THE ENIGMA OF LONGEVITY

Ever since the dawn of civilization, human beings have attempted to probe the mystery of longevity. Why, we have wanted to know, do some of us die young while others live well beyond our biblical allotment of three score and ten years? Today, although much research remains to be done, scientists are beginning to unravel the mysteries of long life. Biologists such as Roy Walford have learned, for example, that we have a genetic capability to live for at least 100, and possibly 120 years. Why, then, do almost half of us fall 50 years short of our genetic potential? There are two basic answers: our heredity and our life-styles.

If your parents and grandparents lived to be eighty, ninety, or more, the chances are that, barring accidents, you too will live to about their ages. If your parents or grandparents died of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, or other such illnesses in their forties or fifties, you are more at risk than most people of dying young from one of these diseases.

Though there is not much you can do yet about your heredity, you must understand that heredity creates propensities only, not predestinations. But you can do something about the way you live, and the way you live, regardless of your genetic endowment, can add many healthy years to your life.

Scientists have learned that we are killing ourselves prematurely by how we live. First of all, we eat too much; more than 60 million adult Americans are classified as obese. And much of what we eat—excess fat, sugar, and salt—contributes to our demise. Add in environmental pollution, smoking, sedentary but stressful jobs, too much driving, and not enough exercise, and you have an accurate portrait of an all-too-typical American: fat, frustrated, unhappy, and unhealthy. The only question remaining for most of us is whether we will die young of a heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, or some other deadly disease.