The Longevity Paradox

Have you ever experienced one of those strange days in which the sky seems split in two – blue and sunny in one half, dark and grey in the other? Well, when you’re looking at the longevity of people living in Western societies, that’s one way you could picture the current state of affairs.

On the bright side, the average person’s life span has significantly increased over the past five decades. For example, from 1960 to 2013, it went from 66.4 to 76.4 years for the average American man, and from 73.1 to 81.1 years for the average American woman.

But on the dark side, there are some ominous clouds brewing. In the past three years, the lengthening of the average American life span has not only stalled; it’s actually declined a bit. More troubling still, the previous increase in people’s life spans has not been accompanied by a corresponding increase in their health spans – the number of years in which their bodies and minds remain fully functional.

In the US, most people’s health begins to deteriorate at the age of 50.9. From that point onward, the myriad problems of aging begin to kick in: muscle loss, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, memory loss, dementia – the list goes on and on. So while people have more years to live than their ancestors, they lack the vitality to actually enjoy them.

That’s because the general increase in the average life span isn’t really the result of an improvement in people’s underlying health; rather, it’s the result of an improvement in the prevention and mitigation of certain diseases and health problems. Thanks to vaccines, antibiotics and improved hygiene practices, people are no longer being prematurely killed en masse by infectious diseases. Those diseases used to be especially devastating to young children, whose early deaths drove down the average life span. Meanwhile, thanks to a range of medical treatments, drugs and procedures such as bypass surgeries, people can be kept alive longer than before, despite poor health.

But what’s responsible for that poor health in the first place? Well, you’ve probably heard the main answer many times: the unhealthiness of the standard Western diet and lifestyle, which are notoriously full of junk food and inactivity. But some of the main reasons why your diet and lifestyle choices are negatively affecting your health may come as a surprise to you.