HUMAN LIFE EXPECTANCY

Introduction: As I mentioned somewhere on this website, “Only certain thing in life is death.” But most people hardly prepare for this chapter of life. So this section will help us to determine the average life expectancy, as well as estimate individual life expectancy.

Definition of Life Expectancy (from Webster’s Dictionary): “The number of years that an individual of a given age may expect on the average to live, as projected in statistical tables”

The U.S. life expectancy for both sexes and all races at birth in 2001 was 77.2 years. For males it was 74.4 years and for females it was 79.8 years.

At the age 65 in 2001, life expectancy will be an extra 18.1 years for both sexes and races. At 83.1 years of age, males can expect to live an extra 16.4 years, and females an extra 19.4 years.

Life span: The longest period of time that a typical individual can expect to live.

1. The average life span is the average age at which 50 percent of a given population has died.
2. The maximum life span potential (MLSP) is the oldest age at which any human has ever lived. To date, the oldest person ever living was Jean Calment, a French woman who died at the age of 122.3 years.

According to experts, people born today might live to be 150 years old.

Aging: “to grow old or show signs of growing old”
Chronological age - how old you are by the calendar
Biological age - how old your body is in term of critical life signs and cellular processes.
Psychological age - how old you feel you are.

Click on the following links to learn more about the subject of life expectancy:

www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lifexpec.htm  www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/tables/2003/03hus027.pdf  
http://www3.who.int/whosis/hale/hale.cfm?path=whosis,hale&language=english
 

Our organs of our body age differently and have different life cycles. For example:

1. Skin cells die and are replaced every month.
2. Cells that line the intestinal tract are replaced every five days.
3. Liver cells are replaced every six weeks.
4. Red blood cells are replaced every 120 days.
5. According to the quantum physics, 98 % of the atoms in our body are replaced within one year.


History of the human life span (life expectancy of people throughout history) 

                                    Cave man - 13 years

Neo-Paleolithic man (10,000 –15.000 years ago) - 18 years

Romans (275 B.C.) - 26 years

U.S citizen in:
1. 1900 A.D. - 48 years
2. 1950 A.D. - 72 years
  3. 2001 A.D. - 77.2 years

Maximum life span in 1997 - 122.3 years
Estimated maximum life span in 2050 - 150 years

How long you will live? Do you want to live to be 100?

If your answer is “yes,” please log on to Dr. Thomas T. Perl’s (M.D., M.P.H.) websiteWWW.LIVINGTO100.COM). Dr. Perl is also the author of the book, Living to 100.

What is your real age?

You can find out by going to Dr. Michael F Roizen, M.D.’s website by using the following link: What’s your real age?

http://www.realage.com/reg/regvar/st1.aspx?mod=LONGFORM

Revised 12/29/07