# Does your longevity have its own world? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 25, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157 "2017-01-25T16:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/41 "2017-01-26T20:05:07Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > What you’re talking about is whether people look younger or older than their actual age. > > I’d look 5-8 years younger. I’m fit, have all my hair and teeth. I’ve been blessed with good genes. > > Do I win? I don’t know, how old are you? I’m 78, with teeth and genes, my parents lived to 98 and 93. I got a new passport when I was 75, and in three years, although I didn’t expect to, filled all the pages and had to get another one. Traveling by myself, staying at hostels, eating third world street market food. Could walk several miles every day, but I don’t unless I have to, since I don’t drive. ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/42 "2017-01-26T21:53:57Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t know, how old are you? I’m 78, with teeth and genes, my parents lived to 98 and 93. I got a new passport when I was 75, and in three years, although I didn’t expect to, filled all the pages and had to get another one. Traveling by myself, staying at hostels, eating third world street market food. Could walk several miles every day, but I don’t unless I have to, since I don’t drive. dude you are my hero, one of the reasons I started looking into longevity is because of people like you. Seen a guy on tv that was 100, I thought he was 60, wow!right on man, ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/43 "2017-01-26T22:14:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Until May 16, 2015, I looked and felt 10 years younger than my chronological age. Then I had a spinal “event”, leaving me in chronic pain and disability and depression. It’s incurable, and will continue to get worse until the day I die. And painkillers have no effect. Now I look 10 years older than my chronological age. And I feel even older. 70 is the new 90. have you ever read or heard of the book, by Bernie s. Siegel, md, love medicine & miracles? I loved this book. One of the main points is being a perfect patient. I’m from colo, I know people that smoke for chronic pain. I some day want to know what it is like to be 90, no matter what my chronological age. I lost my dad when he was 70, the average age of males in my family is 59. I am lucky to be in your position before your spinal “event”, I am going to start working out again in march, I am trying to figure out how to get though my 60’s, and still be in my 40’s (bio). Good luck to you man. You sound like you know how you are! ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/44 "2017-01-26T22:24:34Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I want to live long enough to be a burden to my children. > > Regards, > Shodan > > PS - in a couple of days, I will be 427. I count in dog years just to be safe. would this be a small dog or big dog? I want to live long enough so my children will continue to be my burden on me, only kidding they are no burden. I want to live long enough to hold the world record in the 100 yard dash at 110. LEF ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/45 "2017-01-26T22:30:49Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > First step: Don’t die. How to achieve immortality in two simple steps. Step 1) be honest and truthful in everything you say from this day forward Step 2) say the magic phrase “I will say this sentence tomorrow.” ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/46 "2017-01-26T22:35:32Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > OK, so what exactly measurements are you comparing? Is this an objective measure or a subjective measure? strictly subjective, after all you are your longevity, no one else. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/47 "2017-01-26T22:35:59Z")
[Bernie Siege’s entry](http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2012/10/358-bernie-siegel.html) in the Encyclopedia of American Loons. ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/48 "2017-01-26T22:36:59Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > How to achieve immortality in two simple steps. > Step 1) be honest and truthful in everything you say from this day forward > Step 2) say the magic phrase “I will say this sentence tomorrow.” bravo! You sir will always be young. ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/49 "2017-01-26T22:39:00Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Bernie Siege’s entry](http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2012/10/358-bernie-siegel.html) in the Encyclopedia of American Loons. we all have to find our hero’s somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/50 "2017-01-26T22:43:49Z")
I’m going to live to be 105 years old, bare minimum. Anyone wanna bet me on that? ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/51 "2017-01-26T22:50:43Z")
> [@Lifeaging](#): > > we all have to find our hero’s somewhere. there is nothing wrong with being positive. We should all take charge with a positive attitude, because more than not, that person standing in front of you, don’t know you, and don’t give a shit about you. But he’s the big man on campus with his big word. Be positive ---
**Author:** ![Lifeaging](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Lifeaging](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lifeaging)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/52 "2017-01-26T22:53:24Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I’m going to live to be 105 years old, bare minimum. Anyone wanna bet me on that? i love to play poker, but I don’t know if I want that bet,lol ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/53 "2017-01-27T00:01:36Z")
> [@Lifeaging](#): > > have you ever read or heard of the book, by Bernie s. Siegel, md, love medicine & miracles? Ah yes, Bernie “happy people don’t get sick” Siegel. It’s blame-the-victim time. As if being in pain isn’t enough, sick people have to feel guilty for their illness. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/54 "2017-01-27T02:20:41Z")
> [@Lifeaging](#): > > We all have to start somewhere, because if you don’t you’ll never, never live to be one hundred and twenty years old! Your World of Longevity, is important to you. Do you think about it?:smack: Oh boy, does it! My longevity has its own world filled with rainbows and unicorns and magic fairies. I keep smacking my longevity in the head to keep it grounded and focus on finishing all of its homework. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/55 "2017-01-27T02:36:43Z")
I’m not sure what this thread is about, but I’ll chime in anyway. FIrst off, living to 100 is rare. And it is mostly genetic. [http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/how\_many\_people\_live\_to\_100\_page1.html](http://www.genealogyintime.com/GenealogyResources/Articles/how_many_people_live_to_100_page1.html) > [@](#): > > Thus, today only 0.0173% of Americans live to 100…Roughly 1 person in every 6,000 reach their 100th birthday today Of people who live to 100, I think barely 1% will live to 110. And living to 100 is mostly genetic. > **[Who will live to 100? Genes may tell - CNN.com](https://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/01/longevity.genetics/)** > > If celebrating triple-digit birthdays sounds appealing, scientists may be able to determine if you're likely to live that long. > [@](#): > > Using their genetic model, researchers found they could predict with 77 percent accuracy who would live to be 100 or higher based on genetics alone in the sample. But on the positive side, the first generation of anti-aging technology is hitting the market soon. Telomerase extension, NR & pterostilbene, rapamycin, gdf11, etc. Perhaps even CRISPR to alter your genone to select for longevity genes. Maybe that’ll add 10-30 years to healthspan and lifespan. But we will see. Even if all these therapies keep you metabolically young and help slow cancer, vascular disease, dementia, etc. it probably won’t keep your joints and spine young. Time to transfer your brain to a cyborg body. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/56 "2017-01-27T14:45:35Z")
I can’t remember the title/author but I read a book a few months ago about lifespan research. Basically it was something like lifestyle determines how healthy you are up to 70-80. After that it’s genes. If you want to avoid multiple medical conditions in your 60s and 70s and lead a normal life, do all the well known right things to stay healthy. After that it’s up to your DNA. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/57 "2017-01-27T15:57:38Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > How old to the people that never start anywhere live to be? 😃 thank you for that! ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/58 "2017-01-27T16:10:04Z")
That was some good weed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/59 "2017-01-27T20:39:02Z")
So a few overlapping issues here. 1. Problem with that link **Wesley Clark** is that percent of the population is not a very meaningful number without knowing the size of the age cohort at birth and more importantly the size that survived past deaths when young. That increase in the fraction of the total population over 100 from 0.0150 to 0.0173% (an increase of 15%) is in fact more significant that that because of the huge population bulges of the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. It may be better to look at the number compared to those who are 65 and over, as [Pew](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/21/worlds-centenarian-population-projected-to-grow-eightfold-by-2050/) did. > [@Pew](#): > > In 1990 there were 2.9 centenarians for every 10,000 adults ages 65 and older around the world. That share grew to 7.4 by 2015 and is projected to rise to 23.6 by 2050. It’s a pretty impressive increase. Genes have not changed much; _the increase is for other reasons_. And the increase in those 80 and over has been even more dramatic. 1. Biological age … there certainly _is_ such a thing that is different than the chronological age, the issue is [how to define it and measure it](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6265/1188?variant=full-text&sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&oauth-code=9f48280c-4408-49c0-97ee-7a9ca26d5caf) > [@Science](#): > > … After decades of failed efforts to identify “biomarkers” in blood and different tissues that correspond to the aging process, scientists still don’t agree on whether “biological age” can be measured, or even what it means. Indeed, despite some companies’ claims, “there’s no way that you can take a sample of someone’s skin or blood and tell them what their true ‘biological’ age is,” he says. > > Yet the allure of an objective test for aging is powerful. Such a test could, for example, aid the search for antiaging drugs and help doctors plan treatments for older patients. Recent advances in the molecular biology of aging have yielded a host of candidates. All rely on molecular changes linked to aging, but all are confounded by individual variation or by other processes, such as disease, that may speed or slow aging. As aging pioneer Carol Greider of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, puts it, “My guess is that there is going to be a huge amount of heterogeneity in any marker.” … Of the list they review (telomere length, epigenetic markers, specific long-lived proteins, and specific metabolites in the blood) none seem perfect and likely a combination of several approaches is going to end up being the best metric. 1. The difference between lifespan and _healthspan_: Those markers are clearly impacted both by genetic predisposition and by behaviors - smoking for example speeds up aging dramatically and regular exercise coupled with lots of vegetables/fruits/whole grains etc. slows it down, but more important and meaningful than marginal gain in lifespan is the more marked gain in the healthspan. Lifespan may increase only by a few years but the number of healthy years, years without disability, either physical or cognitive, increases lots. Those behaviors are associated with a marked “compression of morbidity” … the period from pretty fully functional to dead is delayed and much briefer. 2. Keeping the brain as fit in old age as it was in youth. That’s referred to as being [a “superager.”](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/opinion/sunday/how-to-become-a-superager.html?_r=0) You want that? Use it or lose it and using it means doing things that are _hard enough to frustrate you some_. Thinking and physical activities both. > [@The NYT](#): > > … The road to superaging is difficult, though, because these brain regions have another intriguing property: When they increase in activity, you tend to feel pretty bad — tired, stymied, frustrated. Think about the last time you grappled with a math problem or pushed yourself to your physical limits. Hard work makes you feel bad in the moment. The Marine Corps has a motto that embodies this principle: “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” That is, the discomfort of exertion means you’re building muscle and discipline. Superagers are like Marines: They excel at pushing past the temporary unpleasantness of intense effort. Studies suggest that the result is a more youthful brain that helps maintain a sharper memory and a greater ability to pay attention. > > This means that pleasant puzzles like Sudoku are not enough to provide the benefits of superaging. Neither are the popular diversions of various “brain game” websites. You must expend enough effort that you feel some “yuck.” Do it till it hurts, and then a bit more. > > In the United States, we are obsessed with happiness. But as people get older, research shows, they cultivate happiness by avoiding unpleasant situations. This is sometimes a good idea, as when you avoid a rude neighbor. But if people consistently sidestep the discomfort of mental effort or physical exertion, this restraint can be detrimental to the brain. All brain tissue gets thinner from disuse. If you don’t use it, you lose it. … ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157/60 "2017-01-27T20:55:33Z")
> [@Lifeaging](#): > > we all have to find our hero’s somewhere. > [@Lifeaging](#): > > there is nothing wrong with being positive. We should all take charge with a positive attitude, because more than not, that person standing in front of you, don’t know you, and don’t give a shit about you. But he’s the big man on campus with his big word. Be positive This is exactly the type of can-do attitude that leads to _Scientologists_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-longevity-have-its-own-world/778157.md?page=4)