how much science believes our longevity will actually increase

Society is increasingly obsessed with living longer and longer and have an aesthetic that corresponds to a younger age. Right now there are many really eloquent projects to achieve practically immortalitybut this makes us wonder if our body has some kind of limit that cannot be exceeded. This is what science tries to elucidate.

Nowadays, people who live more than one hundred years are something extraordinary, and we even see their centenary birthdays appear on the pages of the newspaper or on local television programs. But the question in this case is whether the new normal will be being able to live more than a century as something normal, and above all in good conditions. But the truth is that we are far from achieving this.

Two concepts. The first thing to understand here is the difference that exists between the average life expectancy and maximum longevity. The first of these is growing spectacularly in the last century thanks to vaccines, hygiene, medications and better access to healthcare (although this reaches an older population, with its problems).

But when we talk about maximum longevity we cannot say the same, since it is a much harder ceiling to crack. The obligatory question in this case is clear: where is our ceiling that we cannot break?

Less than expected. There is now solid scientific evidence that suggests that human beings have a “factory” biological limit. Different studies, such as those published in Nature, they placed the natural human limit around 115 years. Although more recent and optimistic reviews, based on statistical modeling of the “supercentenarians” (people over 110 years old), extend that range up to 125 years.

Therefore, we are not facing a scenario of immortality, but rather the age progression curve begins to stabilize at a specific point. And this is clearly a brake that biology itself is imposing on us, because our body has a very clear limit in its functioning.

Prioritize well-being. Reaching the age of 120, but with very poor health, with many illnesses behind you or without being able to move, is not something at all attractive. That is why demographic projections for Europe They suggest that, by the year 2065, life expectancy will be between 87 and 93 years.

This doesn’t sound like science fiction, and that’s precisely why it’s relevant. It is not about making quantum leaps through unproven gene therapies, but about the accumulation of medical and social improvements. The goal of modern longevity medicine is not for you to live 150 years connected to a machine, but to extend the “healthspan“, that is, the period of healthy life.

We already know the ‘secret’. While we wait for drugs that reverse old age, science tells us that we already have the “technology” to maximize our lives and it has been used for decades in the so-called ‘Blue Zones’ of Okinawa as a standard. And it is precisely in this area that people It is capable of easily reaching 100 years without much problemand the question was obligatory: why here?

We found the answer in studies carried out in this areait can be seen that the factors that influence being able to reach 100 years of life have nothing to do with transfusions of young plasma, blood cleansing or super-expensive therapies that promise miraculous results. Among the habits that follow we can find the following:

• Natural calorie restriction: They consume 10-15% fewer calories than an average Western adult. And we already know that this influences above all the generation of oxidative stress which is a great ‘poison’ for our body.
• The good carbohydrate diet: their diet is based on vegetables and complex carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, with a very low animal protein intake.
• Youth biomarkers: the combination of diet and constant physical activity results in a lower incidence of chronic diseases.
• Less stress: another great poison for the body due to its involvement in cortisol levels. In Okinawa, community cohesion acts as a buffer for stress.

The importance of habits. In this way, the scientific horizon for the next century does not promise immortality. It is likely that we will continue to see a trickle of individual records and exceptional cases of genetics that cause us to see people who far exceed the century of life. But for most humans, This is not something we get. (or at least with a good quality of life).

The true longevity revolution in the 21st century will be to make reaching age 90 the norm and not the exception, applying what we already know works: moving, eating less (and better) and maintaining strong social ties. And above all, do not wait for a magic pill, as has been demonstrated by the habits of Japanese people who have achieved an effect that no gene therapy has achieved so far.

Images | Ravi Patel

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