If You Could Live to 100, Would You Want To?

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If You Could Live to 100, Would You Want To?

If you knew you'd live to be 100, what would you do differently today?

Whether we like it or not, Americans are living longer than ever before. For example, an American male born in 2008 can expect to live to the age of 75, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For girls, it's 80. Back in 1960, it was 67 for boys and 73 for girls, on average.

Unfortunately, many of today's generation of seniors and Superseniors are not experiencing the health or the joy of their extended years. Too many of them are rotting away in nursing homes unable to capitalize on their golden years. Their plight has skewed our view of aging giving many of us trepidation and fear about the reality of our extended life span.

NPR recently ran a story which further cements this point. The Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project, who asked more than 2000 Americans how they feel about this extended life span. A majority (56 percent) say they aren't interested in medical treatments that would let them live to see 120. Thirty-eight percent think it's a fine idea.

So, how long do people say they want to live? Only 4 percent would like to live 121 years or longer. Same goes for living from 101 to 120 years. Most people seem content to contemplate a life that's as long or longer than the current average: 69 percent say living to be from 79 to 100 years old would be just fine.

I can't say I'm surprised by these results. After all, longer lives don't mean much if they are not active lives. The truth is that the quality of those years will largely be dictated by the choices we make in the preceding years, choices designed to stave off the aging process. Your body will adapt to what you do most often. If you spend the majority of the day sitting and not active, you are setting yourself up for muscle stiffness, poor balance and mobility, and lower-back, neck, and hip pain. We all know that older folks (generally) have a harder time moving around than younger people do. That's not simply because of age; it's because what you do consistently from day to day manifests itself over time, for both good and bad.

Our generation must live differently by nurturing our Innate Intelligence through healthy choices rather than relying on drugs and surgery after we become sick or injured. As a chiropractor my viewpoint may be different. After all, our profession was founded on the idea of getting to the cause – we focus on creating health rather than managing disease. I would never associate health as something that could come out of a pill or bottle whether they were natural or not), but as something that is experienced from the inside-out. 

Many things can affect your longevity and health potential: diet, weight, exercise, cigarettes, drug use, vaccinations and surely the strengths and weakness inherited from your parents. Chiropractic care is vital to living a healthy life, since every bodily function and every human experience we have is processed through our nerves. A healthy structure and spine is vital to living an active, healthy life. After all, movement is a requirement for nerve and brain function, and if your spine is shifted – nerve function will be altered.

Quality nutrition is another key to longevity. Our modern eating habits are polluting our bodies, making us more susceptible to many preventable illnesses and diseases. We are no longer getting the nutrients from our food that are necessary to function at our optimal level. The water we drink and the food we eat are loaded with toxins, robbing us of our innate self-healing abilities.

When it comes to nutrition – the right food turns on the right genes, and create biological signals that create health, while the wrong foods turn on genes that cause disease and create biological chaos. Colorful plant foods, the dark greens, blues, reds, oranges and yellows are all indicators of powerful plant compounds called phytonutrients that turn on anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, detoxifying genes.

What's great about embracing your longevity is that even if you wait until you're in your forties or fifties to start, you still have time to turn your health around and secure your future. Don't procrastinate; work your plan and get excited about it. Your best is yet to come!

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff.

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