The 'oldest man in the world' says he's lived so long by never having sex

A '120-year-old' monk, who claims he is the oldest man to have ever lived, has offered the secret to his old age: celibacy.

As well as sex, Swami Sivananda also abstains from spices, and practices yoga every day. He sleeps in a mat on the floor with a wooden slab as a pillow, according to the Hindustan Times.

Sivananda was born in 1896, according to his passport.

He grew up in poverty in West Bengal, where both his parents died before he was six, before moving to Varanasi and deciding to become a monk.

He told AFP:

I lead a simple and disciplined life. I eat very simply -- only boiled food without oil or spices, rice and boiled daal with a couple of green chillies.

He calls milk and fruit “fancy foods” and says he often went to bed hungry as a child. He says he lives a simple life:

Earlier people were happy with fewer things. Nowadays people are unhappy, unhealthy and have become dishonest, which pains me a lot.

I just want people to be happy, healthy and peaceful.

But something must be working, because Sivananda says he doesn’t have any health conditions. He doesn’t even need glasses to read, according to the Times of India.

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