1. Longevity is sometimes used as a synonym for life expectancy. It’s about how long you can expect to live and whether you’ll make it into old age. It’s a complicated question affected by lots of factors. Some of those factors you can control, but others you can’t.
2. For example, there’s not much you can do about your genes. Your parents gave them to you, and you just have to deal with them. Maybe 20 to 30% of longevity is down to genes (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00439-006-0144-y), and scientists are still researching to find out exactly how they work.
3. Geography is another big indicator of potential longevity. The longest-living people in the world tend to congregate in the same areas, like Okinawa in Japan. You may have no control over your childhood home, but plenty of people try to move to areas where they perceive the quality of life as better.
4. Even when it comes to geography, different factors are in play. People in the same area tend to eat similarly, like the Mediterranean diet that has long been associated with health and long life. Income, crime rates, and pollution all vary depending on where you are and could impact lifespan.
5. In America, the group with the lowest life expectancies appears to be black men, who are at higher risk of a range of conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, among others. These are conditions that reduce longevity.
6. Women tend to live longer than men across different races. Is that biological or because of lifestyle differences? When looking at your own lifespan, you need to consider if you’re in a higher-risk group.
7. Still, we’re all better off today than we would have been 100 years ago. Scientific and medical advancements as well as better working environments mean what was once fatal can now be overcome.
8. People are always looking for ways to extend longevity, some of which work and some of which should be regarded with skepticism. You are going to end up growing older, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be healthy. Just take care.
9. Of course, it’s not just about how long we live but about how well we live. Living to 100 doesn’t mean much without physical and mental wellbeing.
10. As science continues to advance, longevity may well continue to grow.
