A New Age of Centenarians
I just found out that more than half of babies born in developed countries today will live to be more than 100 years old.
That’s a lot of centenarians.
Apparently, with each passing year humankind (in rich countries, at least) gains an average of 3 months of extra life expectancy, thanks to medical advances. As the researchers pointed out, where there were once three major stages of life–childhood, adulthood, and old age–there is increasingly a fourth: really old age. And the majority of new babies will live approximately 20 years of their lives in that stage.
Just another reminder that learning how to live vibrantly, full of intellectual curiosity and cognitive agility, as we age has to be a priority–for us as individuals and for wider society. The costs of not doing so, both emotionally and financially, are just too high.
For more on the Danish study, check out this BBC article or ABC News piece.
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Posted: Neuroscience, Research studies
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April 30th, 2010 at 8:42 am
“More than half of babies born in developed countries today will live to be more than 100 years old.”
Maybe, maybe not (my best guess is, probably not) – it depends a lot on social and economic conditions in the years 2110 and the decades before then. Global warming, peak oil, peak phosphate for fertilizer—we’ll see (or rather, THEY’LL see – I’ll be long gone).
My grandfather and father both lived to be over 90, and it was clear that they would have preferred to skip the last few years. Although they never said it in so many words, my grandfather came close. As he sat in his wheelchair at the VA Bay Pines Center in St. Petersburg, FL, he said to me “It takes so long”.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Great post!