How old do you think you’ll get?
If you ask people this question, there are two main answers you’ll get.
“Probably around 80 or something?”
If that’s the answer they most likely did not yet spend much time thinking about it. With the current projections in life expectancy and advancements in medicine, dying at 80 years old will soon be considered an early death.
“Oh man, I hope I don’t get to be older than 70!”
They obviously thought about it and have an opinion on why they don’t want to get old. People who say this see the unfit 70-year-olds around them and don’t want to end up the same.
But they already understand what the first group is missing, that if you don’t get hit by an ice cream truck, medicine will easily carry you through 70, 80, and most likely beyond.
Some of these people will even state that they will end their lives once they get “too old”. But since the decline is gradual, it’s not like there is a day when you suddenly can’t walk up the stairs anymore. Step by step you’ll end up in a wheelchair where you spend the remainder of your life.
30+ years probably.
“100 is the new 70”
Being old does not mean being unhealthy.
What is often missed in this discussion is that healthspan and lifespan are not the same thing.
Lifespan, how long we live, will more and more be influenced by external factors, mainly modern medicine, but the quality of life we enjoy is still mostly in our own hands.
Eating a nutritious diet with minimal crap, strength training at least 3 times a week, and moving every day are the easy habits that keep you from wanting to kill yourself in your 70s.
Ultimately, the question is not when to die, but how healthy you feel the day before – and that’s a future you can start shaping today!
