Centenarian credits Nintendo for her long life

Kathleen Connell, known as Kit, turned 100 last week. Her secret to a sharp mind in old age? Nintendo.

"I don't feel a day over 80," the Scottish grandmother-of-one said.

"It's absolutely super, I can't speak highly enough of it. I don't know what I would do without it," Connell said of her Nintendo DS in a video interview with The Telegraph.

The centenarian has been playing video games since her 96th birthday, when her daughter gave her the hand-held console.

Connell, who has had both her legs amputated, lives alone near Glasgow. She plays on her Nintendo DS for two hours each evening — pausing for her nightly cup of tea — and challenges herself with games like Scrabble, Family Fortunes, Art Academy and Left Brain Right Brain.

"It helps to keep my brain as active as possible in my old age. If there's any secret to a long life it's to think positive and keep your mind active," she said.

Connell boasts that Brain Trainer assessed her mental age at 64, an impressive 36 years younger than her real age.

A spokesman for Nintendo said, "Our products are designed to be enjoyed by all ages and generations and Mrs. Connell is true testament to this."

Connell's story has emerged just a week after University of California-Berkeley researchers claimed to have found a link between "brain-stimulating activities" and certain protein levels thought to cause Alzheimer's.

Brain stimulation might be the fountain of youth. So keep playing games, everyone.