My Life Expectancy: Less Than Twenty Years Left?
I only have eighteen years left to live. That’s it. My life expectancy.
According to the most recent data, the life expectancy of a typical Canadian male is age 80. In the US, it’s even less—76 years. Given it’s my birthday this month, I have a whopping eighteen years left on this planet.
It gets worse. The Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy [HALE] for a Canadian male is 71. That means I have only 9 more years of life to enjoy without any limiting disabilities or disease.
And worse yet! For a male born in 1958, my life expectancy was all of 68 years. That’s less than 6 years on the countdown clock!
Am I worried?
Nope.
For as long as I can remember, I have always believed I would live to 100. I even believed it way back in grade school.
Dying young has never crossed my mind. Even when I sat in an oncologist’s office seven years ago waiting on a diagnosis the doctor said would almost certainly be serious leukemia [right about leukemia, wrong about serious].
So why this cockiness about outliving the statistics? How can I possibly believe I will become a member of the exclusive centenarian club?
Lifestyle
Lifestyle, for starters. I eat well. I’ve maintained virtually the same body weight and waist size since I was 18.
I exercise regularly and always have. My daily vigorous gymnastics program gives me more strength and mobility than I’ve ever had.
I avoid most things ‘bad’. Never smoked. Don’t drink alcohol. No soda. Rarely eat processed foods. No meat in 40 years and counting. Hardly any sugar. Drink good water.
I supplement my diet knowing I can’t get everything the cells of my body need through diet alone.
Most importantly, I believe in my pending membership in the centenarian club. With every fiber of my being, I am certain I will flip my life odometer into triple digits—and do it in good health and with a great quality of life.
So thirty-eight years left until centenarian club membership. If I don’t make it, man I’m gonna be pissed!
Here here! Lifestyle is the key!
So true, Pam. We don’t control much more than that.
Hi Bill,
The headline was a definite kick in the gut and a sober reminder of which side of the lifetime hump day we’re on. But even if we only have 18 left, just think of how full and fruitful our first 18 years were (and how many great friends we made!). So a resolve to good physical and mental health and making every moment count can not only help us live long but live well!
Cheers,
Dwight
Hey Dwight. Like the Stones said, “Time Waits For No One”. All we can do is make the best of our time here. And make our remaining years as good as our first 18!