1. Longevity
Longevity simply means "a longer than average life." But how we can achieve longevity is more complicated. Aging is determined by many factors, such as genetics, hormones and lifestyle. All these factors together, along with some luck, determine each person's longevity.
2. Life Expectancy
Life expectancy is a statistic for the average length of survival for a living thing. Life expectancy is often reported for a person at birth. Other factors can alter life expectancy. These factors often include age, gender, country and sometimes ethnicity. As you live longer, your life expectancy increases because you have not died from accidents, diseases or injuries.
3. Life Span
Life span is the current statistic for how long an individual of a species can live. The human life span is 122 years, thanks to Jeanne Calment of France (1875–1997). There are other claims, but Ms. Calment is the most well documented and accepted.
4. Blue Zones
A blue zone is a term used to describe a geographical area that has a reputation for healthy aging and longevity. Many of the claims of blue zones extending the human life span have been greatly exaggerated, however lifestyle factors in blue zones have been shown to promote healthy aging. See more on these blue zones:
- The Abkhasians and Soviet Longevity Propaganda
- The Hunza Valley and Pakistani Longevity
- The Fountain of Youth and Searching for Longevity
- Shangri La and Longevity Myths
- The Vilcambamba and Central American Longevity
- The Okinawans and Japanese Longevity
5. Life Extension
Life extension seeks to increase the life span of a species. Most life extension techniques are only theories at this time. Some of them involve sensible approaches that prevent illness and damage caused by aging while others leave any scientific foundations and read like science fiction. Currently, there is no proven way to extend the life span of humans.
6. Senescence
Senescence is a biological term that refers to the decline in a cell or organism due to aging. Senescence in humans encompasses the changes in our bodies due to aging. There are many different theories to explain the effects of aging on the body. As we come to understand senescence, we can begin to take steps to counter the effects of aging.
7. Premature Mortality
When a person dies young, they are said to have died prematurely. Premature deaths are taken into account when researchers and policy makers attempt to increase the life expectancy in a country. Using a measure that combines premature mortality and life expectancy, called Years of Potential Life Lost, studies can show the potential impact of interventions on the population.
8. Compression of Morbidity
One of the goals of longevity is to push all of a person's illness into as short a time as possible. This is called compression of morbidity. Through preventive medicine, healthy lifestyle changes and other approaches, a person can stay healthy long into their old age.
9. Healthy Life Expectancy (HALEs)
Your healthy life expectancy is the number of years you can expect to live in full healthy. This number allows a more in-depth comparison of different countries and groups than looking at life expectancy alone.
10. Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs)
Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) attempt to quantify the burden of a disease or health condition so that researchers can compare one disease to another. Health economists create formulas for determining the comparative burden of, say, blindness to infant mortality (for example). The goal of these calculations is to help make decisions about which health conditions to focus resources on.
