Week Nine: Longevity

From this week’s reading I found the section on longevity intriguing. Longevity is defined as the number of years an individual can expect to live. The two factors that determine longevity are genetic and environmental factors. Now that longevity has been defined I can discuss the three of longevity. I did not even know that there were three types of longevity.  The first type of longevity is average life expectancy, also known as median life expectancy, and this is the age at which half of the people born in a particular year will have died.  The textbook contributes that the reason why the average life expectancy has increased in the United States in the twentieth century is because the decrease of infant mortality and the improvement in medical technology.  The second type of longevity is useful life expectancy, and this defined as the number of years that a person is free from any debilitating chronic disease or impairment, and the third type of longevity is maximum life expectancy.  This third type is the oldest age to which any person lives. 

My friend’s great-grandparents are a perfect example of maximum life expectancy.  His great-grandmother is 102, and his great-grandfather is 98 years old.  This is interesting to me because the textbook states that humans are limited to 120 years of life.  His whole family has amazing genetics for longevity of life. 

I would like to learn more about ethnic and gender differences in longevity because, if there was any improvement that could be made to countries with a current low life expectancy of longevity, then maybe the improvement would increase their life expectancy average.