Though many scientific, as well as spiritual authorities have purported to give us the secret to a long life, there's still a lot of questions about life and death that continues to evade humanity.
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Scientific studies have offered insights into factors that influences how long you live, or even foods that can help you live longer. Due to the staggering development in medical science and changes in lifestyle, average life spans in the world have shot up compared to the last decades, particularly in the developed countries of the world.
But is there a maximum age that human beings can attend? Here's what The Guardian has to report about what science has to say regarding the limits to human ageing.
The limits of human lifespan
As per a study published in Nature Communications, scientists studied thousands of data sets, and found that there is a progressive loss of physiological resilience in human beings, which refers to our ability to recover from disease etc.
Researchers determined a single quantitative measure of the ageing process, which they referred to as dynamic organism state indicator or DOSI.
This is how the paper defines DOSI,
DOSI is a characteristic of overall health status that is universally associated with the risks of developing the most prevalent diseases and, therefore, with the end of healthspan as indicated by the onset of the first morbidity
The study signifies there is definitely something akin to 'a fundamental or absolute limit of human lifespan.' DOSI helped the researchers determine that the maximum lifespan of human beings might be around 150-years-old.
The loss of resilience of human body is directly the result of ageing, and so the study also states that even improvement in therapies preventing chronic conditions or frailty syndrome, would not contribute to increasing human longevity. The paper states,
no dramatic improvement of the maximum lifespan and hence strong life extension is possible by preventing or curing diseases without interception of the aging process, the root cause of the underlying loss of resilience.
What other scientists have to say about the findings
Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology, University of Brighton wrote a piece for News24, discussing his views on the limits of human lifespan. Faragher reminds us that significant progress in the medical field can occur over a lifetime, which can have huge benefits for some people. He explains,
For example, a baby born today can rely on about 85 years of medical progress to enhance their life expectancy, while an 85-year-old alive now is limited by current medical technologies.
This evolution in medicine must be accounted for when we start theorising on the limits of human age. The earlier study rings true for older population but for children born today, it might not apply. The researcher continues,
As such, the calculation used by these researchers will be relatively accurate for old people but will become progressively less so the younger the person you’re looking at.
Faragher reiterates that life expectancy is only expected to increase in the future, because that has been the trend since forever, but mankind might not still be anywhere close to living until 150-year-old. He says,
Unfortunately, at that rate, the average person won’t live to 150 for another three centuries.
Read more:
⋙ Young and healthy adults: here are tell-tale signs you might be losing your memory
⋙ Here's what you should avoid wearing for healthy skin, according to science
⋙ Expert reveals the ideal time to eat breakfast if you want to live 20 years longer
Sources used:
The Guardian: ' How long can humans live? We ask an expert'
The Guardian: ' 150 years old: how the quest for eternal life found its natural limit'
Nature Communications: 'Longitudinal analysis of blood markers reveals progressive loss of resilience and predicts human lifespan limit'
News 24: 'Is 150 years really the limit of human lifespan?'
