Is our life expectancy increasing?

Is our life expectancy increasing? A new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany says it is!

Ok, so that’s not to say that people in their seventies should start acting like people in their thirties do – buying houses, starting families, or going on mad holidays with their mates just to feel that last flurry of youth before they settle down!

 

What this study really shows is the change in life-expectancy that has occurred since the turn of the last century (1900).

Increasing life-expectancy has been in the news a lot lately, with the government planning and implementing changes in pensionable age and the NHS struggling to cope with people living longer into old age.

However, the fact that we are living longer is a testament to the work of the health and scientific communities whose research efforts and development of effective medical treatment and disease prevention are clearly paying off.

Of course, modern technology can also be our downfall if we succumb to its ability to facilitate a largely sedentary lifestyle. Unlike previous generations, the future generations of the world have enough technology at their fingertips that they hardly need lift a finger, Skyping each other from the next room and being able to open and close their curtains from their mobile phones!

So it is as important as ever to encourage healthy, active lifestyles in order to take advantage of the extra time we may have. Regular exercise brings a multitude of physical and mental health benefits as well as reducing the risk of premature death.

So join that gym today, and sign your kids up, too!