Guest: Michael Pearce - Doctoral Student University of Washington
The number of people who live past the age of 100 has been on the rise for decades, up to nearly half a million people worldwide. There are, however, far fewer “supercentenarians,” people who live to age 110 or even longer. The oldest living person, Jeanne Calment of France, was 122 when she died in 1997; currently, the world’s oldest person is 118-year-old Kane Tanaka of Japan. Such extreme longevity, according to new research by the University of Washington, likely will continue to rise slowly by the end of this century, and estimates show that a lifespan of 125 years, or even 130 years, is possible.
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Show Notes:
How Long Can a Person Live? The 21st Century May See a Record-breaker
[5:54] Is there a maximum human lifespan?
- One camp believes that there is a specific cap.
- The other end of the spectrum feels that there is no limit and that death is based off of biological aging.
- People that reach 110 stop aging, in a sense. The probability of them dying does not increase above that 50% chance of dying each year.
- One speculation is that these individuals have reached the end of everything that is going to go wrong in the body.
[9:11] This study used only individuals that had verified death records.
[11:05] Study design
[12:47] How many people will live to be 120? What is the potential top age for the subject group?
- 89% probability that someone will reach 126.
[16:11] Were disease burdens looked at?
[17:58] Observed correlates.
- Most were average Joe’s. Not wealthy or poor.
- Most were happy and didn’t live crazy lifestyles.
- Carl speculates that routine plays a big role.
[21:50] Was clustering observed?
- No extremely strong geographic cluster was observed.
- There were some extraordinary individuals coming out of Japan.
- There were more women past the age of 110.
[32:55] A comment on improvement of quality of life.
- Of course you would want to have an enjoyable life if you live to 100 years old.
[35:50] Allostatic load.
[37:20] Many conventional factors that impact fatality don’t seem to make a large difference when you are 110.
[42:00] what about meditation?
[53:26] Death from frailty.
- Falls are very strong predictors of death in the coming years, especially in the later years of life.
