According to an article (The Virginian Pilot “Time is on your side”, Hope Yen, AP, 11/18/11), living beyond 90 years old is no longer a forgone number; in fact, it’s a probability. Tripling in count since 1980, 1.9 million Americans are now 90+ years in age and will steadily grow to 1 in 10 by 2050. The primary reasons for this continuous increase in aging are simple: Advancements in medicine, technology and nutrition.
So what does this mean to you and me, today? Simply this: Wellness now = living better later. What we invest in now will pay it forward through our health at some point in time. To think that we might live well into our 90’s once seemed almost implausible, but now likely. The biggest issue anyone of us face as we age is how we’ll age and what we’ll encounter in our later years. The greater concern is our attitude about our health/wellness today: Are we being complacent? Do we dismiss our current health condition and state of wellness as just something we learn to live with? Are we being pro-active or just reactive to the onset of disease/illness/obesity? Do we attribute our “issues” to our genetics, willingly surrendering our will to our heritage? While these are hard questions to ask our self, we must ask them in order to deal with our future more realistically.
Predictions
According to a pool of experts, here’s a sampling of what we can expect in our near future, from what may become standard medical practices to how the quality of care will provide for our wellness over the next few decades:
Within the next 25 years, a person's whole genome sequence will be routinely considered as part of his or her health profile, just as age, cholesterol level, and blood pressure are now. Individuals will be able to use their genomic profiles to guide their personal behavior, while health care providers will consider them when prescribing treatment. —M. Daniele Fallin (http://www.jhsph.edu/publications/predictions.htm)
In 25 years, screening for depression will be as common as taking blood pressure. As a result, treatment in the primary care setting will increase—and, because depression increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, the incidence of those diseases can be expected to decline. —William W. Eaton (http://www.jhsph.edu/publications/predictions.htm)
If the preceding predictions are even slightly accurate, we can anticipate our life expectancy to dramatically increase/change – underscoring even more the reason(s) why we must take care of our bodies now.
Disease and illness: Diabetes and obesity are on the rise
“Diabetes” will rise as a leading culprit behind many other associated health concerns (i.e. obesity), if we as a society continue to “blindly” lose control of our diet and exercise behavior. When our blood sugar levels rise and our body is no longer able to handle the cause and effect, spinning our health out of control, other diseases and illness follow suit (heart disease and stroke):
“If you have diabetes, you are at least twice as likely as someone who does not have diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke. People with diabetes also tend to develop heart disease or have strokes at an earlier age than other people. If you are middle-aged and have type 2 diabetes, some studies suggest that your chance of having a heart attack is as high as someone without diabetes who has already had one heart attack.” (http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/stroke/#connection)
Half of all Americans will be diagnosed with Diabetes by the year 2020 and by 2050 that number grows to 1 in 3 (http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r101022.html)
Excessive blood sugar levels will increase from 93.8 to 135 million by 2020 (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diabetes/diabetes-half-us-adults-risk-2020-unitedhealth-group/story?id=12238602)
Obesity continues to rise throughout the USA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/AdultObesity/) the following statistics will likely increase in the near future (unless we take action to correct it now):
*9 states in America had an obesity rate of 30% or more in 2009
*$1429.00 in additional annual health care costs were attributed to individuals suffering from obesity
*The complexity and far reaching effects of obesity are attributed to cancer, sleep apnea/breathing, limited mobility and complications during pregnancy
The underscoring value of what the future may hold is simply this: Place a higher value on your health today so that when tomorrow comes (and it will) you’ll be ready. If the predictions, statistics and probability of aging into our 90’s are a likelihood, then decide now what kind of health you want to “grow old gracefully” into (because tomorrow will eventually come).
Quick Tips for Wellness: Growing old gracefully requires practicing wellness now.
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