Ville Magazine l Insider Access for City Lifestyle Mar/Apr 2016 / People Issue | Page 39

HEALTH CHECK

CENTURY OF A LIFETIME

The idea of living forever might seem like a fairytale -- especially in the
1800’s, where the average life expectancy was 35 years. But now people
are living up to 80 years of age. So how far can we expect this trend to
continue? Some researchers say that there’s a limit on how many years a
human being can live, the maximum being 125. That is only a few years
short of the longest documented human lifespan. Jeanne Calment of
France (1875–1997) lived to the age of 122 years. Nobody lives forever,
and most fear dying too early. If you do get blessed with longevity, you
hope to avoid sickness and disease. Written by: Dr. Scott Mindel
My goal is to be a centenarian. I want live to 100 with full vitality
and vigor, have a huge party with all my community and family,
and leave this world as painlessly as blowing out my birthday
candles. As I approach 50, I’m thinking about my own mortality
for the first time in my life. I’ve been pretty lucky so far. I’ve
escaped major health crises, and besides a few hiccups, I’ve
been pretty unscathed for almost 50 years. It became really
apparent as I was considering a 30-year mortgage and started
looking at the payoff date that would happen about the time
I’ll be knocking on 80's door. It makes me wonder, Am I in my
final season or has the party just started? Hey, 50 is the new 30,
right? I feel young (most of the time). I think I look young and
can still snowboard, do yoga, hike, bike, skateboard, and pretty
much anything else I used to do in my 20’s. We’ve all heard the
phrase, “ [