40 going on 30
A recent article in MSNBC discusses the issue of aging in our modern society, and how scientists have defined a new age concept: "Instead of measuring aging by how long people have lived so far, the scientists have factored in how many more years people can still look forward to."
“Using that measure, the average person can get younger in the sense that he or she can have even more years to live as time goes on,” said Warren Sanderson, of the University of New York in Stony Brook. “A lot of our skills, our education, our savings and the way we deal with our health care depend a great deal on how many years we have to live,” he added, noting that by 2050, life expectancy (taking into consideration only advances in common medical practices, and without factoring in potential advances such as nanotechnology, the development of A.I. or even the prospects of genetic manipulation) for the average American would have increased to 87 years, a full 12 years above what it is today.
Which is good news to me, seeing as to how that means I haven't aged a day in the last decade! God bless moisturizers (I had a friend once tell me that she'd be more than happy to advocate socialism as an economic model as long as she could still buy her microdermabrasion creams and peptide lotions).
And speaking of affording youth and beauty, Forbes published an aging-related article stating that American billionaires today enjoy only a three year boost in life expectancy above the average Joe, despite their alleged ability to buy their way out of all life's niggling little problems (and death, I'm assured, is quite niggardly when it comes to buying your way out of it).
A July 2002 Dartmouth Medical School study noted that total spending on health care in the United States is approaching 15 percent of GNP, and according to Dartmouth’s Dr. John E. Wennberg: "Quality surveys indicate no better results -- there is no evidence that patients are healthier… and there is no improvement in mortality in areas that spend more," concluding that higher health-care spending doesn't mean better care so much as wasteful and redundant medical programs and procedures.
So is 40 really the new 30? That would depend, suggests Linda Gottfredson, a University of Delaware sociologist, on how smart you are about it: "Intelligence (as measured by an IQ-type test) . . . predicts substantial differences in adult morbidity and mortality, including deaths from cancers and cardiovascular diseases . . . intelligence enhances individuals’ care of their own health because it represents learning, reasoning, and problem-solving skills useful in preventing chronic disease and accidental injury and in adhering to complex treatment regimens."
OFF-TOPIC:
Janice Brown will be a terrific addition to the Washington Appeals Court, and, hopefully, a future candidate for the Supreme Court.
OFF-TOPIC 2:
F**k the gym -- I'm gettin' me one of these!