Doctor Shares Secrets to Longevity and Better Health
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Many people slow down as they approach their 100th birthday. Pauline Kana went crowd surfing, wore a bikini T-shirt and attended the new “Spider-Man” movie premiere
The brand-new centenarian, who turned 100 on Saturday, Aug. 1, is a social media star known as the “Gangster Granny.” She appears in funny and sometimes outrageous videos with her 33-year-old grandson, Ross Smith, often poking fun at aging and stereotypes of older adults
His Instagram account features the grandmother striking romantic poses, giving the finger to the camera and flirting with celebrities. Tens of millions of people follow the comedy duo across various platforms
The crowd surfing event, which took place at a Brantley Gilbert concert in Bellville, Texas, in May, earned her a Guinness World Record for the oldest person to ever do it. She crowd surfed on a stretcher, gripping it tightly as the crowd passed her overhead
“It was great. It was so nice to be up high and waving to all my fans and people. I enjoyed that,” Kana tells TODAY.com
“I’m very proud of her,” Smith says about his grandmother turning 100. “It’s never too late to live your best life, and I think Granny’s a walking testament of that.”
Born in Ohio on Aug. 1, 1926, Kana lived through the Great Depression and built bombs in a factory during World War II. She then married and worked most of her life in factories, stores and a bakery
Kana is a colon cancer survivor. After being diagnosed with the disease at 96, she underwent treatment and “kicked a–,” Smith says. She’s been living with her grandson in Columbus, Ohio, since then, but is “fully on her own” in the household, climbing stairs and moving about independently, he says
Here are her simple tips for a long life:
Laugh and Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Smith started filming short videos 14 years ago when he was still in college and noticed people loved it when he incorporated his grandmother
“We kind of went the opposite route of your traditional grandma,” he says about the concept. “I always thought it’d be funny to take a sweet lady and flip everything upside down, involve her in hip-hop culture, make her resonate with millennials.”
Smith comes up with the funny scenarios — such as Kana presenting a race car driver with red thong underwear or wearing a bikini T-shirt in front of thousands of people at a Savannah Bananas baseball game — and his grandmother is the actor
Her reaction to his ideas is sometimes, “What the heck is this?” he says. But Kana enjoys taking part in the videos
“I love them. I love meeting my fans and (making) people smile and be happy, and it makes me happy too,” she notes
Stay Busy
Kana credits “faith and hard work” for her longevity
“I love to do work and be a busybody,” she says. “I’ve always worked.”
After World War II, Kana worked on car parts at General Motors, made light bulbs at GE, and had a job at a bakery for more than 20 years. She also worked at a dollar store in her 80s, Smith says
Enjoy What You Eat
The centenarian says she grew up on a farm with gardens, chickens, cows and pigs. Everything she ate was home cooked and fresh from the farm
The only store-bought staple was coffee because her mother loved it and made a big pot of it for the entire family in the morning. Coffee comes with benefits for heart health and brain health. Two to three cups of coffee a day are associated with a longer life, studies have found
After working at a bakery, Kana enjoys pastries as a treat
“I love sweets. I truly do,” she says, listing bear claws, donuts, cinnamon rolls and danishes as her favorites
Smith says people assume his grandmother has an extremely nutritious diet, but that’s not quite the case since her routine now includes potato chips and soda, ham and cheese sandwiches and chicken noodle soup
“She has the worst diet on earth,” he notes
Kana doesn’t drink alcohol except a margarita or glass of sweet wine on special occasions
Move Your Body
Kana grew up by a river and went swimming every morning. She also enjoyed ice skating and roller skating, and played basketball
She walked a mile to and from school every day
Smith says she was still out and about until a few months ago, but now uses a walker and a cane when she leaves the house
Have a Purpose in Life
Watching his grandmother, Smith believes the biggest factor in longevity is having a purpose in life. Studies define it as something that “gives meaning to life,” and confirm it’s linked with decreased mortality
“If you sit in a recliner all day and have no family and friends to talk to you or interact with, you kind of lose the urge to want to do things,” he says
“A big thing for her is having purpose, waking up every day knowing that she has family and friends, but also millions of people that admire her, and she can make them laugh and smile. I think that’s also a big factor into giving her that extra boost to get out of bed maybe when she doesn’t want to.”
Be Adventurous
Kana has been working on crossing items off her bucket list, which will be the subject of an upcoming documentary about her life
She learned how to drive on the Indy 500 track, met the Pope, detonated one of the bombs she made during World War II and set that crowd surfing world record, Smith says
Working with his grandmother has completely changed his outlook on life, he adds
“We’ve been able to find a beauty in (aging) and that’s been super special. We’ve kind of made being old cool again,” Smith says
“We all are going to get older at some point, so let’s enjoy it.”
