LIFE EXPECTANCY

PARIS, France (AFP) — Healthier lifestyles and higher incomes have helped increase life expectancy in the 35 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations by 10 years in the past half- century, according to a report published Friday. 

The OECD's Health at a Glance 2017 report said the average life expectancy throughout the group of countries — which includes the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, and most EU nations — now stands at 80.6 years, an increase of more than 10 years since 1970. 

“Healthier lifestyles, higher incomes and better education have all contributed to boost life expectancy in recent decades,” the report said. 

“Better health care has also helped.” 

The longest-living are the Japanese and the Swedish, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report. Life expectancy at birth in those two countries was put at 83.9 years, with Spain and Switzerland not far off on 83 years. 

At the other end of the scale of the OECD countries is Latvia, with a much lower life expectancy of 74.6 and Mexico on 75 years. 

However, while some factors like a decline in smoking rates and higher health spending have helped achieve these figures, “there has been little success in tackling obesity and harmful alcohol use, and air pollution is often neglected”, the report warned. 

If the rates of smoking and consumption were halved, life expectancies would rise by a further 13 months, the research found. 

A main driver of the higher life expectancies has been steadily increased spending on health care, the OECD said, while pointing out that the growth has slowed since the financial crisis a decade ago. 

“Health spending per capita has grown [by] around 1.4 percent annually since 2009, compared to 3.6 per cent in the six years up to 2009,” the report's summary said. 

The US tops the list for health spending per capita — at US$9,862 (8,470 euros) per year, more than double the OECD average — but the report points out that the benefits are derived not just from how much money is pumped in but how effectively it is used. 

“Reducing wasteful spending is key to maximise the impact of public resources on health outcomes,” the report says, pointing to the increased use of cheaper generic drugs in some countries — including the US. 

Health spending per capita was also relatively high in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden and France, where it totalled 11 per cent or more of GDP. 

The report also warns against the overuse of antibiotics. 

Obesity remains a major problem with more than half, 54 per cent, of adults in the OECD countries overweight and nine per cent obese. “Obesity rates are higher than 30 per cent in Hungary, New Zealand, Mexico, and the United States,” said the report. 

On the plus side, fewer people are dying following heart attacks or strokes, and across the OECD countries, five-year survival rates for breast cancer are up to 85 per cent and just over 60 per cent for colon and rectal cancers.

SOURCE

Life (and Nutrition)

Another thought provoking video (Below) regarding the frailty of life. You might be wondering why I am discussing the matter of nutrition on this blog. Well. it is simply that in my own way I try to view life holistically and find that anything that affects the power of thought is not only of interest but is potentially critical (if ignored).

The outstanding comment from the talk that stuck in my mind was that the type of nutrition regarded as appropriate for a balanced healthy lifestyle is what your grandmother would have recommended, 

i.e. one with a minimal amount of processed food (containing additives). 

Little wonder that obesity rates are so high when 'junk food' is so readily available and cheap.

My dear wife, a superb cook herself, has long since bemoaned the demise of cooking in schools and that children are not having any experience of how to provide for themselves given basic ingredients. At the age of 70 I am convinced that her cooking has played a major role in my personal health/fitness/condition. Every day I walk anything from a minimum of two to eight miles. I cycle 2/3 times per week and I still enjoy a pint or two with my friends. 

However, enough about me, the main message from this talk is that it is the damage to the cerebral function which is the most 'depressing' outcome of poor nutrition. On the plus side, the economic savings achieved by providing nutritional 'boosters' are very persuasive in comparison to more conventional expensive psychological therapies. Thus there are strong arguments for the adoption of policies which promote the importance of nutrition earlier in the 'cycle of life' so that young children grow into adults who are more self sufficient in terms of providing for themselves.

The link to online marketing (which I took up as an antidote to boredom) is largely down to my examination of aspects of lifestyles which encourage making decisions to extend the human potential. I find the subject fascinating and eye-opening as I research various elements of human activity which are fundamental to well-being, both physical and mental. The process of growing old is inexorable but it can be affected positively if the issues which have a detrimental effect on 'survival' (without being too dramatic) are firstly identified and secondly acted upon. 

I hope to develop this argument over the coming few weeks/months/years and I would welcome any thoughts/experiences that you might have and wish to share.

To your health and prosperity

regards

Ray