People have always tried to maximize their natural life expectancy. The Greek philosopher Plato, who is widely regarded as the founder of Western political philosophy and a key figure in the development of Western religion and spirituality, was also a professional wrestler and sportsman. Exactly how old Plato was is disputed. He probably lived into his early eighties. This is remarkable when you consider that Plato had no access to modern medicine and that the average life expectancy until the Industrial Revolution was around 35 years.
As far as we know, the great thinker Plato was already taking preventive health measures on a daily basis, which is an important aspect of longevity. But what is longevity? In this article, we will explain what longevity is and what decisions you can make with regard to longevity: What is Longevity – and why should we care?
What is longevity?
The definition of longevity in the Cambridge Dictionary is “a long life”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in modern medical science, research into extending human life expectancy is referred to as “longevity”. How is this different from the rest of medicine?
Today’s medical advances have largely been the cause of extending average life expectancy by addressing health conditions that previously had high mortality rates and significantly reducing infant mortality rates. In short, the length of the human lifespan has increased – the limit has not.
As Harvard professor of genetics Dr. David Sinclair points out in his groundbreaking book “Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To,” we have accepted mortality as a reality and steered medicine in directions other than treating it. Above all, our medicine has focused on treating diseases that afflict us in old age – “we have turned mortality into a medical experience”.
Ageing is a disease
The main problem with the way we deal with disease, despite the amazing medical advances, is that simply stopping one disease does not reduce the likelihood that a person will not contract another disease or perhaps even die from it. But – and there is a but – longevity research allows us not only to look for cures for individual diseases, but to address a common factor that underlies all diseases: Aging
“I believe that ageing is a disease. I believe that it is treatable. I believe that we can treat it in our lifetime. And I believe that this will fundamentally change everything we know about human health. “DR. DAVID SINCLAIR
Why longevity is the most important thing in life
After reading the above and understandably thinking that this is just the beginning of a promising development for future generations, please read on. Myths about prolonging life have been around for thousands of years and still permeate modern culture – it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t heard or read about the fountain of youth or the holy grail. However, modern research is making it increasingly likely that we will find a way to extend a person’s lifespan – and much, much sooner than we now suspect
Even today, it is assumed that a person living today will live longer than ever recorded in human history. Stuart Kim, Professor Emeritus of Developmental Biology at Stanford, has stated that there are people alive today who live to be 200 years old – and he even made a bet with a colleague on the matter. This bet will be worth about 1 billion dollars in 2150… if one of them honors it. You may say that this figure is optimistic, but Dr. Sinclair has put forward a different theory. He believes that we can possibly live forever. Yes, you have read correctly. But regardless of upper limits on human life expectancy, it is clear that the leading minds in longevity research are increasingly convinced that it is possible for humans to live far longer than the time we currently believe we are “entitled” to – i.e. a life expectancy of around 80 years.
To live forever…
However, until the imminent gerontological breakthrough, longevity-conscious people are acting in such a way that they benefit from the coming developments – and live long enough to benefit from every next innovation in this field. Futurologist Ray Kurzweil referred to this strategy as “bridges to immortality” i.e. trying to prevent disease through preventative health measures, assuming that if you can extend your lifespan by another twenty years, you will still be alive to benefit from these longevity treatments. Another aspect of the longevity movement is the personal quest to maximize what most of us would call “the good years”: our healthy and energetic years. As mortality has become a medical experience; i.e. the older we get and the more we feel our mortality, the more often we have to go to hospital to treat the illnesses that have developed over the course of our lives. In addition, we have to treat a variety of new health problems that develop in parallel with these diseases or as a result of them. In short, a person who does not die from acute diseases such as infections, but survives with chronic diseases, is more likely to develop further chronic diseases.
…or stay young forever?
So an important part of the longevity movement is to encourage individuals to take control of their own health – as active subjects who look after themselves – rather than as passive objects to be treated by doctors when a problem arises. Longevity is about preventing ageing, which is the cause of disease, and preventing problems before they arise (as opposed to diagnosing and treating chronic disease). Using this method, we can have a longer life expectancy and – in the best case – experience gerontological progress that can also significantly extend our lives. In practice, longevity is about taking behavioral action, making healthy choices so that you can adjust your lifestyle – and thereby prevent or at least mitigate potential future health problems altogether. So it’s best to take action now: act today to prolong your best years and avoid long stays in hospital.
The recipe for a longer, healthier life
The sooner you decide to incorporate longevity-oriented habits into your everyday life and lifestyle, the longer and healthier you are likely to live. Leading medical experts are already of the opinion that a life expectancy of 125 years or more, which was previously not thought possible, is within reach. The longer we can stay healthy, the longer we can live. And if the breakthrough in ageing research is achieved while we are still healthy, we could live to be well over 125 years old – and possibly even forever. If you’re reading this post, you’re already taking the first proactive step to incorporate healthy habits into your life and are probably researching healthy options available to you. Good luck with that!