Has the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy ended?

Gerontologist Jay Olshansky and his coauthors predict that the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy has ended. Their analysis of lifespan data from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States was published recently in the journal Nature Aging.

Gerontologist Jay Olshansky and his coauthors predict that the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy has ended.

Their analysis of lifespan data from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States was published recently in the journal Nature Aging.

Quotes from a CNN interview with Jay Olshansky:

"Aging is currently immutable — it’s the decline of your cells, tissues, organs and organ systems that currently can’t be stopped. It is a byproduct of operating the machinery of life."

"The longevity game that we’re playing now is Whac-A-Mole. Each mole represents a different disease, and the older you get, the more moles there are, and the faster they come up."

"Remember, death is a zero sum game. One thing goes down, something else goes up, and the fear is that we’re going to replace cancer and cardiovascular disease with dementia, Alzheimer’s and other serious health challenges that we can’t currently modify. So we have to be careful what we wish for and what we manufacture going forward, because life extension without health extension would be harmful."

Has the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy ended?
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Gerontologist Jay Olshansky and his coauthors predict that the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy has ended.

Their analysis of lifespan data from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States was published recently in the journal Nature Aging.

Quotes from a CNN interview with Jay Olshansky:

"Aging is currently immutable — it’s the decline of your cells, tissues, organs and organ systems that currently can’t be stopped. It is a byproduct of operating the machinery of life."

"The longevity game that we’re playing now is Whac-A-Mole. Each mole represents a different disease, and the older you get, the more moles there are, and the faster they come up."

"Remember, death is a zero sum game. One thing goes down, something else goes up, and the fear is that we’re going to replace cancer and cardiovascular disease with dementia, Alzheimer’s and other serious health challenges that we can’t currently modify. So we have to be careful what we wish for and what we manufacture going forward, because life extension without health extension would be harmful."

Link to Resource:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-024-00702-3#Sec2Open link to NICE Information Tool >
Topic: 
Physical Health
Location: 
Not Location Specific
Source: 
nature.com

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