'Cigars, sex and scotch' key to living longer, says 99-year-old woman

Las Vegas: Living longer and having an active, healthy lifestyle even at an old age has been the goal of several generations and everything from diet plans to fitness regimes are employed as ways to achieve that target. But a 99-year-old woman driving around Las Vegas in her Oldsmobile Intrigue has a different secret that has helped her live longer.

Gladys Stroud spends her time playing mahjong, exercising at the community centre and volunteering at a library twice a week, and only takes medication for mild cases of high blood pressure and acid reflux. She says the secret to such a healthy life and living longer is cigars, sex and scotch.

Gladys also baby sits her great-great-granddaughter and grandson, and says that she tried pot too, but it didn’t work out. She says that she always finds something positive even in sad events in her life, hence preventing emotions from eating her up.

Both her husbands died of heart diseases, and Gladys herself had a brush with death when she was bleeding heavily while delivering her first child. She said that she was in a grey place just before she heard the doctor shout about her coming back.

Having almost returned from the dead and after battling health problems at a young age, Gladys is going strong and is pretty optimistic about making it to 200.