We have reached the limit: life expectancy has not risen since the 1990s

Human longevity is a matter of interest to everyone, and research has shown that the longest-lived person in the world was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who was 122 years old. Since her death in 1997, no one else has broken this record.

As with some Olympic records, there is a time when it is virtually impossible to surpass any specific mark, and now that reality has come to human longevity and our biology, which, while extremely complex and efficient, has its limitations in terms. evolutionary.

The conclusion that Calment's age is as high as possible is part of research by scientists at the Albert School of Medicine in New York, USA. This issue is even one that differentiates human life from that of other animals, since for us the maximum life span cannot be altered through genetic interference or drug use.

Limitations

According to the study authors, until the 1990s there was an increase in life expectancy - in 1860 it was 101 in Sweden; and by 1990 it was already 108. In the following decade, however, we can see a stagnation in the upper age limits after the Calment record. For scientists, this would be proof that we have a roof in terms of age and that it is fixed.

According to study author Jan Vijg, human evolution has produced countless systems that protect us from external threats, stress, and failures of molecular processes, but that in the long run prevent us from living longer.

“The problem is that each species develops protection systems adapted to its survival possibilities in the wild. Rats are very fragile and therefore have a very low life expectancy. We humans, however, thanks in part to our brains, have increased our chances of survival, so our system has evolved to live longer, ”said Vijg when he explained why, unlike other animals, we cannot make changes. that guarantee us longer periods of life.

He explained that there are thousands of systems that define the maximum life span of the human species and that when they begin to fail, it is difficult for the body to fix everything, and deterioration simply happens. "Forgetting to take just one of the thousands of medicines that would be needed to keep all these systems in place would be dead."

Mortal

"What appears to be a natural limit is an unwanted side effect of established genetic programs for early life activities, " says researcher Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois, in another study on the subject.

Olshansky explains that all the mechanisms that give us life and health are the result of a whole history of evolution. “There is no set limit from which humans cannot live. But there are, however, life-time limits that are imposed by other genetic characteristics of our life history, ”he said. Similarly, following the logic of comparing the Olympic record, there is a point from which the human body simply cannot get over.

However, as we are constantly evolving and studies on longevity are getting more and more complete, it is possible that we may develop methods of living longer. So, in that sense, the question is: Do people really want to go beyond Calment's 122 years? Would you, the reader, want to live this long?