If you are reasonably healthy and reasonably happy now, without a doubt, you would like the good times to continue rolling. Due to some unforeseen event, such as an unseen pickup truck turning a corner as you step out into the street, you could check out tomorrow. There are all kinds of disasters that could befall you, even if you are obsessively conscientious and careful. However, there is no point in dwelling on those possibilities.
You can’t do anything about them, and they are unlikely to occur in any event. Setting aside those unlikely causes of a premature death, is there anything that you can do to delay the inevitable decline in health and functionality that comes with advancing age? Yes. In fact, there are several things that you can do. People are doing these things today to live to age 90 and beyond.
In 1974, in Tromsø, Norway, the population of that town was surveyed. They responded to questions and were tested for blood pressure and cholesterol. Of all the people tested, the oldest 738 men in the study (aged 45.4 to 49.9) could have reached age 90 by 2018. However, only 118 were still alive. Their responses to the survey and the tests tell us something about risk factors that the survivors had, compared to the risk factors that the men who did not reach age 90 had. Six risk factors were considered:
- Smoking
- Physical inactivity
- Low income
- Being unmarried
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
Were there any differences in risk factors between the 16% of men who survived to age 90 and the 84% of men who did not?
Yes, there were differences. All these risk factors had the effect of reducing the chance that a man would reach age 90, but they did not all have the same effect. Some factors had a larger impact than others.
The risk factor with the highest impact was smoking.
- 26.3% of the men who had never smoked survived to age 90.
- 25.7% of the men who were former smokers survived to age 90.
- 10.8% of the men who were still smoking in 1974 survived to age 90.
Interestingly, smokers who had given up the nicotine habit had a survival rate almost as good as men who had never smoked. The survival rate of men who continued to smoke was less than half as good.
Although none of the other five risk factors were as important as smoking in preventing Norwegian men from reaching an age of 90 years, they did have some effect, and the more risk factors a man had, the less chance he had of reaching age 90 alive. The study participants varied in the number of risk factors they had. Only one man had all six risk factors, and only five men had five risk factors. These men were excluded from the result of the study because there were too few of them for a statistically significant result.
What was the relationship between the number of risk factors a man had and survival to age 90? If you guessed that the more risk factors a man had, the smaller his chance of reaching age 90, you are right. The observed median age at death for participants was as follows:
- Zero risk factors 85.0 years
- One risk factor 83.8 years
- Two risk factors 78.1 years
- Three risk factors 73.9 years
- Four risk factors 64.9 years
The more risk factors a man had, the shorter his life expectancy. Half the men with zero risk factors lived to age 85 and beyond. On the other end of the spectrum, half the men with four risk factors did not reach age 70. Whereas 16% of the 738 men in the total cohort reached age 90, 33.3% of the men with zero risk factors survived to at least age 90. Their survival rate was more than double the survival rate of the total cohort. Of those men with four risk factors, only 1.5% survived to age 90.
What can we conclude from this? What lesson should we take away? The study was of Norwegian men. The results may not apply to the same extent to Norwegian women, but I suspect that many of the conclusions drawn would apply to women too, perhaps to a lesser extent, or possibly to a greater extent. The results also probably apply to Americans, other Europeans, and many others.
What actions should we take, to extend our healthy lifespan? The obvious answer is to reduce the number of risk factors that you have. Here are some things you can do:
- If you are a smoker, quit now. The sooner you quit, the more lifespan you are tacking on.
- Get more physical exercise, preferably an hour or more per day of activity that has you sweating and breathing hard.
- Find a way to increase your income. The more money you have, the better you will be able to cope with situations that could shorten your life.
- Get married. The support of a significant other can save your life. My brother’s life has been literally saved by his wife more than once. My own wife’s influence has caused me to take fewer risks than perhaps I otherwise would have. Any one of those risks that I didn’t take could have ended badly.
- Test your blood pressure and control it if it is high. Effective blood pressure lowering drugs are available, as are dietary interventions that can help with this.
- Test your cholesterol level and have it treated if it is high. Consult your doctor on the best way to handle this.
Whereas the six risk factors that I have discussed all have a statistically significant negative effect on the chance a man has of reaching age 90, another thing than many consider a risk factor did not have that effect. Men with a high body mass index (BMI) due to being overweight for their height were not any less likely to reach age 90 than their normal weight peers. In our culture today, there is a lot of pressure on overweight people to lose weight. There are a multitude of diets designed to help people lose weight. Perhaps it would be better to spend less time worrying about weight and more time working on reducing or eliminating the risk factors that are much more likely to shorten your life.
Bio:
Allen G. Taylor is a 30-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 30 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Second Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at www.allengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.