Let us first clarify what these words really mean, and then discuss the harmful consequences of confusing their meanings.
Excerpt from the Bankinter Innovation Foundation’s Longevity Publication .
We should all be more careful about how we use terms like “aging,” “longevity,” “life expectancy,” and “healthy life expectancy.” Like all words, in addition to denoting a meaning, they carry certain connotations: an emotional charge that inevitably comes to the mind of those who hear them. And, unfortunately, some of these connotations mislead us and mislead us, with dire consequences.
Let us first clarify what these words really mean, and then discuss the harmful consequences of confusing their meanings.
What is aging?
“Aging” is a process that all higher animals undergo and that limits longevity, life expectancy, and healthy life expectancy. It is the accumulation, throughout life, of molecular and cellular changes in the structure and composition of the body. These changes are an inherent consequence of the normal functioning of the body and, therefore, are inevitable. What’s more, while it’s true that the longest-lived species accumulate damage more slowly than the rest, a particular individual can’t reduce their minimum rate of accumulation by optimizing their lifestyle, diet, or any other factor. It should be noted, however, that certain very harmful habits can increase it.
And why are these changes so important? Well, because the body is designed to function best when these have not yet occurred, or have only been produced to a certain extent. There comes a time when the amount of change is such that it hinders, and ultimately completely impedes, the functioning of the body. That’s why we call these changes “damage.”
What is healthy life expectancy?
This concept obviously denotes how long a person stays healthy, but in relation to age. Thus, this idea describes how long a person avoids a permanent poor state of health resulting from the accumulation of damage, starting from the moment of birth. It is a difficult concept to quantify, since not everyone agrees on what the threshold of mental and/or physical deterioration should be at which someone is considered to be in poor health.
What is longevity? What about life expectancy?
“Longevity” and “life expectancy” are often used synonymously, but in reality “longevity” refers to how many years a particular individual lives before they die, while “Life expectancy” denotes how many years a person could live if they are not unlucky enough to have some misfortune happen to them.
And what about the emotional charge? Well, the main problem is that almost everyone tends to forget that life expectancy is intimately linked to healthy life expectancy. It’s very easy: the sicker someone is, the more likely they are to die soon. The problem is that, by forgetting the relationship between these two concepts, we tend to imagine that, in a world where medical advances have extended life, healthy life will continue to have the same duration. It would be a world where people would remain longer in the state of health that, today, indicates that someone has little time left to live. It’s certainly not a very attractive image. This confusion generates an unjustified disinterest or even rejection of the development of these advances. Let’s stop making that mistake!
If you want to know more, download the longevity publication.
