World's oldest verified living woman reveals her secret to longevity in 2024 ( 117 years old )

 

Maria Branyas Morera was born on 4 March 1907, is an American-born Spanish supercentenarian who, at the age of 116 years, 345 days, has been the world's oldest verified living person since the death of Lucile Randon (1904–2023) on 17 January 2023.

Maria Branyas was born in San Francisco, California, to Joseph Branyas Julia (1877–1915), and Teresa Morera Laque (1880–1968). Maria Branyas Morera was in an expatriate Spanish family (of Catalan origin) who had moved there in 1906, the year before she was born.

She was born in California in 1907 and moved to Spain in 1915, when her family decided to return to Catalonia. Branyas has lived through two world wars, the opening of the Panama canal, the Russian revolution, the Spanish civil war, the introduction of television, the founding of the United Nations, the lunar landing, the 1918 flu pandemic and Covid. In fact, she is thought to be the world’s oldest living Covid survivor.

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According to Branyas’ relatives, she has never had a major health issue. And she herself, a mother of three, grandmother of 11 and great-grandmother of 11, confirms this: “For the time being I am in good health. I can still enjoy the great advances that the country provides us, although they are not for me anymore.”

Her love for her children and other descendants make her want to live even longer, she tells CN, as well as the fact that “there is always something left to learn.”

What’s her secret to living so long?

She said “I think longevity is also about being lucky. Luck and good genetics. And good nutrition is so important, like the lifestyle we lead: order, tranquility, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity and away from toxic people."

Many people ask her what diet she follow to live so many years, she said "I have always eaten little, but everything, and I have never followed any regime or specific diet.”

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She also emphasizes the role money plays now: “It's another way of living, now people live differently. Money is the main thing, and you get almost everything with it. We couldn't have imagined that. It was different, we lived better, more peacefully and more joyfully.”