Editing Longevity (section)

==Change over time==
[[File:GGraphic from Ming Chinese longevity text, woodcut Wellcome L0039777.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Wanshou xianshu(The Immortals' Book of Longevity), by Wu Weizhen (Ming period, 1368-1644), aims to bring together the cream of longevity techniques from various schools. It juxtaposes text and illustration, and provides information on drugs to be used in conjunction with gymnastic practices.<ref>{{cite web |title=GGraphic from Ming Chinese longevity text, woodcut |url=https://preview.wellcomecollection.org/works/eaakmqvc?page=1&query=%22EARTH%22 |website=Wellcome Collection |access-date=23 May 2025 |language=en}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref>]]
[[File:Title page of "Human Longevity" - James Easton Wellcome M0013797.jpg|150px|thumb|right|The title page of 'Human Longevity: Recording the name, age, place of residence, and year of the decease of 1712 persons who attained a century and upwards, from A.D. 66 to 1799' by James Easton".]]

[[File:Life expectancy post-COVID.png|thumb|Post-COVID life expectancy in the US, UK, Netherlands, and Austria]]

In preindustrial times, deaths at young and middle age were more common than they are today. This is not due to genetics, but because of environmental factors such as disease, accidents, and malnutrition, especially since the former were not generally treatable with pre-20th-century medicine. Deaths from childbirth were common for women, and many children did not live past infancy. In addition, most people who did attain old age were likely to die quickly from the above-mentioned untreatable health problems. Despite this, there are several examples of pre-20th-century individuals attaining lifespans of 85 years or greater, including [[John Adams]], [[Cato the Elder]], [[Thomas Hobbes]], [[Christopher Polhem]], and [[Michelangelo]]. This was also true for poorer people like [[peasant]]s or [[laborer]]s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}} [[Genealogy|Genealogists]] will almost certainly find ancestors living to their 70s, 80s and even 90s several hundred years ago.

For example, an 1871 census in the UK (the first of its kind, but personal data from other censuses dates back to 1841 and numerical data back to 1801) found the average male life expectancy as being 44, but if infant mortality is subtracted, males who lived to adulthood averaged 75 years. The present life expectancy in the UK is 77 years for males and 81 for females, while the United States averages 74 for males and 80 for females.

Studies have shown that black American males have the shortest lifespans of any group of people in the US, averaging only 69 years (Asian-American females average the longest).<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Keaten J |date=17 October 2012 |title=Health in America Today |url=http://www.measureofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/AHDP-HEALTH-FACT-SHEET-11.08.10.pdf |journal=Measure of America |access-date=17 October 2012 |archive-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403222730/http://www.measureofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/AHDP-HEALTH-FACT-SHEET-11.08.10.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This reflects overall poorer health and greater prevalence of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer among black American men.

Women normally outlive men. Theories for this include smaller bodies that place lesser strain on the heart (women have lower rates of [[cardiovascular disease]]) and a reduced tendency to engage in physically dangerous activities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ginter |first1=E. |last2=Simko |first2=V. |date=2013 |title=Women live longer than men |journal=Bratislavske Lekarske Listy |volume=114 |issue=2 |pages=45–49 |doi=10.4149/bll_2013_011 |issn=0006-9248 |pmid=23331196|doi-access=free }}</ref> Conversely, women are more likely to participate in health-promoting activities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Crimmins |first1=Eileen M. |last2=Shim |first2=Hyunju |last3=Zhang |first3=Yuan S. |last4=Kim |first4=Jung Ki |date=January 2019 |title=Differences between Men and Women in Mortality and the Health Dimensions of the Morbidity Process |journal=Clinical Chemistry |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=135–145 |doi=10.1373/clinchem.2018.288332 |pmc=6345642 |pmid=30478135}}</ref> The [[X chromosome]] also contains more genes related to the immune system, and women tend to mount a stronger immune response to pathogens than men.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Derek M. |date=2020 |title=Men and COVID-19: A Biopsychosocial Approach to Understanding Sex Differences in Mortality and Recommendations for Practice and Policy Interventions |url=https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2020/20_0247.htm |journal=Preventing Chronic Disease |volume=17 |pages=E63 |doi=10.5888/pcd17.200247 |pmid=32678061 |pmc=7380297 }}</ref> However, the idea that men have weaker immune systems due to the supposed immuno-suppressive actions of testosterone is unfounded.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trumble |first1=Benjamin C |last2=Blackwell |first2=Aaron D |last3=Stieglitz |first3=Jonathan |last4=Thompson |first4=Melissa Emery |last5=Suarez |first5=Ivan Maldonado |last6=Kaplan |first6=Hillard |last7=Gurven |first7=Michael |date=November 2016 |title=Associations between male testosterone and immune function in a pathogenically stressed forager-horticultural population |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=161 |issue=3 |pages=494–505 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.23054 |pmc=5075254 |pmid=27465811}}</ref>

There is debate as to whether the pursuit of longevity is a worthwhile health care goal. Bioethicist [[Ezekiel Emanuel]], who is also one of the architects of [[Affordable Care Act|ObamaCare]], has argued that the pursuit of longevity via the [[compression of morbidity]] explanation is a "fantasy" and that longevity past age 75 should not be considered an end in itself.<ref name=Emanuel>{{cite magazine|vauthors=Emanuel EJ|title=Why I hope to die at 75: An argument that society and families - and you - will be better off if nature takes its course swiftly and promptly|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/|magazine=The Atlantic|access-date=7 April 2015|archive-date=7 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407062406/http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/09/why-i-hope-to-die-at-75/379329/|url-status=live}}</ref> This has been challenged by neurosurgeon [[Miguel Faria]], who states that life can be worthwhile in healthy old age, that the compression of morbidity is a real phenomenon, and that longevity should be pursued in association with quality of life.<ref name="Faria 75">{{cite journal |vauthors=Faria MA |title=Bioethics and why I hope to live beyond age 75 attaining wisdom!: A rebuttal to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel′s 75 age limit. |journal=Surgical Neurology International |year=2015 |volume=6 |page=35 |publisher=Surg Neurol Int |doi=10.4103/2152-7806.152733 |pmid=25789197 |pmc=4360549 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Faria has discussed how longevity in association with leading healthy lifestyles can lead to the postponement of [[senescence]] as well as happiness and wisdom in old age.<ref name="Faria longevity">{{cite journal |vauthors=Faria MA |title=Longevity and compression of morbidity from a neuroscience perspective: Do we have a duty to die by a certain age? |journal=Surg Neurol Int |volume=6 |issue= |pages=49 |date=2015 |pmid=25883841 |pmc=4392568 |doi=10.4103/2152-7806.154273 |doi-access=free }}</ref>