Speaking of death, how long do you want to live?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Sorry, not trying to be morbid by starting my second death-themed thread in less than 10 minutes, but a recent post got me wondering about this topic:

To what age do most people hope to live? 65? 85? 105? I’m curious. It would be good if you could include your current age as a point of reference.

Current age (roughly, if you don’t want to be specific): 41

To what age do you HOPE to live and why? 70, cuz I think that’s about all I’ll be able to take.
[sub]This thread will either be totally lame or a complete surprise. Thanks for playing.[/sub]

2

CA: 30
125. I’d like to see 2100. Brag about seeing 3 centuries.

At least that’s my feelings now.

3

CA: 22

I hope to live up until the point where I can’t control my bladder and/or bowels. It doesn’t really matter what age, I just don’t want to depend that much on another person. I think my grandmother (who also suffered from severe diabetes) lived like that for about 5 years. She died when she was…75 or so - it’s been so long. It was sad watching her depend on her children to take her to the bathroom and clean up after her after she had an ‘accident’. What was worse was the fact that she went blind from her diabetes so she never got to see me or my brother :frowning: Yep, definitely want to die before any life-threatening disease takes hold. Be it chronic diabetes, heart disease or anything else. I’m just a wuss I guess.

4

CA: 39
I’m not afraid of dying, but I always thought I’d die at age 39. Not sure why I feel this way. Now that I AM 39, some more years on earth would be nice. (I think I’ll be the only female I know to feel RELIEVED at turning 40!) Definitely do not want to be a burden on my family. To answer the OP, late 70’s early 80’s would be good.

5

CA: 46 (for another two weeks)

I’d like to live at least into my 80s, as long as I have all my faculties. I am terrified to get sick first and die from it, like my mother did. I have a lot of stuff to do, and I’m not anywhere finished yet.

On a related topic, I’ve been reading Joel Whitburn’s reference books on the Billboard music charts. Every artist has a bio under his/her/their name, and a shocking number of people didn’t live much longer than I have. Heart failure at 38, liver failure at 43… maybe they drank and/or drugged themselves to death, or maybe not. It’s sure scary!

6

CA: 30

I want to live right up to the minute before I show signs of Alzheimer’s. I think there’s a pretty good chance of that happening, and I want my body to give out before my mind.

7

*CA: 32

*DAOD: 80 - I have two grandparents (one from each side) that are 80 right now. Both are in amazing shape, still travel the world, and are completely independent. However, I am still seeing the porcelain vase start to crack. They have started to acrue long-term injuries that are repairable individually but are happening faster than they can heal.

The only reason I want to live is to spend time with my grandchildren and great grandchildren. If it were just me then I would like to die at 40 like I always said I would when I was little.
*For a while here, I was wondering why everyone responding was from California (CA)

DAOD - Desired Age Of Death

8

CA: 24

Frankly, I’d like to stop aging now and live forever, but seeing as how that’s impossible I think 90 would be a good age to reach (barring Alzheimer’s and incontinence).

9

C.A 28

I too want to see 2100. I very much think this will be possible, without all the disadvantiges that older people have today. Even by conservative estimates, 95 more years of medical advances will usher in great changes in the living conditions of older people. Alzheimer’s will be a thing of the past (already its severity is drastically mitigated), many cancers will be treatable (even now, unprecedented numbers of cancer surviors exist), and organ wear will be a thing of the past, whether from regeneration techniques (see regnerating mouse news), or from organs grown and transplanted.

The idea of living through some of the indignities in which many of the older people go through today is not a good one. However, that will be a thing of the past, I know it sounds like science fiction, but it isn’t at all. The golden years will be just that in a few decades. I think we are all very fortunate to be alive in such times.

Also, not to sound like I am placing blame on anybody here, but many of the conditions suffered by older people are self induced due to not taking proper care of themselves. Not in every case, true, but probably in at least half the cases, osteoperosis is 100% preventable, muscle degredation doesn’t have to happen to such an extent, even in some cases bad eyesight is caused by diabetes gone unchecked. (diagnosing diabetes early may prevent this, or at least slow it down, eating properly and intelligently can slow or even stop the onset of diabetes altogether).

Now, this is none of many of the older folks fault because they lacked the knowledge of these things. Progress brings us more than just technologies, they bring us knowledge like proper diet, exercise that can prevent diabetes, osteoperosis and many other conditions. So, what I am getting at, is even ignoring the advances in medical technology, just implementing a bit of planning for old age can keep you healthy and spry for a very long time.

(now, there are valid cases of injury, disease or other conditions that may cause problems with older people that exercise or proper diet will NOT help with, such as Alzheimers or cancer, but that is why I rely on medical science. :wink: )

10

ca 28

I’d want to live as long as I can still enjoy doing the things I love. I’m guessing by the time i’m in my late 60s early 70s I’ll be too old, so that’s a good time.

11

That is not strictly true–a person can be extremely compliant with a diabetic regime and still suffer blindness, kidney failure etc–those conditions will most likely show up later and perhaps not be as bad, but they are still sequela to the original disease. Same with hypertension. There are probably other examples, but I can’t think of them at present.
CA: 43

I would like to make it to 80, and then die in my sleep, after giving sage advice to my progeny. I would also like to die with money in the bank and all my faculties, thank you very much. Oh, and all my teeth, as well.

So far, the teeth are doing wel…

12

CA: 46

I have been telling everyone for ages that I won’t make 50. Not because I am ill or suicidal, but I just have a feeling that’s when I’ll go.

Otherwise, about the 70 mark would be par for the course, judging by the family record.

13

And hence the disclaimer you obviously missed.

14

I’m 28 now.

I don’t have a specific age I want to reach. I just want to live as long as I’m healthy and can enjoy life. There’s no point to being 108 years old if you’re living in pain, or a fog of confusion.

15

CA: 133

Preferred Age: 200, 300, maybe more.

As long as I’m lucid I have no intention of dying, ever. I don’t want to miss anything.

16

CA: 24

I’m a pessimist, so I expect I’ll get taken out by a car accident or something similarly mundane by 35.

If not, I don’t see much reason to stick around longer than 75 or so. Still be longer than average for a male. I also don’t buy much of the futurist hype about medical science. I highly doubt medicine will be able to extend average human life (enjoyable) more than an additional 10 years or so at most.

17

Forever. So far, so good…

18

133??? That’s a typo, right? Or is age really a state of mind?

CA: 47

I want to live forever, but only if my mind is still sharp and my body still works. Or until the world gets weird. My Mom is 73, has a computer and has no idea how to use it. She admitted after she got it that she really wanted it for when the grandkids visit. Now she just sits in her chair all day and watches the game show network, doesn’t go out anymore because she says the world today doesn’t make much sense to her.

19

CA: 20

Still very young but every year seems to go by faster than the previous one. I would like to live to at least 85 assuming I am healthy physically and mentally, and also have no financial problems. If I could keep these three things I would not mind living longer than that. Out of morbidity I always wonder which of my close friends will die young and who will be the longest living.

20

CA: 42

I want to live as long as I enjoy it. When living ain’t worth it, I won’t want to. For me, that means I can function fairly well and am not in a great deal of pain. I’d like to make it to 80s/90s if I’m healthy enough.