That's Fit

Little girls born in Japan in 2007 have the longest life expectancy of any other people on the planet... 86 years. Though life expectancy is a complicated issue, experts say that Japanese women live so long in part because of their healthy diet and unique social structure, as well as advancements made in medical care. Boys born in Japan last year can expect to live 79.2 years, while residents of Iceland and Hong Kong aren't far behind.

The flip side of this is that Japan's birth rate is also very low, which leaves the Japanese government in a unique position -- how to run a country with an aging population without a younger population to back them up?

Still, the Japanese are definitely doing something right. About.com digs a little deeper into the hows and whys of the long life spans of Japan.

If you're not a fan of the little white ball, you might want to reconsider. New research reveals golfers simply live longer, with low handicappers the safest. One can assume Tiger will outlive us all. Not only is the guy super fit, prior to his recent knee surgery he was nearly unbeatable.

After analyzing 300,000 Swedish golfers, researchers determined the death rate amongst golfers is 40 percent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status. This equals a five-year increase in life expectancy. Even golfers who ride a cart end up walking much of a round at a fast pace, and if your slice rears its ugly head, you'll walk even more. Beyond the physical benefits, researchers acknowledge the healthy lifestyles of golfers and inherent social and psychological benefits of the game could also be contributing factors.

I competed on the high school golf team and played quite a bit in my 20s. Having kids has since put a layer of dust on my bag, although there have been a few glorious rounds of golf the past few years and one tourney trophy won, upon which I excitedly exclaimed, "This is better than going to Disney World!" Time to dust off my bag and hit the links for 18 holes. Anyone have $50? It's an investment in a life.

Bad news for women in the Washington Post yesterday. A study, also published yesterday, reveals evidence that life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American females.

According to the Post, the study cites that in nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s. This marks the first decline in life expectancy for a significant number of women since the Spanish influenza of 1918, the Post reports.

Researchers have found a link between education and life expectancy. Life expectancy in the US has been on the rise in recent decades, but the numbers are disproportionate. On average, those who continued education beyond high school have a life expectancy of 82. Those with 12 or less years of schooling have an average life expectancy of 75.

So what do books have to do with life span? Nothing really. Researchers attribute the difference to lifestyle. People with less education are more likely to have a lower income which can lead to subsequent health-related issues such as poor housing, crime, or lack of medical insurance. In addition, researchers feel tobacco usage may account for the discrepancy in life expectancy.

In Medieval times, peasants lives relatively short lives compared to us -- elderly people were those who lived into their 40s, 50s and 60s. So the news that the Medieval diet was much healthier than ours should come as a shock, shouldn't it? Well, not really. Truth is, the Medieval people probably would have lived longer than most of us if they'd had our access to modern medicine and farming technologies.

Here's the thing: Medieval people ate much better than us. According to the BBC, they typically ate 8 oz of protein, a variety of fresh, organic vegetables and two loaves of whole wheat bread per day. Nothing was processed, and nothing was refined. Any sugar they got was typically from the fruits they grew. And they didn't go to the gym, but couple that with a day of physical labour and you've worked off those calories easily. They were fitter, and the reason they lived shorted lives than us was typically due to illness, starvation, pestilence and so forth.

Doesn't it seem odd that we have all this technology and yet we're going backwards in terms of life expectancy? It seems about time we started going back to basics. What do you think?

The good news is that the life expectancy for Americans is higher than ever -- with the average person living to the ripe old age of 78. The bad news, on the other hand, is that this age is lower than dozens of other countries (like France, Spain and Japan), and -- while Americans are living longer -- they're also dying in higher numbers than in previous years.

Researchers say this increase in age is mostly due to the drop in deaths from heart disease and stroke -- two of the largest killers in the US. The increase in the number of deaths, on the other hand, is due to almost entirely to cancer.

Maybe the best news is that, assuming the number of deaths from heart disease and strokes continue to decline, Americans' average life expectancy could continue to climb. With continued focus on these diseases, who knows how long we'll be living in 20 or 30 years?

Recent numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows two very different bits of news: on one hand certain parts of the Australian population are among the longest living in the world, while other populations are among the shortest.

The nations capital, Canberra, boasts the longest life spans -- with women living an average of 84 years and men 79.9 years. But the indigenous Australians don't fair so well, with the average dropping about 17 years -- only 64.8 years on average for woman and 59.4 years for men. Why the dramatic gap? Poverty, substance abuse, and limited access to healthcare are the suspected culprits. Fortunately, these groups make up a very small percentage of the entire population of Australia.

Only 3 places in the world beat Australia's over-all life expectancy averages for men and women: Iceland, Japan, and Hong Kong.

I wish I could see where the U.S. ranks on that list.

According to a study published recently in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings medical journal, people who view their glass as half full will probably live longer than those who see it as half empty. Researchers followed almost 7,000 adults since the 1960s, and found that the pessimistic participants were 42% more likely to die of various causes than their optimistic counterparts.

The reasons behind these results could be any number of things -- like the fact that optimistic personalities are less likely to suffer from depression, and are more likely to take care of themselves by making healthier lifestyle choices.

This isn't the first study to show that a positive attitude can extend your life expectancy, so if you're naturally a pessimist is there anything you can do? Doctors warn that it can be difficult to make changes in your core personality, but not impossible. Studies have shown that therapy and meditation are both effective ways of increasing positive emotions and changing your outlook for the better.

A couple of weeks ago we pointed you to www.StateHealthFacts.org, where you can see where your state ranks on obesity, smoking, breast cancer and the like. Now there's news out of Harvard that your location, income, and even race dictate your average longevity. The findings were so disparate that the study's researchers say it's like there are eight different America's instead of one. Well, we have a lot of territory to cover ... and cover it, we do. Want to live to be 80? Pack your bags for Hawaii, Minnesota and Utah. Where are shorter life spans found? Try Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, where 75 is the average age.

The study's team thought they'd find that lack of access to good health care would play a role. And while it certainly does, the biggest longevity gaps are due to -- you guessed it -- alcohol and tobacco use, blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity. Geography may shed light on how dietary customs, local industry and regional trends in physical activity affect how long we live, but the study really just goes to show that adopting healthy habits (and good genetics) are your ticket to living a long life.

That, plus perhaps a healthy dose of faith and a cold shower.