I was discussing longevity with my doctor friend the other day and we came across this interesting USA actuarial life expectancy chart. Notice the percentage column: When you’re born, you have an 89% chance of making it to age 50, 81% chance of making it to 60, 66% chance of making it to 70, 44% chance of making it to 80, 14% chance of making it to 90, and a 0.7% chance of making it to 100. Obviously, odds of hitting milestones improve as you get older. So at age 60, you have a 50% chance of making it to 80.
The anecdote often used to disparage the ancestral diet about “cavemen only lived to be 30!” is true due to high infant mortality and primitive hazards like starvation and predator danger, but research reveals that if our ancestors from 10,000 years ago were able to reach age 19, their life expectancy was 53. A passage citing research in the The Primal Blueprint reads: “It was not uncommon for primitive humans to live seven or eight decades in good health.” A stunning insight about primal longevity is the scientific observation called “maximum observed lifespan” of 94 years in prehistoric times! Our ancestors were capable of amazing longevity without any medicine or modern interventions.
Regarding the modern stats, I’m not really buying into these numbers. We must acknowledge that we are in a measurement pool of the fattest, sickest, least active population in the history of humanity. We are tanking the stats today. Instead of seeing myself as a stat, I intend on sailing past 100 with no problem, and then aspire to put up bigger numbers after that. How can I be so sure? Well, we now have fantastic ways to measure our longevity prospects. One of them that’s come to the forefront is VO2 max—the amount of oxygen you can consume (per kilo of bodyweight) when performing at max effort. Extensive research draws a strong correlation between VO2 Max and longevity.
Experts contend that a bare minimum passing grade for healthy status is 32 ml/min/kg. If you fall below 19 ml/min/kg, you face imminent failure of your cardiovascular system and death by natural causes. Of course, there are other fantastic markers that optimize your biological age, including grip strength, push-up competency, and squat competency; a huge Cooper Institute study suggests your time in the mile run at age 50 is strongly predictive of your chances of making it to 85 in good health. Of course, getting favorable blood work at your annual exam is also great, but we can expand the lens further now to physical fitness markers.
Strive to be more than just a contributor to pathetic statistics. Do the best you can with all of your lifestyle behaviors and perhaps form the expectation that you “should” make it to 100 unless you get in your own way. To see how you stand now with blood markers and genetic particulars, consider getting started with a comprehensive precision medicine program with expert one-on-one consultation from Wild Health. Use code: BRAD20 for 20% off!
