Chapter 1 -- OUR NATURAL LIFE SPAN
There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world,
and that is an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo
Natural Life Span?
What is a natural life span? Plant an oak tree in downtown ‘Pollution City’ and it may live 15 or 20 years. Plant the tree in a place like upstate New York where it is clean and beautiful but suffers from acid rain; it may live 50-60 years. Plant that same tree in a pristine area of the ‘Grandest Mountain’ range in the U.S. and it may live 350 years. What is the natural life span of the tree? It depends, you say. You are correct. While genes (and genetic study) are a roadmap, they are not the journey itself. Like the oak tree, your natural life span depends...
If you live to the age of 100, you have it made,
because very few people die past the age of 100.
George Burns
My husband and I plan on living a good life until we are 120 years old. Does that strike you as bizarre or ridiculous? The first process of aging starts in our mind, with beliefs about it, and our concept of how long one can live happily and remain healthy.
The book of genesis in the bible states that man’s “days shall be a hundred and twenty years;" it has certainly been one of the Christian tidbits less embraced by our society. Of course, the bible makes other age predictions including incredible claims of longevity for Methuselah (over 900 years) as well as for Mosses and Adam. I am afraid (aside from a miracle) this does not seem very likely.
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
Freeze Me.
Bumper sticker jokingly attributed to the Cryo-Longevity group
whose real motto is:
“Freeze, Wait, . . .Reanimate.”
“Do not try to live forever, you will not succeed,” said George Bernard Shaw. It is a pretty sound bet that none of us will live to 900, or even 200, but what about 120 years old? It is possible! The Census Bureau says the population of those 85 years and older increased by 232% (let’s run that one again -- 232%) between 1960 and 1990. The increase for the total population was only 39% in comparison. The Bureau estimates the population aged 85 or older may double between 1990 and 2000, and will grow by an additional 29% between the years of 2000 and 2010. Most experts agree that our current innate biological maximum is approximately 120 years old. Yet, the current life expectancy for an American female is 79.6, a male 72.7 years. It looks as if we are being cheated . . . or we’re cheating ourselves. Biochemist and Gerontologist James Fries states that medicine ought to be able to shorten the period of poor health before death, to “compress the morbidity." In his ground-breaking book Vitality & Aging with Lawrence M. Crapo, Fries states (concerning progress in the field of longevity), “we will die a natural death, just modestly prolonged from our present life expectancy, but without an extended period of infirmity.” His idea of increasing the quality of life (especially at the end) is noble and practical -- but can we have both, quality and quantity? The answer is YES, and I know I want it all.
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