that way because people weren't thinking that way in 1938.

And also what we realized was that this is how you keep people engaged in a study.

You help them feel like they're part of a community and you help them feel like they're giving a gift to science.

So we kept telling them.

We kept telling them about what we were doing and what we were finding.

We sent them newsletters, all that stuff.

What did the results show in the end?

Well, they showed two big things.

One is if you take care of your health, it really matters for longevity and for staying well.

So, I mean, it sounds trivial, but literally if you exercise regularly, if you eat well, if you don't become obese, if you don't abuse alcohol or drugs, if you get preventive health care, if you do all those things regularly,