Longevity

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Longevity is the length of a person's life (life expectancy). Reflections on longevity have usually gone beyond acknowledging the basic shortness of human life and have included thinking about methods to extend life. Longevity has been a topic not only for the scientific community but also for writers of travel, science fiction and utopian novels. There are many difficulties to authenticate the longest human lifespan ever, because of inaccurate birth statistics in the past; though fiction, legend, and mythology have proposed or claimed vastly longer lifespans in the past or future and longevity myths frequently allege them to exist in the present.

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Various factors contribute to an individual's longevity. Significant factors in life expectancy include gender, genetics, access to health care, hygiene, diet, exercise, lifestyle, and crime rates. Below is a list of life expectancies in different types of countries[1]:

Tobacco smoking is generally accepted to significantly reduce longevity, and is one of the main statistical factors explaining differences in life expectancy between advanced nations. This may be offset by other factors; Japan, a country with a high rate of tobacco consumption, has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (81.15 years, 2005 est[1]). Hong Kong, a dense 7 million people city with constant stress, recently reported a higher life expectancy than Japan (81.39 years, 2005 est[1])

Population longevities can be seen as increasing due to increases in life expectancies around the world[2][1]:

  • Spain:. . . . . 81.02 years in 2002, 82.31 years in 2005
  • Australia: . . 80 years in 2002, 80.39 years in 2005
  • Italy:. . . . . . 79.25 years in 2002, 79.68 years in 2005
  • France: . . . .79.05 years in 2002, 79.60 years in 2005
  • Germany: . . 77.78 years in 2002, 78.65 years in 2005
  • UK: . . . . . . 77.99 years in 2002, 78.4 years in 2005
  • USA: . . . . . 77.4 years in 2002, 77.7 years in 2005

The current validated longevity records can be found in the list of supercentenarians. Notable individuals include:

Reaching an old age has fascinated people for ages. There are many organizations dedicated to exploring the causes behind aging, ways to prevent aging, and ways to reverse aging. Despite the fact that it is no more than human nature to not wish to surrender to old age and death, a few organizations are against antiaging, because they believe it sacrifices the best interests of the new generation, that it is unnatural, or unethical. Others are dedicated towards it, seeing it as a form of transhumanism and the pursuit of immortality. Even among those who do not wish for eternal life, longevity may be desired to experience more of life, or to provide a greater contribution to humanity.

A remarkable statement mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) is the earliest (or at least one of the earliest) references about (plausible centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other account given by the ancients about the age of Democritus, appears to, without giving any specific age, agree in the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years; possibility that turns out to be likely given, not only by the fact that many ancient Greek philosophers are thought to have lived over the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C., Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C., Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.), but also because of the difference that the case of Democritus evidences from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (VII, VI centuries B.C.) of whom it is said to have lived 154, 157 or 290 years, like it has been said about countless elders even during the last centuries (as well as in present time) being these cases most likely (or at least in most cases), exaggerations if not deliberate frauds.

The Bible contains many accounts of long-lived humans, the oldest being Methuselah living to be 969 years old (Genesis 5:27). Today some maintain that the unusually high longevity of Biblical patriarchs are the result of an error in translation: lunar cycles were mistaken for the solar ones, and that the actual ages being described would have been 12.4 times less (a lunar cycle being 29.5 days). This makes Methuselah's age only 78, still an impressive number bearing in mind the average life expectancy at the time. This rationalization, however, seems doubtful too since patriarchs such as Mahalalel (ibid 5:15) and Enoch (ibid 5:21) were said to have become fathers after 65 "years". If the lunar cycle claim were accepted this would translate to an age of about 5 years and 3 months. One Christian apologist claim is that the life span of humans has changed; that originally man was to have everlasting life, but due to man's sin, God progressively shortened man's life in the "four falls of mankind" -- first to less than 1000 years, then to under 500, 200, and eventually 120 years. After those long living people died, God decided that humans would not be permitted to live more than 120 years (Genesis 6:3.) However, since later biblical figures (and actual people) such as Sarah lived for longer than that, 120 years should be considered the "usual" upper limit to man's lifespan. Some individuals can live slightly longer than that. Furthermore, starting with Calvin and Luther, an alternative explanation has arisen : 120 years would not refer to man's lifespan but to the amount of time left before the flood.

A more commonly accepted explanation is that such stories are longevity myths; age exaggeration tends to be greater in "mythical" periods in many cultures; the early emperors of Japan or China often ruled for more than a century, according to tradition. With the advent of modern accountable record-keeping, age claims fell to realistic levels; even later in the Bible King David died at 70 years; other kings in their 30s, 40s, and 50s.

The mainstream view on the future of longevity, such as the US Census Bureau, is that life expectancy in the USA will be in the mid-80s by 2050 (up from 77.85 in 2006) and will top out eventually in the low 90s, barring major scientific advances that can change the rate of human aging itself, as opposed to merely treating the effects of aging as is done today. The Census Bureau also predicted that the USA would have 5.3 million people aged over 100 in 2100 (Which means that, if this turns out to be true, those people are probably children and toddlers today).

Recent increases in the rates of lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, may however drastically slow or reverse this trend toward increasing life expectancy in the developed world.

Oeppen and Vaupel (see Science):1029, 2002) have observed that since 1840 record life expectancy has risen linearly for men and women, albeit more slowly for men. For women the increase has been almost three months/year. In light of steady increase, without any sign of a cap, the suggestion that life expectancy will top out must be treated with caution. Oeppen and Vaupel observe that experts who assert that "life expectancy is approaching a ceiling ... have repeatedly been proven wrong."It is thought that life expectancy for women increased more dramatically due to the considerable increases in medicine related to childbirth.

Some argue that molecular nanotechnology will greatly extend human lifespans. See medical nanotechnology.

Living:

Dead:

  • Leonid A. Gavrilov & Natalia S. Gavrilova (1991), The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Harwood Academic Publisher, ISBN
  • John Robbins' Healthy at 100 garners evidence from many scientific sources to account for the extraordinary longevity of Abkhasians in the Caucasus, Vilcabambans in the Andes, Hunzas in Central Asia, and Okinawans.
  • Beyond The 120-Year Diet, by Roy L. Walford, M.D.
  • Forever Young: A Cultural History of Longevity from Antiquity to the Present Door Lucian Boia,2004 ISBN 1861891547

  1. ^ a b c d CIA World Fact Book
  2. ^ CIA World Fact Book 2002

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