Who doesn’t want to live a longer more productive life, with the advent of antibiotics, access to clean water and medical intervention we are living longer and hopefully more fruitful lives than our predecessors. It’s estimated that the potential for a human being is 130 years; the present life expectancy for men is 68 years and for women 80 years. When you consider at the turn of the century only 1 in every 25 people were 65 or older, in 2000 it was 1 in 8 and in 2030 it’s projected to be 1 in 5. So if we have the potential to live to the ripe old age of 130 years why are so many of us dropping off the twig well before?
What’s killing us?
The National Center for Health (2006) has identified ten leading causes of death, of which four are avoidable and the top three diets related.
- Heart disease
- Cancers
- Stroke
- Chronic lung disease
- Accidents
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer’s
- Pneumonia and influenza
- Kidney disease
- Blood infections
It all sounds pretty bloody boring until you realize that the doors and foyers of our hospitals are being choked with the fat arses of the overweight, unfit and sedentary individuals that seek medical intervention whenever a donut gets caught in their throats.
The cure all
The more studies that are done are reaffirming that physical activity and good nutrition are the quintessential ingredients for better health, lower incidents of disease, such as coronary heart disease, arthrosclerosis, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, diabetes, some forms of cancer and longer lives.
Realizing our full potential
Ageing may be a natural preprogrammed process that is stamped on our genes at conception, but if our potential is 130 years, and the majority of us are falling well short of that, it’s about time we reassessed our deleterious lifestyle got up off our collective arses and started to exercise eat right and get ready to enjoy another 60 years of life.
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