The real secret to a long life? Don't get married, says woman, 107

Daily exercise, avoiding alcohol or a healthy diet are usually cited as the reasons for a long life.

But a 107-year-old woman has come up with another reason - never get married.

American Louise Signore said that was the single biggest lesson she had learned from life amid celebrations in New York for landmark birthday.

“What's the best part of being 107?" she told a reporter from the ABC7 station. "Not getting married," Louise replied.

She said that living alone had helped her achieve a long life and she added that her sister would agree.

“My sister says: ‘I wish I never got married'." Her sister though is 102 and still alive.

She also credits her love of dancing, as well as an occasional glass of red wine. Also, Louise emphasised that food and exercise help as well, as well as going to bed at 11pm.

Louise made her comments as she was celebrating her birthday last weekend in the Bronx, where she has lived pretty much all her life.

She was born in 1912, two years before World War One began and the same year as the Titanic sank.

It was also the same year that Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole and Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the Channel.

“She’s got no walking cane, no wheelchair. She does all her shopping. She’s awesome,” a friend Deborah Whitaker, told another US broadcaster, CBS2.

“I think that her connection with her neighbours in the community and also her friends here at the senior centre help to keep her going,” added Whitaker.

Ironically, given that it was her birthday, the one food she rules out eating is cake.

Born to an Italian immigrant family, she said she had eaten pasta all her life.

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