Let me introduce you to some truly curmudgeonly oldsters, filled with hostility and resentful of the world, lol. Again, for every piece of advice by one centenarian, you’ll find the opposite by another. My interest is piqued by the peculiar cases. The hard drinking heavy smoking 110 year old. The wreck of a human being with multiple heart attacks and a plethora of health issues already in their early 30’s and addictions and massive hostility, who nonetheless lives until 90 or beyond (check out Jerry Lewis, lol). I think it’s instructive. Whenever I hear a piece of advice or claim, I say “well, that’s very nice, but just how true is it?”. Sure being zen sounds fantastic on the surface of it. But I can easily point to tons of zen masters who passed away at a young age, and hostility filled a$$holes who keep on trucking into their 90’s and beyond. Too bad Alan Watts didn’t have Dick’s constitution to handle alcohol and other vices. In other words, don’t just take anyone’s word for it - trust, but verify. And keep that inner skeptic alive - it’s your only defense against self-induced deception (you are the easiest one to fool by yourself). YMMV.
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Well, then there’s the fact that you tend to be happier in life following Dick’s advice. I think I’d rather live long and be happy instead of live long and be a curmudgeon. 
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Not drinking or smoking definitely gives them an advantage.
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I’d love to do this hike one day…
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