It’s always nice to hear that we’re living longer. While someone would have done well several hundred years ago to live past 50, today we can almost expect to reach our 80s or 90s, with more and more people making it into the 100s. What is the true reason behind our constant growth in longevity?

Given the progression of life expectancy, some have said that in the future we’ll be living to 200 or some other arbitrary number. However, there is a strong possibility that find a limit, which could happen rather soon. The main reason we’re living longer is because we are healthier, safer, and less prone to deadly diseases than ever before. Rather than extending our lives, we’re simply not cutting them short. The Huffington Post has more:

There’s a mistaken notion that human life expectancy has increased over the millennia. The truth is, if our cave-dwelling ancestors were lucky enough in their lifetimes to survive the pitfalls of childhood, escape the unsavory intentions of saber tooth tigers and their colleagues, and be nimble enough to both outrun their enemies and avoid falling off rock ledges, they could be expected to live as long as us. “Life expectancy” is a statistical average. It factors in infant deaths, which were much greater early on.  So while the “life expectancy” at birth of hunter-gatherers might have been 26 years, those who survived into adulthood had the potential to live some three times as long.

At the same time, attitudes about old age are also changing. Retirement at 65 is an antiquated concept. Baby Boomers are just getting warmed up by then. Based on the old retirement model, Warren Buffet should have been put out to pasture 20 years ago. Fortunately for his investors at Berkshire Hathaway he’s still at the helm at age 85 (his co-chairman, Charlie Munger, is 92).

Your best bet to live a long life is to take care of your health, get exercise, and not place yourself under too much stress. Who knows, while our bodies can only live so long by themselves, science and technology might have a role to play soon enough. Check out the full post for more.

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