Toivo Vierimaa turns 100
Number of triple-digit Finns increased fivefold from 1960s
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By Tapio Mainio
Toivo Vierimaa, who is turning 100 in the village of Maliskylä in Nivala, demonstrates his daily morning exercise routine. It has clearly helped, considering how light he is on his feet when jumping down the steps from his attic. In the upper floor of his country house there is a workshop and even a lathe.
“I have taken coat racks and other items on my travels, all the way to America”, he says.
Vierimaa is in such good shape both physically and psychologically that one might easily imagine him to be 20 years younger.
There have been rumours in Nivala that the strongman of Maliskylä might arrange a shot put competition for those over 100, but Vierimaa sees it as a joke.
So what is the secret of long life?
“Work hard, eat with moderation, and think positive thoughts”, says Vierimaa, who lives alone.
Each morning he prepares porridge in his microwave oven and then reads three newspapers.
“My father’s favourite foods are potatoes with their peels on them, pea soup, and rye porridge with crushed lingonberries”, says his daughter, 63-year-old Leena Myllylä, who has come from Raahe.
Whenever she comes, she prepares several meals for the freezer, which her father - who has been a widower for a few years - defrosts as needed.
In the summertime her father mows the yard of about half a hectare with a tractor-type lawnmower.
“I would drive a car too, but a few years ago my children wanted me to stop driving”, Vierimaa says.
“My health has been good, as I stopped smoking after the war, and I don’t drink alcohol. When I was 89 I was in a heart operation. At the time I was the oldest bypass patient at the Oulu University Hospital”, says Vierimaa, who has worked in agriculture and forestry all his life.
The numbers of healthy Finns over 100 are on the increase, says Pekka Puska, Director-General of the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
In 1960 there were just 71 Finns aged 100 and above. At the end of last year, there were 514, 77 of whom were men and 437 were women.
“The average life expectancy of the population has increased by nearly ten years. The most important factors are the decrease in cardiovascular disease and lung cancer, which stems from the decline in smoking”, Puska says.
“Vierimaa has lived according to the rules for good health. In addition, he has good genes”, Puska says.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.6.2009
TAPIO MAINIO / Helsingin Sanomat
tapio.mainio@hs.fi
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| 23.6.2009 - THIS WEEK |
 Toivo Vierimaa turns 100 |
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