Achieving Total Wellness Now

This morning I heard a couple of interesting points on “On Point”, a discussion show on NPR. 

First point was: What is the relative cost of health care for people who live to 100 versus people who live to the average mortality age in the US of 78?

People who live to 100 are on average only sick for about 8 months before they die.  In other words, they do not require any health care up to that point.

People who die in the range of the average life span of 78 years are usually sick and require extensive health care for about five (5) years before they die.

In terms of cost, the health care costs of centenarians are less than one third the costs of people who die within the mortality tables.  So they live up to 25% longer and healthier, and they cost a lot less to maintain.   Imagine that!

The second point was:  The key to extending the lives of many more people is being intensively studied by the major drug companies with some encouraging success.  We may be able, on a genetic level, to alter the signals the genes give and receive on aging by learning more about the pathways that these signals take.  The good news is that it does not appear that these products are that far off in the future.

The bad news is that you cannot assume that you can now feel free to just do anything and drugs will fix it.  These new and very promising drugs will most likely only work with healthy genes that are in the normal process of aging. 

In an earlier blog we showed how our dissolute lifestyles can alter and damage our genes.

Remember the “holy trinity” of health and wellness- good nutrition, healthy weight and exercise.

Sincerely,

Paul

Become a fan of Total Wellness |  FREE “The Path to Wellness” E-book | Follow us on Twitter