Dick Van Dyke: On Reaching 100 and Staying Connected and Playful
I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. And Dick Van Dyke was a mainstay on our TV. He was one of my favorite actors. I loved his TV show with Mary Tyler Moore. And of course, he was wonderful as the sweet chimney sweep in Mary Poppins.
“When you reach 100, a lot of things don’t work too well, but sometimes I feel like I’m 15 again!”
—Dick Van Dyke
Van Dyke Is Now a Centenarian
Van Dyke is indeed iconic! And he turned 100 years old in December 2025. But he admits that he wasn’t sure he would ever live this long. He said that there are some secrets to aging well and living long, and he has said that “old age can be wonderful as long as you take care of yourself.”
In a recent article in the New York Times, Van Dyke discusses some of the things that he believes helped him reach the lofty milestone of centenarian. Aside from abstaining from alcohol, he believes that staying active and playful helps to keep him young. He chronicles this in his new book: 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life.
Want to Age Well? Do This
Van Dyke has four pieces of advice to aging well:
Stay Active!
He stays active, going to the gym, doing yoga and stretching his body several times a week.
Stay Playful!
He commits to being playful and believes this playfulness “keeps him connected to the child inside.” He makes an effort to find moments every day to be playful, whether it’s chances to crack jokes or to make a toddler laugh in the supermarket line.
Stay Positive and say YES to Life!
Aside from being playful, he tries to say yes to what life brings whenever possible. Research has shown that being open to new experiences as an older adult is good for your brain health and emotional well-being.
Stay Connected!
He adds that, perhaps most importantly, he stays connected to people.
I wrote about this in an article published on Sixty and Me about Superagers:
One of the strongest predictors of SuperAging is a person’s connection to other people. Deep, meaningful relationships appear to be one of the most powerful factors in preserving both brain and body health. In fact, some studies show that loneliness can be as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day! Meanwhile, those who nurture strong social ties not only live longer but live better.
As I approach my 68th year of life, I don’t know if I’ll reach 100, but I sure as hell plan to follow in Dick Van Dyke’s footsteps: staying active, staying playful, staying optimistic and most of all, staying connected!
If you are interested in articles about staying vibrant as you age, you can find more on my Website or my Substack Page. I love hearing from people, so please let me know your thoughts about Dick Van Dyke, SuperAgers or any other subject that comes up as you read.
Editor’s Note: Top Image Attribution:
Dick Van Dyke speaking with attendees at the 2024 Phoenix Fan Fusion at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Let’s Have a Conversation:
Were you a Dick Van Dyke fan? Do you purposefully engage in any of the habits that Dick Van Dyke describes? How do you practice playfulness? How are you saying YES to life? Who are your connections in your daily life?
Tags Getting Older
Oh wow Sylvia I love your sketch! I like to play with a bit of artwork & sketching from time to time, so perhaps i should take a leaf from your book and try doing a similiar thing🤔 ?
We probably live on opposite sides of the world, but if we were closer we could start up our own laughter club and I do believe we’d have plenty of interested people wanting to join 😁
Id love to see more of your sketches, you are certainly very talented in that area. My strong creative point I think is writing though. Perhaps I could start writing humerous verse/poetry🤔?
Does anyone know whether we can share our personal email address on here?
Yes these are the things we know we should do and I try to do most of them, but boy do I need more humour in my life. When im with my family who i rarely spend time with as they live far away, we naturally getting cracking on being “silly” and laugh our heads off! I live with someone who doesnt have my sense of humour so we dont laugh together often which is sad as I love and need laughter!
I try to stream comedy’s (especially the older British series)& try to find a reason to have a daily laugh but unfortunately its hard..
Ive even tried to join a “laughter” club as it can be contagious & what a good thing to catch.
Im ok with finding new challenges to stretch my brain and socialising, but im aware that I need more good old fashioned harmless laughter 😅
We need to keep “playing”, but ive noticed many older people dont play and they become a bit depressed n grumpy..”We dont grow old when we play, we just get old because we stop playing!”
I think I should consider starting my own over 60’s “play group” lol!
I would join you if you did!! I live alone (widowed) at 88 and I love to laugh. I sketch humourous subjects…
I ride and care for my horses.
Sylvia – Thank you for taking the time to comment, and especially for including your wonderful Sketch!!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment Tessa. And I agree! We all need more laughter!