There’s an old saying that goes, “nothing is certain in life but two things, death, and taxes.” If you take a moment and think about that, you’ll find it absolutely on-point!
Most of us regard death as the full stop after a full life. But, have you ever wondered if your life is actually “full” before death comes knocking at the door? The way we see it – death is inevitable, but the quality of life that you live before is entirely in your hands.
Now, everyone knows that a full and happy life revolves around good health, but people also need to give credit to the fact that for one to live truly happy, there are a lot of environmental and government factors that need to be considered. The health of community members affects, negatively or positively, the industry, treatment costs, state financial planning, and health support services, and all of this in turn, affects each one of us.
This measure of the quality of life is called the “healthy life expectancy.” And believe us when we say this, the measure can predict how long you’ll live after 60 years of age!
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How is the calculation done?
The measure of “healthy life expectancy” is complemented by “unhealthy life expectancy,” meaning the number of years that a patient will have to suffer a severe, chronic disease that’s not fatal. The total life expectancy is simply a sum of the two numbers.
For example, imagine a man in his 60s, in good health, having a healthy diet and good BMI, and sleeping at least 8 hours a night. Such a person would have about 13 more years of healthy living as compared to his unhealthy counterparts.
How can doctors say this for sure? There are proven scientific formulas to support this calculation which take a number of factors into consideration. Lifestyle, age, diet, exercise, adequate sleep – all affect the total life expectancy of an individual. And not just these things, there are other factors in play too, including a person’s education level, income level, current health status, alcohol intake levels, smoking preferences, etc.
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Scientists arrived at the formula for this calculation after conducting a Cohort study on about 110,000 people over 60 between 1990 and 2000. The results of this study are updated every six months because they need to keep fluctuating lifestyle and environmental changes in perspective.
To sum it up
Life expectancy rate is just a predictor; fatal accidents can change everything. But if we don’t think about mishaps for a moment, this is the first time that a measurement tool of this kind has been developed. Although it’s too early for the calculations to be validated with actual data, the model’s assumptions are based on consistent ‘actuarial’ sources, and machine results are often logical and consistent.
