Several Factors Can Add Up to Longer Life Expectancy
BETHESDA, Md. — A person born during the year 1900 could expect to live to be 50 years old. Today, a person’s life expectancy at birth is 75 years, a full generation longer. Why are people living longer? What do these extra years mean to the individual, to the family, to society?
How long a person lives depends on several factors: genetics, medical advances, life style and environmental assaults.
Science and medicine have given us antibiotics, vaccines and better medical care so that illnesses once fatal no longer are. People are more aware than ever of changes in life style that affect health: eating a well-balanced diet that limits fats and increases fiber, exercising sensibly, wearing seat belts, quitting smoking and drinking little, if any, alcohol, have all contributed to longer, healthier lives. Governmental regulations have eliminated many concerns about the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.
About 20 or 30 years ago, people believed that getting old meant an inevitable decline of health and intellectual function. In fact, many medical textbooks still use the word “senile” to describe people who suffer confusion and memory loss and imply that this condition is a natural consequence of age.
Can Live to Be 100
Today, thanks to studies on normal human aging, we know that people can live to be 100 and more with no evidence of heart disease or memory impairment. Scientists have also concluded that personality does not change with age. In fact, there are few, if any, changes that occur to all people as they grow old.
Despite these results, there are many people for whom aging is no joy. I recently met a woman in her mid-70s who confided, “No one ever told me that growing old hurts so much.” Many older people become dependent on family members and society because of debilitating conditions that severely restrict their independence. Arthritis, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease, to name a few, are problems for which science and society have not yet found adequate solutions. A person should be able to remain functional and vigorous throughout life.
As director of the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, I am all too frequently asked, “Is this what I have to look forward to as I grow old?” Studies that help us to understand and eliminate the afflictions that rob a person of independence are a high priority among researchers around the world.
Make no mistake, we have made progress. For example, we have the expertise to treat certain forms of urinary incontinence, we have identified the risk factors that make falls and subsequent fractures likely, and we understand the benefits of early rehabilitation after stroke.
Because of these and other successes, many children today know their grandparents, and even their great-grandparents. In many cases, grandparents are an integral part of the family and are called upon to lend support to the family unit. This is all very positive. However, new problems arise as many grown children are called upon to care for a frail parent or relative. For many, the care-giving role is fraught with doubts, guilt, tedium and fears, and indeed is an area that requires innovative approaches to best serve all concerned.
Implication Still Confusing
To society, the implications of the growing number of older people is still confusing. Many healthy older people do not choose retirement. They wish to remain employed. Health-care systems do not yet know how to respond to the growing number of people who require long-term care. Health professionals and policy makers need to sort out the ramifications of having so many older people in need of assistance.
From the day you are born you begin to age. No matter how old you are, aging issues apply. I hope this information will serve to eliminate some of the common fears many of us have about growing old.
