You don’t have to be rich to live long and prosper | Letters

Billionaires may spend fortunes on trying to cheat death, but there's a much easier way, writes Paul Martinez. Plus letters from Luce Gilmore, George Baugh and Geoff Reid

John Harris is surely right to scorn the grotesque sums being spent on transhumanism" (If the super-rich want to live for ever our planet is truly doomed, 7 November), but not all of us can afford, or want to move into, co-housing or a retirement village. Fortunately, a more practical solution is at hand. Research demonstrates consistently that the three most reliable strategies to live longer and well are learning new things, social interaction and physical exercise. All three are readily available from the u3a, a self-help learning organisation for people who have left full-time work.
Paul Martinez
Gedling, Nottinghamshire

John Harris has neglected rather an important consideration: if the super-rich expect to live for, say, 500 years, then they will want the planet to be habitable in 500 years' time. Long-term problems require long-term agencies to address them, like the foresters of New College Oxford, who grow oaks centuries in advance as replacement roof beams for hall and chapel.