In today’s society, people can look forward to a long life. As a woman, the average life expectancy is 83.4 years and as a man, 78.4 years. To stay healthy and vital into old age, it is important to pay attention to proper nutrition and sufficient exercise. We show you what is particularly important in this regard.
Life expectancy and “healthy life expectancy”
Most people wish to live as long as possible. Apparently, this wish is also granted, because the average life expectancy is steadily increasing.
But what awaits us in old age? The increase in life expectancy alone says nothing about whether the longer life span is also accompanied by more healthy years of life. For this reason, in addition to the total lifespan, the years of life in which we are not burdened by health complaints are increasingly being considered.
According to one statistic, the so-called “healthy life expectancy” in Germany in 2010 was 72.1 years for women and 71.9 years for men. Accordingly, women lived 10.7 years with health complaints and men 5.8 years. But what does it depend on how many healthy years of life we can look forward to?
The natural aging process
Our bodies go through a natural aging process. This is accompanied by numerous physical changes:
- For example, muscle mass decreases with age. A reduction in muscle means that strength and performance dwindle. Most often, this also decreases mobility and movement.
- At the same time, bone density decreases, increasing the risk of osteoporosis.
- Fat mass, on the other hand, tends to increase and for many, this increases body weight to severe obesity.
- In addition, it may come to the functional impairment of organs. For many, for example, the digestive activity decreases. In addition, the liver and kidney no longer work to their full extent.
These changes are quite natural, but are pronounced differently in each person.
The influence of lifestyle on aging
However, the extent of the changes that accompany the aging process is not only a consequence of age, but also of lifestyle. Early on, our lifestyle sets the course for our well-being in old age. Those who smoke a lot in their younger years, exercise little, eat unhealthily and too much, have a higher risk of developing a chronic disease in old age.
In particular, people who are heavily overweight increase the risk of chronic metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, elevated blood lipid levels, arteriosclerosis and high blood pressure. Furthermore, skeletal and muscular diseases, cancer and dementia are significantly influenced by lifestyle.
Therefore, it is important to deal with the issue of aging at an early stage. If we take care of our bodies carefully, we can slow down many of the changes or even prevent them altogether.
