She's 117, he's 112 and they have very different secrets to living a long life.

I’d love to live to a ripe old age, surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren, enjoying a letter from the Queen every birthday and hopefully an eventual visit by Guiness World Records waiting to crown me the World’s Oldest Woman.

They’d ask me for all of my health tips and I’d say something charming like, “Chocolate and Bailey’s Irish Cream” are my surprising tricks to living a long and healthy life. Not a grain of quoina or a leaf of kale in sight.

Until that happens – in around 60 years or so – I’ve been paying careful attention to the health tips and tricks shared by the world’s oldest people, some of whom are still with us and some whom are no longer on this earth.

However their surprising health tips will live on forever.

1. Patience

Mban Gotho is a 145-year-old Indonesian man who currently holds the world record for being the world’s oldest man. He says he owes his long life to patience. “The recipe is just patience,” he told media.

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2. Eggs

Italian woman Emma Morano who is 117 says the key to her long life has been eggs, and cookies. “I eat two eggs a day, and that’s it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth,” she told AFP news agency.

3. Joy

Yasutaro Koide who lived to 112 said they key to a long life was to “live with joy”. The Japanese natived passed away in January of this year. He told the Telegraph, “The best thing to do is avoid overwork and live with joy.”

4. Staying active

Jeanne Louise Calment was a French woman who died in 1997 at the age of 122. Never having worked day in her life, Calment stayed healthy by spending her days swimming, playing tennis, cycling (until the age of 100) and rollerskating, according to Guiness World Records.

5. Bacon

Susannah Mushatt Jones, a 116-year-old American who died in March of this year, reportedly ate bacon for breakfast and as a snack every day of her life. She also liked to sleep a lot and didn't drink or smoke. "I surround myself with love and positive energy. That's the key to long life and happiness," the ABC reports.

6. Whisky

Richard Overton is a 110-year-old war veteran who says a daily habit of drinking whisky (a splash in his morning coffee) and smoking cigars has ensured he's lived a long and healthy life. He told Today he also drinks milk every day and eats fried catfish and butter pecan ice cream every night.

7. Walking

Australia's oldest person is Ethel Farrell, who at the age of 113 might owe her lasting health to her lifetime habit of walking everywhere. "She's always been a very busy person, and walked everywhere," daughter Deidre told The Australian.