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Although life expectancy is increasing, there is a maximum age limit that we cannot exceed. Why? Dutch researchers have investigated this question.
How old we get depends mainly on a variety of factors, but can be roughly divided into four categories: genetics, lifestyle, environmental conditions, and chance. And one thing is sure: we will all grow old. However, depending on your budget, there are several beauty measures you can take to make yourself look younger. One person who takes this to the extreme is millionaire Bryan Johnson.
By analyzing records of approximately 75,000 deaths over three decades, statisticians at Tilburg University and Erasmus University (Netherlands) have determined a probable age limit. They want to find out how long a person could live if they take care of themselves and die of natural causes. This includes not dying from illness or other circumstances.
Professor John Einmahl, one of the study’s lead researchers, noted that while people are living longer overall, the oldest people are not surpassing previous records. “On average, people are living longer, but the oldest among us have not gotten older in the last thirty years,” he explained. “So the upper limit itself has not changed.”
For women, the maximum age limit appears to be 115.7 years, while for men it is slightly lower at 114.1 years.
This paradox raises questions. If average life expectancy continues to rise, why does maximum life expectancy not follow this trend? Einmahl suspects that a biological limit may be at play here. “There is certainly some kind of wall here,” he said.
Despite advances in healthcare and nutrition, human longevity may have a natural limit. The findings challenge the notion that medical breakthroughs alone can extend lifespan indefinitely.
Although research assumes that 115 years is the maximum age humans can reach and that it is unlikely that anyone can live beyond that, there are, as so often, exceptions to the rule.
Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment is considered the oldest person in the world – she lived to be 122 years old. The Frenchwoman lived to be 122 years and 164 days old and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest person who ever lived. However, Calment’s case is controversial.
The oldest man verified by Guinness World Records was a Japanese man named Jiroemon Kimura, who lived to be 116 years old. In another case, French nun Sister André was 118 years old when she died. Tomiko Itooka of Japan lived to be 116 years old. Maria Branyas Morera of Spain died at the age of 117.
The oldest living person in the world today is Ethel Caterham of Britain, who was born on August 21, 1909, and is now 115 years old.
- source: heute.at/picture: Image by Manfred Richter from Pixabay
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