Norman Lear, the creator of such classic 1970s television characters as the racist blowhard Archie Bunker in the sitcom “All in the Family,” turned 101 in July.

On Thursday, at an early celebration for Lear at the Life Itself conference, a health and wellness event hosted in collaboration with CNN, he revealed his secrets to surviving to a ripe old age: lox and bagels, family love, laughing, and a life of exhilarating work.

“I like waking up in the morning with something on my mind that I can work on… to some conclusion,” Lear explained.

Lear has done it all during the last century. He was an executive producer on the cult blockbusters “The Princess Bride” and “Fried Green Tomatoes” and was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay for “Divorce American Style.” His sitcom spinoffs of “All in the Family” dominated television in the 1970s and 1980s, exploring subjects such as racism, feminism, and social inequality that no one else had dared to address. His political activism even resulted in the formation of the liberal political organization People for the American Way.

Lear has never stopped working, even in his 90s, when most people his age are blessed to be rocking on their front porch. A 95-year-old Lear co-produced and hosted three episodes of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which won Primetime Emmys in 2019 and 2020. The series re-created classic episodes of “The Jeffersons,” “All in the Family,” and “Good Times” using current actors such as Jamie Fox, Woody Harrelson, and Viola Davis.

In recent years, Lear and his business partner Brent Miller have relaunched some of his 1970s sitcom hits, including “One Day at a Time.” They are also working on various films and other projects.

According to Lear, one of the secrets to his job longevity is his attitude toward stress. “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “Sanford and Son,” “Good Times,” “The Jeffersons,” “One Day at a Time,” “Archie Bunker’s Place,” and “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” were among Lear’s eight successful television programs during his 1970s comedy era.

Nonetheless, in his 2014 book, “Even This I Get to Experience,” Lear described that time in his life as one of “joyful stress.”

“Even doing your best work and enjoying the results of that, there is a reasonable amount to a great deal of stress,” Lear told Variety last year. “And if one can learn to accept that joyfully, one can be stressed and realize that he or she is also having a good time.” And so I’ve had a lot of that throughout my career.”

The Stress Science
According to research, stress might be beneficial, especially if you have Lear’s mindset. Viewing stress as a normal, acceptable, and even beneficial component of life can lead to resilience, and resilience, like rock, paper, scissors… covers stress.

But does this indicate that everyone should follow in Lear’s footsteps and work past the usual retirement age?

“Research shows that people who work longer are healthier, and people who work longer are healthier.” So it’s quite tempting to look at that association and say, ‘Ah, this indicates working longer will make you live longer.’ But it’s considerably more nuanced,” said Beth Truesdale, a sociologist and research scholar at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

“If you’re in a job where you have control over your working environment and can make choices that allow you to take care of your family, then you’re lucky, and in that case, job stress can be challenging but satisfying,” she added. “However, for many people, particularly those without a college diploma, jobs are extremely stressful because they have very little control.”

The Retirement Reality
In truth, Lear is part of a “tiny, tiny minority” of lucky people who have found jobs that will nourish them financially and physiologically as they age, according to Truesdale, coeditor of the soon-to-be-published book “Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of ‘Working Longer.’ “

“We hear these wonderful stories about people who could retire if they wanted to, but instead choose to keep working because that’s what they want to do,” Truesdale said. “But we don’t hear the stories that balance that, like people who were forced to retire at 57 because their life’s work was physically demanding and their back and knees gave out.”

“Then it will be years before they can draw Social Security or qualify for Medicare,” she adds. “And for many people in the middle to lower classes, that means falling below the poverty line.”

Truesdale believes that it is not just ill health that may cause people to retire earlier than they would like (or can afford). Being a “sandwich generation” member and caring for an elderly family member might force middle-aged persons, particularly women, out of employment. Another terrible fact for many older workers is age discrimination, she added.

“And statistics show that nine out of ten people who lose their jobs in their 50s and early 60s never find another job that pays as well as the one they lost,” she added.

Despite his age, Lear continues to be successful in his writing, and his wit and humor are razor-sharp.

Many people, however, are less fortunate, as seen by the increased number of elderly persons being diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s. That’s why, according to Harvard Medical School neurologist Rudy Tanzi, director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, making early, brain-healthy choices like getting enough sleep, reducing stress, exercising, and eating well are important factors in deciding between working and retiring.

“You want to sleep well and handle stress, with mindful meditation and managing your expectations about social media and the like,” Tanzi explained. “You want positive social interactions because loneliness – not being alone – is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s.”

“Exercise induces neurogenesis and removes amyloid and stops brain inflammation,” Tanzi added, “while learning new things to make new brain synapses is like money in the bank.”

The severity of cognitive impairment as you age correlates with loss of brain synapses, “so the more synapses you make every day, the more you can lose,” Tanzi said. “So, when you want to retire, don’t just think about your financial reserve and how long that will last. Think about your synaptic reserves and how long they are going to last.”

There are also other ways to keep your brain and body healthy than work, Truesdale said, such as spending quality time with friends and family, practicing hobbies and doing meaningful volunteer work, which studies have shown are important to healthy aging.

“People do many fulfilling activities they may have never had time to do when they were in paid employment, which keep them active and give them a great sense of meaning and satisfaction,” she said. “Yes, stay active as you age. But the idea that work is the only way to do that doesn’t make sense.”