It's time for us to get ready for the "March of the Centenarians." I am not referring to the latest sword-and-sandals epic coming to a theater near you (as far as I know, at least). Yet it's surely on the horizon.
If we were talking about a movie project, for the sake of accuracy, actors older than 40 would need not apply. In truth, life expectancy in biblical times was very short. And it remained that way until the beginning of the 19th century, when things began to slowly change. This transformation is explored in depth by Gregg Easterbrook in the March edition of The Atlantic. As Easterbrook notes, at the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy at birth in America was 47 years. Today newborns are expected to live 79 years. It is calculated that if about three months continue to be added with each passing year, by the middle of this century, American life expectancy at birth will be 88 years. According to this calculation, by the end of this century, life expectancy will reach 100 years.
Not everybody is on board with this theory. Given the alarming rise in obesity beginning in the 1980s, along with bad food and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, some health experts believe that today's young people could well be the first generation of children who won't live so long as their parents. Wanting better for our children has been a driving force in building our nation since its inception. What amazes me about this widely-publicized claim is how so few took serious note of it, as well as the lack of sweeping changes to address the issue.
But let us assume that in the near future, life expectancy will continue to rise (a safe bet). What will that world look like? An improvement in length of life does not automatically correspond to an improvement in the quality of those additional years. And this is exactly where our attention needs to be riveted.
This was confirmed by a study published last month in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology involving more than 6,000 individuals. Despite a projected greater life expectancy, it was concluded that today's adults are less "metabolically" healthy than their counterparts of previous generations. The study results showed that the prevalence of people who were overweight or suffering from hypertension increased with age in all generations, but in general, the more recently-born generations had a higher prevalence of these metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease than generations born 10 years earlier. The study found this younger generation to have a higher prevalence of risk factors because of longer exposure to conditions that cause them.
Meanwhile, according to Easterbrook, graphs of global life expectancy over time are ascending.
For nearly two centuries, the numbers have risen by approximately three months per year – despite global wars and major epidemics. If this trend continues, centenarians may become the norm rather than rarities who generate news headlines.
Sadly, today far too many people move into old age faced with progressive disability. At some point, disabilities associated with advanced years will not be able to be addressed with merely pharmaceuticals and high-tech procedures, and the need for caregivers will become unavoidable. Providing care for a parent is something that touches most of us at some point. Research is showing that as we age as a society, more and more seniors can be expected to be caring for others at a time when they are likely to need to take care of themselves. It is just one of the complications and problems that come with increased life expectancy and the prospect of declining health.
Easterbrook notes that the number of Americans who are 65 or older today is 43 million. It is estimated that this number could reach 108 million by 2050. The number of people who are 85 or older may increase fivefold, accounting for more than 6 percent of the U.S. citizenry.
Health span must be improved as we move forward for the costs of aging-related disability to remain manageable. It is why the University of Michigan, the University of Texas, the Mayo Clinic and others are studying ways to slow aging, so that we can fill these added years with vigor and productivity rather than debilitating age-related disease.
We can help this movement toward "health span" versus "life span" by watching our weight, eating more greens and less sugar, exercising regularly, and getting ample amounts of sleep. Those are the things that will make our longer lives healthier and more fulfilled.
We can learn a lot by listening to what those who have reached old age with their health in check have to say. For the past 10 years, UnitedHealthcare has commissioned an annual survey, called "100@100," polling centenarians on their attitudes and opinions on health, family and life. At the top of the list for long life is keeping a positive attitude, according to the most recent survey. A healthy diet is second on the list, followed by getting regular exercise and keeping busy. Feeling youthful is also seen as important. Sixty percent of participants said they don't feel old at all.
S. Jay Olshansky, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health who recently published a paper on gerontology, explained it to CBS News this way: "How you feel is a reflection of how your body is operating. People who look younger and feel younger have probably aged more slowly."
Write to Chuck Norris with your questions about health and fitness. Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at ChuckNorrisNews.blogspot.com.