Diaconu, V., Ouellette, N., Camarda, C. G., & Bourbeau, R. (2016). Insight on ‘typical’ longevity: An analysis of the modal lifespan by leading causes of death in Canada. Demographic Research, 35, 471-504.
The article develops a comprehension that Canada is one of the countries experiencing the highest degrees of life expectancy among the different developed countries. Diaconu, Ouellette, Camarda, and Bourbeau (2016) opine that the existing trends of longevity among industrialized nations are critical due to the economic stability of the elderly populations. The death rates are meager among older adults in Canada because they have lifestyles that are more responsive and equal to medical progress.
The authors further depict that the prime factors affecting Canada’s lifespan are cerebrovascular diseases, heart diseases, and equally, the three cancer categories: prostate and breast, colorectal and trachea, and lung cancer. Consequently, Diaconu et al. (2016) allude that there is a need for older adults to embrace the practice of life extension and reduce the diseases mentioned above that might cost their lives. Holistically, the article advocates proper health maintenance and prevents the conditions before they manifest in the body. The older population will subsequently live longer without developing hazardous diseases with high chances of manifesting among the elderly.
Goodwin, J. S. (2017). Fear of life extension. The Journal of Gerontology, 72(3), p. 354.
The article criticizes individuals and theological organizations that are against the idea of life extension and longevity. Goodwin (2017) opines that despite the older adults who have undergone longevity procedures being ill-health in care homes, and in wheelchairs, there is a need to focus on the positive impacts of life extension. Longevity has a vast potential of making people live a healthy life that is free of any illnesses.
The author understands the societal reality that people want to live no matter whether they are healthy or sick. Everybody fights to ensure that despite being ill, they survive and live to see another day. Goodwin (2017) further defends the idea of life extension by reiterating that opposers should not consider life extension as an act practiced for the elderly adults in society but rather everyone that gets sick. In other words, at any given moment that one falls ill and goes to the hospital; despite the age, the practice of longevity and life extension becomes evident. Therefore, the article postulates a vivid understanding that individuals and theological institutions should see the life longevity analogy. This is a way of saving people’s lives at any age, as opposed to an act of prolonging suffering among older persons.
Olshansky, S. J., & Carnes, B. A. (2019). Inconvenient truths about human longevity. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, 74(1).
The article applauds longevity, considering that it increases life expectancy and reduces the death rates and the middle and older adults. Olshansky and Carnes (2019) depict that research institutions should improve the quality of life expectancy in the future. The authors estimate that the life expectancy rate is likely to reduce in the future, hence needing health and medical strategies to boost people’s lives.
Besides, the authors understand that life extension approaches will be the main formula for breaking the life expectancy barrier in the future. The biological techniques will allow humans to live for long with a healthy life span. Holistically, the author challenges and motivates medical research institutions to develop critical strategies to ensure that people lead ordinary, comfortable, and healthy lives beyond the predicted shortened lifespan.
Stambler, I. (2017). Human life extension: Opportunities, challenges, and implications for public health policy. Anti-aging Drugs: From Basic Research to Clinical Practice, Royal Society of Chemistry, London, 535-564.
The article discusses the life-extension policies whereby it questions the availability of the practice and its impact on society. Stambler (2017) examines the effectiveness of the life-extension treatment procedure and the social sustainability and relationship gap between the rich and the poor. Understandably, considering that life expectancy is projected to reduce in the future, there are high chances that the longevity treatment will be even more expensive.
Moreover, the author mentions that because the cost of life expansion treatment will increase, it is only the rich in society who is going to afford it. This will bring many social conflicts between the affluent and the poor. Connectedly, the researcher, ends the chapter by opining that there is a need for governments to develop critical strategies that will make the service cheap in the future, enhancing affordability.
Van den Berg, N., Rodríguez-Girondo, M., van Dijk, I. K., Mourits, R. J., Mandemakers, K., Janssens, A. A.,… & Slagboom, P. E. (2019). Longevity defined as top 10% survivors and beyond is transmitted as a quantitative genetic trait. Nature Communications, 10(1), 1-12.
The article advocates for the idea of longevity and life extension among older people. According to Van den Berg et al. (2019), individuals that embrace life extension and live for more than eighty years have a thirty-one percent chance of transferring their genetics to ten percent of their subsequent generation. In other words, the authors develop an understanding that life longevity can increase the world’s lifespan tremendously.
Additionally, the article presents the idea that longevity and life extension reduce the chances of getting old and subsequent-related diseases. The aspect of artificially expanding the lifespan that a person lives minimizes the risk of older adults developing diverse conditions, including dementia, depression, diabetes, and other pulmonary diseases. When some of these genetic ill-health conditions cease to exist among the individuals, there are high chances that they might equally stop manifesting in the ten percent of the subsequent generation. Statistically, when the reoccurrence continues to reduce by ten percent in the succeeding generations, the individuals will develop an immunity against the diseases.