A pensioner has revealed she believes she has managed to stop the ageing process – and claims to be fitter than she was at 18.
Norma Williams, originally from Liverpool, previously made headlines revealing she is in the best shape of her life and has “more energy than a teenager”.
Now, she believes she has managed to effectively halt the ageing process altogether – claiming to not experience the typical signs of getting older.
“I’m a bit wrinkly but as for the rest, I’ve bucked the trend,” Norma, who now lives in Spoleto, Italy, where she runs Umbria Holiday Rentals with partner Laurie, 85, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“I feel that my body has somehow turned back time at a cellular/molecular level.
“The evidence is there for all to see.
“I have no aches or pains, and no injuries that have failed to heal.
“Indeed, my 75-year-old body is fitter, more flexible, more muscly and definitely more beautiful than when I was an 18-year-old model.
“Almost no one, whatever age they are, can walk as fast as me and/or for a prolonged period of time.
“My stamina has no limits.
“When I compare myself to younger people, I’m referring to people in their late 20s to early 30s because this is the age range when humans are at their fittest – and doctors tell me that my body is at peak fitness in comparison to this age range.
“As far as mental agility is concerned, I couldn’t be sharper.
“I do far more now than at any other time in my life.
“I run a holiday rental business, I model and I’m extremely physically active – all this requires mental stamina.
“As you age, your body starts to show signs of wear and tear.
“You start to feel stiffer with a few aches. Injuries take longer to heal, if at all.
“You become slower, forgetful, fatter and more sedentary – so the wisdom goes.
“But what if this is not true for everyone?
“Some [people] say I have turned back time.
“My doctor says I have the physiology of an extremely fit 20-year-old.”
However, Norma says she was “certainly not born this way” and has an “abysmal” genetic background with many family members suffering from ill health including heart conditions, tuberculosis, strokes and cancer.
But after battling poor health in her younger years herself, Norma says by the age of 50 she was finally recovered to full health.
She said: “Once I’d recovered from every ailment under the sun, something remarkable happened.
“My good health began to accelerate.
“Something had changed in my body.
“I felt I’d learnt to heal myself.
“After all, having spent more than half my life suffering pain and illness, I’m now in perfect health and at peak fitness.
“After years of responding to my ill health in particular ways, I’m now reaping the benefits.
“I can not only heal myself but, somehow along the way, I think I have learnt to turn back time at the cellular/genetic level.”
These days, Norma keeps herself active with daily 9km walks and workouts after being overweight for much of her 20s.
She previously said: “The biggest difference between me in my 20s and me in my 70s is, quite simply, energy.
“My energy levels have increased exponentially over the past 50 years – and that’s what drives me to live the way I do now.
“People are generally shocked when they discover my age. Often strangers will stop me and politely ask my age.
“All youngsters say the same thing: ‘When I’m older I want to look like you, Norma’.
“I am an emblem of the future, but I think I look every second of my 75 years.
“But because I look so fit and am different to the stereotypical image we have of the ‘elderly’, people find it hard to believe.
“I show no signs of slowing down – if anything, I’m faster and have more energy with every year that passes.”
However, while she believes she has effectively halted the process, she isn’t opposed to ageing.
Norma previously shared: “Ageing can be a depressing process, but it need not be.
“Ageing should be celebrated – you’ve lived longer than others and you’ve acquired more wisdom.”
