cheryl
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Staff member
Eternal Life Is No Good Without Eternal Youth - Singularity Hub
Longer lives seem attractive, but as we age we become susceptible to a host of late-life diseases that can prevent us from enjoying our later years. But science is beginning to create ways to increase our healthspan, not just our lifespan.
While modern medicine and healthier lifestyles are allowing us to live far longer than our ancestors, in many cases people are clinging on past their shelf life. While the healthy portion of our lives is expanding with people remaining fit and active into older age, it’s not increasing as fast as the number of years we live.
That’s a concern not only for individuals, but also for governments, who have to manage expanding populations of unhealthy elderly people. Research is starting to tease out ways of tackling the problem, according to a recent paper in Nature, from obvious fixes like increasing exercise and eating less to more exotic interventions so far only tested in animals that could eventually help rejuvenate us.
Longer lives seem attractive, but as we age we become susceptible to a host of late-life diseases that can prevent us from enjoying our later years. But science is beginning to create ways to increase our healthspan, not just our lifespan.
While modern medicine and healthier lifestyles are allowing us to live far longer than our ancestors, in many cases people are clinging on past their shelf life. While the healthy portion of our lives is expanding with people remaining fit and active into older age, it’s not increasing as fast as the number of years we live.
That’s a concern not only for individuals, but also for governments, who have to manage expanding populations of unhealthy elderly people. Research is starting to tease out ways of tackling the problem, according to a recent paper in Nature, from obvious fixes like increasing exercise and eating less to more exotic interventions so far only tested in animals that could eventually help rejuvenate us.