Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries

Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2011-06-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309217105

During the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes. According to Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries, the nation's history of heavy smoking is a major reason why lifespans in the United States fall short of those in many other high-income nations. Evidence suggests that current obesity levels play a substantial part as well. The book reports that lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access. For the main causes of death at older ages-cancer and cardiovascular disease-available indicators do not suggest that the U.S. health care system is failing to prevent deaths that would be averted elsewhere. In fact, cancer detection and survival appear to be better in the U.S. than in most other high-income nations, and survival rates following a heart attack also are favorable. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies many gaps in research. For instance, while lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the damage from smoking, no clear-cut marker exists for obesity, physical inactivity, social integration, or other risks considered in this book. Moreover, evaluation of these risk factors is based on observational studies, which-unlike randomized controlled trials-are subject to many biases.

The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income

The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2015-09-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 030931710X

The U.S. population is aging. Social Security projections suggest that between 2013 and 2050, the population aged 65 and over will almost double, from 45 million to 86 million. One key driver of population aging is ongoing increases in life expectancy. Average U.S. life expectancy was 67 years for males and 73 years for females five decades ago; the averages are now 76 and 81, respectively. It has long been the case that better-educated, higher-income people enjoy longer life expectancies than less-educated, lower-income people. The causes include early life conditions, behavioral factors (such as nutrition, exercise, and smoking behaviors), stress, and access to health care services, all of which can vary across education and income. Our major entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Supplemental Security Income - have come to deliver disproportionately larger lifetime benefits to higher-income people because, on average, they are increasingly collecting those benefits over more years than others. This report studies the impact the growing gap in life expectancy has on the present value of lifetime benefits that people with higher or lower earnings will receive from major entitlement programs. The analysis presented in The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income goes beyond an examination of the existing literature by providing the first comprehensive estimates of how lifetime benefits are affected by the changing distribution of life expectancy. The report also explores, from a lifetime benefit perspective, how the growing gap in longevity affects traditional policy analyses of reforms to the nation's leading entitlement programs. This in-depth analysis of the economic impacts of the longevity gap will inform debate and assist decision makers, economists, and researchers.

The Longevity Economy

The Longevity Economy
Author: Joseph F. Coughlin
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2017-11-07
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1610396650

Oldness: a social construct at odds with reality that constrains how we live after middle age and stifles business thinking on how to best serve a group of consumers, workers, and innovators that is growing larger and wealthier with every passing day. Over the past two decades, Joseph F. Coughlin has been busting myths about aging with groundbreaking multidisciplinary research into what older people actually want -- not what conventional wisdom suggests they need. In The Longevity Economy, Coughlin provides the framing and insight business leaders need to serve the growing older market: a vast, diverse group of consumers representing every possible level of health and wealth, worth about $8 trillion in the United States alone and climbing. Coughlin provides deep insight into a population that consistently defies expectations: people who, through their continued personal and professional ambition, desire for experience, and quest for self-actualization, are building a striking, unheralded vision of longer life that very few in business fully understand. His focus on women -- they outnumber men, control household spending and finances, and are leading the charge toward tomorrow's creative new narrative of later life -- is especially illuminating. Coughlin pinpoints the gap between myth and reality and then shows businesses how to bridge it. As the demographics of global aging transform and accelerate, it is now critical to build a new understanding of the shifting physiological, cognitive, social, family, and psychological realities of the longevity economy.

Increasing Longevity

Increasing Longevity
Author: Royal College of Physicians of London
Publisher: Royal College of Physicians
Total Pages: 158
Release: 1998
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9781860160776

International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages

International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2011-02-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309157331

In 1950 men and women in the United States had a combined life expectancy of 68.9 years, the 12th highest life expectancy at birth in the world. Today, life expectancy is up to 79.2 years, yet the country is now 28th on the list, behind the United Kingdom, Korea, Canada, and France, among others. The United States does have higher rates of infant mortality and violent deaths than in other developed countries, but these factors do not fully account for the country's relatively poor ranking in life expectancy. International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages: Dimensions and Sources examines patterns in international differences in life expectancy above age 50 and assesses the evidence and arguments that have been advanced to explain the poor position of the United States relative to other countries. The papers in this deeply researched volume identify gaps in measurement, data, theory, and research design and pinpoint areas for future high-priority research in this area. In addition to examining the differences in mortality around the world, the papers in International Differences in Mortality at Older Ages look at health factors and life-style choices commonly believed to contribute to the observed international differences in life expectancy. They also identify strategic opportunities for health-related interventions. This book offers a wide variety of disciplinary and scholarly perspectives to the study of mortality, and it offers in-depth analyses that can serve health professionals, policy makers, statisticians, and researchers.

The 100-Year Life

The 100-Year Life
Author: Lynda Gratton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 152662284X

What will your 100-year life look like? A new edition of the international bestseller, featuring a new preface 'Brilliant, timely, original, well written and utterly terrifying' Niall Ferguson Does the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with dread? Or can you see the potential for a more stimulating future as a result of having so much extra time? Many of us have been raised on the traditional notion of a three-stage approach to our working lives: education, followed by work and then retirement. But this well-established pathway is already beginning to collapse – life expectancy is rising, final-salary pensions are vanishing, and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers. Whether you are 18, 45 or 60, you will need to do things very differently from previous generations and learn to structure your life in completely new ways. The 100-Year Life is here to help. Drawing on the unique pairing of their experience in psychology and economics, Lynda Gratton and Andrew J. Scott offer a broad-ranging analysis as well as a raft of solutions, showing how to rethink your finances, your education, your career and your relationships and create a fulfilling 100-year life. · How can you fashion a career and life path that defines you and your values and creates a shifting balance between work and leisure? · What are the most effective ways of boosting your physical and mental health over a longer and more dynamic lifespan? · How can you make the most of your intangible assets – such as family and friends – as you build a productive, longer life? · In a multiple-stage life how can you learn to make the transitions that will be so crucial and experiment with new ways of living, working and learning? Shortlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and featuring a new preface, The 100-Year Life is a wake-up call that describes what to expect and considers the choices and options that you will face. It is also fundamentally a call to action for individuals, politicians, firms and governments and offers the clearest demonstration that a 100-year life can be a wonderful and inspiring one.

Younger You

Younger You
Author: Kara N. Fitzgerald
Publisher: Hachette Go
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0306924854

Based on the groundbreaking study that shaved three years off a subjects' age in just eight weeks, discover a proven, accessible plan to prevent diseases and reduce your biological age. It’s true: getting older is inevitable and your chronological age can only move in one direction. But you also have a biological age, which scientists can measure by assessing how your genes are expressed through epigenetics. Exciting new research shows that your bio age can actually move in reverse—and Dr. Kara Fitzgerald’s groundbreaking, rigorous clinical trial proved it’s possible. By eating delicious foods and establishing common-sense lifestyle practices that positively influence genetic expression, study participants reduced their bio age by just over three years in only eight weeks! Now Dr. Fitzgerald shares the diet and lifestyle plan that shows you how to influence your epigenetics for a younger you. In Younger You you’ll learn: It’s not your genetics that determines your age and level of health, it’s your epigenetics How DNA methylation powerfully influences your epigenetic expression The foods and lifestyle choices that most affect DNA methylation Simple swaps to your daily routines that will add years to your life The full eating and lifestyle program, with recipes and meal plans, to reduce your bio age and increase vitality How to take care of your epigenetic expression at every life stage, from infancy through midlife and your later decades We don’t have to accept a descent into disease and unwellness as we age as inevitable: when you reduce bio age you reduce your odds of developing all the major diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and dementia. With assessment tools for determining your bio age, recipes, and plans for putting it all into practice,Younger You helps you repair years of damage, ward off chronic disease, and optimize your health—for years to come.

The Longevity Diet

The Longevity Diet
Author: Valter Longo
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-02-08
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 9781405933940

Live healthier for longer with the international bestselling guide that will change your life 'The diet that holds the key to staying young . . . Dr Valter Longo is now considered one of the most influential voices in the 'fasting movement' The Times 'Dr Valter Longo is one of the real scientific pioneers when it comes to researching the impact of food on health' Dr Michael Mosley, bestselling author of The Fast Diet and The Clever Guts Diet ________ This is the clinically tested, revolutionary and straightforward diet to help you slow-down ageing, fight disease and lose weight. Following 30 years of research, Professor Valter Longo - a biochemist and one of the world's leading researchers into ageing - discovered that the secret of longevity lies in cellular regeneration triggered by a special diet. And that by adhering to his fasting-mimicking diet, we can heal ourselves through food. The Longevity Diet will guide you through the process with: - An easy-to-adopt lifetime plan - Fasting-mimicking diet 3-4 times a year, just 5 days at a time - 30 easy and delicious recipes based on Longo's 'Five Pillars of Longevity' In this lifelong, health-boosting plan, you will feel the benefits of fasting without the hunger and live a longer, healthier and more fulfilled life. And you'll get to try easy, plant-and-fish based recipes . . . - Great for the heart and rich in antioxidants: black rice with courgette and shrimp - For a good source of iron, snack on dark chocolate and yoghurt - For dessert try tangy dried cranberries and walnuts ________ Make simple changes that can extend your healthy lifespan * Prevent age-related muscle and bone loss * Build your resistance to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and cancer * Maintain your ideal weight and reduce abdominal fat

Longevity Decoded

Longevity Decoded
Author: Ma Stephen C Schimpff MD
Publisher: Squire Publishing
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2018-04-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9780692064207

You can live a long and healthy life. There is no magic pill or Fountain of Youth, but you can achieve it with simple lifestyle modifications: 1. Eating the right foods 2. Getting the right exercise 3. Reducing and managing stress 4. Improving the quality of sleep 5. Eliminating tobacco 6. Remaining intellectually engaged 7. Staying involved socially The advice in Longevity Decoded works-because it puts you in charge of shaping your future. Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life-Longevity Decoded is your roadmap. The seven keys cost nothing, except your time and commitment. Dr. Stephen Schimpff provides you with straightforward advice for achieving and maintaining good health over a long life. Following his seven keys will pay generous returns over the years ahead, and there's a bonus: You'll become a role model and inspiration to your children and grandchildren! "Dr. Schimpff explores the exciting topic of healthy aging. He combines the science of aging with evidence to suggest how each of us influences our personal journey in life. We make choices every day which impact our health. This book will help you understand how those daily choices will influence your life not only today, but as you get older. Begin today to plan for tomorrow." -James (Jim) M. Anders, Jr., CPA, MBA, CGMA, President and Chairman of the Board, National Senior Campuses, Inc., Administrator and Chief Operating Officer, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Inc. "A highly enjoyable and uplifting read written by a physician with uncommon intellect and wisdom. Certainly, we can all benefit from following Dr. Schimpff's prescription for a healthier and more meaningful life." -R. Alan Butler, Chief Executive Office, Erickson Living "Brilliant work by Dr. Stephen Schimpff yet again! Dr. Schimpff has done a systematic analysis of aging and longevity. His uncanny ability to use data and science together makes his suggestions compelling and convincing, while being insightful. Despite being a complete and thorough account for advanced readers, his book is simple enough to understand for a beginner. If there is only one book you want to read on this subject, it should be this one." -Hiren Doshi, CEO, Paragon Private Health, Co-founder and President, OmniActive Health Technologies "As my age cohort heads toward Medicare, like a veritable tsunami of aging boomers, this text ought to be our navigational guide in the storm. We will want yoga on the lawn, rather than a wheelchair in the garden; we will crave gourmet organic meals, not a nursing home tray!! Dr Schimpff will help us to achieve these dreams with his folksy and reassuring style. This book only confirms for me that the best is yet to come!" -David B. Nash MD, MBA. Founding Dean of the Jefferson College of Population Health "As the world's older population continues to expand at an unprecedented rate, Dr. Schimpff gives readers simple steps that can lay the crucial groundwork for our future health. He provides an optimistic approach to the inevitability of aging and a refreshing perspective that our 'golden years' can also be our 'golden age, ' based on his first-hand experience as a healthcare practitioner." -E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine