<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">02-Healthy
Demographics</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To accept "groundhog day" and succumb to death at the
statistically predicted<span style=""> </span>age of<span style=""> </span>85 or to defy statistics to keep motoring on
, that is the question; whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and
arrows of social persecution for daring to hope to be able to flaunt<span style=""> </span>youthful beauty at 113….or by taking up arms
against aging to transform it into "steady-state self-directed long-term
self-improvement project".</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Holy purple shades of Hamlet's ghost Dad" respond my kids.<span style=""> </span>"Are you going to make us listen to the
statistics and demographics of how all you baby boomers with your funky old man
diseases want to flush away your 53 trillion or so dollars of pension fund
money and enslave our kids<span style=""> </span>to
satisfy<span style=""> </span>your vain attempt to perpetuate
your denial of the inevitability of your certain and timely<span style=""> </span>death?<span style="">
</span>"</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">"Yes",<span style=""> </span>I respond "this<span style=""> </span>family
conference is about the demographics of aging".<span style=""> </span>WE ARE THE GENERATION OF OLD PEOPLE WHO WILL RULE THE 21<sup>ST</sup>
CENTURY, according to Ken Dychtwald Ph.D. in AGE POWER.<span style=""> </span>We have a responsibility to learn how to
use our power wisely!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Once we<span style=""> </span>lived in fear of global starvation from uncontrollable population
growth.<span style=""> </span>Now China, Europe, Eastern
Europe and Australia are all racing towards zero population growth as they<span style=""> </span>reduce<span style="">
</span>infant mortality, infectious disease and use<span style=""> </span>planned parenthood. People only reduce family size after the threat
of<span style=""> </span>disease , malnutrition and racial
conflict<span style=""> </span>diminishes.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">A new challenge to a healthy
lifespan,<span style=""> </span>Metabolic Syndrome, has
become an epidemic with over 25% of North Americans affected.<span style=""> </span>"Improving Human Health-08" presenters
define it as systemic insulin resistance resulting from<span style=""> </span>a combination of (even modest ) obesity
("toxic waist ") , chronic silent inflammation, high triglycerides, high blood
pressure, and impaired glucose tolerance.<span style="">
</span>Good genes or regular physical activity can mask it but diabetes,
atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, stroke and cancer are<span style=""> </span>its ultimate<span style=""> </span>consequences.<span style=""> </span>High risk
groups include aboriginals whose genetics were never designed to cope with the
rapidly digested carbohydrates of a supersized<span style="">
</span>"McDiet".<span style=""> </span>Metabolic syndrome
develops most rapidly in people<span style=""> </span>with
depression, lack of self asteem, or a feeling of lack of control over personal
circumstances.<span style=""> </span>Young adults whose
lifestyle also<span style=""> </span>includes smoking,
drinking, risky recreational drug combinations ,<span style=""> </span>a poor quality diet, and sedentary lives<span style=""> </span>may be the first generation since 1850<span style=""> </span>to reverse the trend towards increased<span style=""> </span>longevity.<span style="">
</span>Researchers suggest the "Mediterranean food pyramid", regular exercise,
low glycemic index (slowly digestible) carbohydrates and certain foods and
nutritional supplements<span style=""> </span>as<span style=""> </span>countermeasures ( <a href="http://www.machineslikeus.com/cms/news/the-secret-long-life-may-not-be-genes" target="_blank">http://www.machineslikeus.com/cms/news/the-secret-long-life-may-not-be-genes</a>
).<span style=""> </span>What really drives healthy longevity
gains is education and disposable income in that order.<span style=""> </span>Educated affluent boomers seek out solutions
without regard to cost while a disproportionate number of<span style=""> </span>the lower socioeconomic groups , unsure of a
solution do nothing .<span style=""> </span>Ironically, those
with less ability to buy into the new health technologies are also destined to
have to remain healthy enough to become the caregiver population for the
affluent boomers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Statistics show we are living
longer at the average rate of 2.5 years every decade and this longevity gain is
accelerating despite<span style=""> </span>the growing gap
between<span style=""> </span>subpopulations.<span style=""> </span>The gap between Healthspan (healthy vibrant
productive lifespan) and total lifespan will replace<span style=""> </span>poverty<span style=""> </span>as the scourge of
the 21<sup>st</sup> century (<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/84396/" target="_blank">http://www.alternet.org/story/84396/</a>)</span>.<span style=""> </span>We must remain healthy, active and part of
society and like the "one hoss shea"<span style="">
</span>only<span style=""> </span>fall apart<span style=""> </span>the very instant before death.<span style=""> </span>Failure to do this means physically and
mentally frail<span style=""> </span>elderly boomers will be
35-70%<span style=""> </span>of the population in 2050.<span style=""> </span>This will be an absolutely intolerable<span style=""> </span>"dependency ratio" for the young to
bear.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Suppose if you will, that problem
and solution to this "historically insoluble enigma" are one and the same.<span style=""> </span>Pensioners and pension fund owners have 53
trillion reasons to replace palliative medicine with regenerative
medicine.<span style=""> </span>A world that can spend
trillions on old-fashioned wars can just as easily spend trillions in a "War
against Aging".<span style=""> </span>Imagine if a war on premature
death could produce extended longevity.<span style="">
</span>Just as the computers of 2008 would have been magic in 1908, the
medicine of 2108 after the<span style=""> </span>"War against
Aging" has nearly<span style=""> </span>a century under its
belt<span style=""> </span>may be nothing short of<span style=""> </span>a magic show.<span style=""> </span>Can we "bootstrap it" with what we know today well enough to make
it to that show regenerated instead of frail.<span style="">
</span>Every war has to have a "flashpoint" to start.<span style=""> </span>Fortunately, a "War for Healthy Longevity" can ignite from any of
7 scientifically accepted Pandora's "tinder" boxes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">In part 3 I will detail what we
think we know that can be used to make our healthspan equal to our
lifespan.<span style=""> </span>You may send your feedback
attention "Pharmer Mo" at <a href="mailto:extropian.pharmer@gmail.com">extropian.pharmer@gmail.com</a></p>
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