Life Expectancy
Life expectancy is a tricky term. Statistics vary greatly in the way they are gathered and calculated, e.g., whether they include infant mortality and what country is being studied. As the chart below demonstrates women have a longer life expectancy than men, but we will not discuss the possible reasons for that here. Let’s just look at ways of “Staying Alive” for all of us.
|
TIME |
FEMALE |
MALE |
COMBINED |
|
2012 |
78.7 |
||
|
1985 |
62 |
||
|
1900 |
30 |
||
|
Current |
80.1 |
73.4 |
|
|
Born in 2018 |
81 |
76 |
Various sources including USA Today, Statistica and Wikipedia
Staying Alive
There is no lack of advice out there for ways to stay healthy and live a long life. Every person who hits 100 years has some type of answer for the secret to their longevity. Some say a glass of wine a day or perhaps a cigar or some other thing they enjoy.
Do you have “secrets” to a long, healthy, and happy life? If so, please share them with us. I can’t say that I do, so I’ll share what some of the experts tell us. We’ll just look at a few over the next several posts.
First: A Four-Legged Friend
Those of you who own a pet will probably attest to the fact that pets reduce anxiety. Research also shows they lower the owner’s blood pressure. For those of you who may doubt this advice let’s see what the American Heart Association says.
In the journal “Circulation” the AHA recommends owning a dog, in particular. As an owner of cats, I’m hurt, but I can see one big advantage to having a dog. Dogs must be walked so the owner is more active. But, the AHA goes even further and states that a person with a dog is more likely to survive a heart attack.
Some of my doggie friends: Luke, Jackson, Hawkeye, Monty and Aslan
Hi Sue
I definitely believe Looking after Monty is good for my health both physical and mental. I love to take him out every day…. even when it’s raining – which is why he is wearing his green towel coat in that picture – he was soaked! Seeing him happy makes me happy. Also having Monty has introduced me to so many other dog walkers great for social interaction.
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I was never a die-hard animal lover. However I had dogs for about 40 years of my life and they brought me so much joy, devotion and comfort. Hopefully those years helped increase my life expectancy.
My personal view is that it doesn’t matter how long I live, it just matters that I make my life enjoyable and worthwhile in some way.
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Quality vs. Quantity. I agree.
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