© pixabay
May 1, 2024
Birgitta Dunckel
- Health
- Longevity
Longevity: Age healthily, live longer
What is important when it comes to extending the lifespan and healthspan? Some longevity factors are obvious.
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© pixabay
May 1, 2024
Birgitta Dunckel
What is important when it comes to extending the lifespan and healthspan? Some longevity factors are obvious.
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In a world where more and more people are searching for eternal youth , a massive trend has developed under the term longevity (longevity in English). This trend originated in the USA and is already well established there; however, the hype about longevity is also gaining momentum here. Medicine is increasingly focusing on how to extend the human health span to live as healthily as possible for as long as possible. This is not just about quantity in longevity, but about quality: the pursuit of maximum life age with maximum physical and mental
fitness. Health Vitality and joy of life.
Surveys have shown that most people would generally like to reach an old age, but only under certain conditions: if they remain healthy and mentally fit, if they are well and adequately financially secured, and if they can spend their (long) retirement years together with their loved ones.
The older we get, the more frequently we become ill. Typical diseases with advancing age in Germany are age-related depression, Arthritis , Dementia, Cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, cancer, osteoporosis, and Parkinson's.
Since health and reaching old age depend on many factors, the field of longevity research is an interdisciplinary project that brings together scientists from many different fields.
The common goal of all research areas: to program the biological clock so that we age better and more slowly. The list of small adjustments being intensively worked on is extensive. It includes, among others:
• Genetics• Nutrition• Exercise• Stress management• Quality of sleep• Environmental factors• Medical interventions• Cellular mechanisms• Lifestyle factors• Social determinants
The goal is to align the healthspan with the lifespan, as there is still explicit room for improvement here: According to statistics, as life expectancy increases, the healthspan – the years we spend healthy on average – significantly lags behind. The more life expectancy increases, the greater the gap between life expectancy and healthy lifespan.
Germany is no exception: According to data, people born in 2013 in this country have a life expectancy of 80.7 years. However, they are only healthy for 68.8 of those years. The sober realization: Around 12 years of quality of life lost due to illness. For this reason, scientists worldwide are searching for technologies that can extend the healthy lifespan.
However, it is difficult to predict exactly how average life expectancy will develop, given the many influencing factors. Medical progress and the constant optimization of lifestyle, as well as wars, climate change, and pandemics, all play a role.
