Forever Young? Well, Yeah Because We Ain't Living as Long
There’s this fascination, obsession, in our culture with being and looking young because who wants to get old and die? Well according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, no one does because we’re dying younger.
For the first time in over 20 years our life expectancy in the United States has dropped as a nation. So we’re not just talking about a particular group of people, men versus women - all of us. It seems like we’ve slipped 0.1 since the last time they did this report in 2015. Which when you say it like that doesn’t sound as looming, but in reality - it should never drop. We’re a world leader with supposedly some of the best medical care. With that we should be outliving the hell out of everyone. Instead, we’re dropping with the average age expectancy being 78.8 years.
Other things this report showed is that we're still dying in the same ways. That being said, the top 20 ways we leave this earth that made up for over 74% of the deaths in the past year were the same as the year before that. Only, other than cancer, we had an increase in them. We should always carry on cancer research, but let's not sleep on getting our hearts in check because that has remained the number one killer among us. Thankfully taking care of your heart is an easy fix if you start early. Just eat right and join a gym (and actually go). As for cancer, make sure to get screened. Better to catch any signs sooner than later.
Heart disease and cancer were just the top two of the bunch. We're also facing big problems with respiratory diseases, strokes, Alzheimer's, diabetes, pneumonia, kidney disease, accidents and suicide. Do what you can in your own life to prevent becoming part of the next Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
So while it's fine and great to look and feel like a teen, growing old has it's perks too. Discounts almost everywhere, respect from young people, being able to tell stories of "when you were a kid." The perks are endless, so get yourself right and let’s see if we can turn this expectancy up come next year.
