Since the dawn of time, the main drivers of death have been a traumatic injuries and infection from lack of hygiene and sanitation. Only since modern medicine made significant inroads in lowering the death rate from these causes, have we even had the luxury to think about the question of human lifespan potential. Early on in my career, I picked up a fascinating book called "We Live Too Short and Die too Long" by gerontologist, Dr. Walter Bortz. According to his hypothesis and studies, he felt that the normal human lifespan was between 110 and 120 years. Instead, most of the population was aging faster than appropriate due to modern lifestyles. It's kind of a Catch-22. Modernity dramatically changed our ability to survive infection and trauma but the same ambitions to alter the natural world brought with it unintended consequences that foster chronic disease. Some people have asked, "Do we want to add years to our life, or do we really want to focus on adding life to our years?" But what if that is really a false dichotomy? What if there is a way to thread the needle and to do both? I think that there is. I think that we can make a conscious effort to both extend our life and increase the quality and happiness that we enjoy.
