Longevity: Why focus on quality and not just the amount of years lived

More than living many years, one of the main current concerns is that these years will be well lived. After all, what’s the point of living a lot if the days are marked by disabling diseases or poor quality of life?

To answer the question, the CNN He talked to different longevity experts to understand why professionals in the field, as well as ordinary people, are turning their attention to the quality of the lived years and not just for quantity. Check it out!

What is longevity

It is common to confuse longevity with another well -known term: life expectancy. This technical concept, however, refers to the average number of years of life expected for a newborn in a given geographical space (a country, city, neighborhood and etc.), maintaining the population’s mortality pattern.

Currently, Brazil’s life expectancy is 76.4 years (73.1 for men and 79.1 for women), but it was 45.5 years in the 1940s, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Longevity, on the other hand, concerns the way these lived years will be used. “We are talking about the existence of the person and not just the numbers or the duration of their life,” explains Milton Crenitte, technical director International Center for Longevity Brazil, and who has extensive experience as a consultant in longevity by UNESCO in the country.

Is it possible to measure longevity?

But how to know if a person is, in fact, having quality of life? Currently, some indicators help to answer this question. One is the so -called “Disability Adjustped Life Years” (Dalys) or “years of disability -adjusted”.

Used globally, including the World Health Organization (WHO), since the 1990s, Daly is a metric that points to a year of healthy life lost by a disabling disease.

“When one has a disease that leads to a premature death, one year old is lost. Therefore, a year of healthy life is asked because you die earlier. However, some diseases can make the person not die, but be weakened in bed and unable to do anything and it also makes them lose a year of life, ”explains Ricardo Vassern, CEO of Mar Saúde, startup focused on solutions Early detection of disease detection.

According to the global study Burden of Disease, which uses Dalys as a parameter, Brazil loses, on average, 0.33 healthy years per inhabitant. The main causes are cardiovascular disease, cancer, musculoskeletal conditions, mental disorders, among other pathologies.

Care should not be restricted to the elderly

Changing the quantitative look to the qualitative of the lived years, according to Crenitte, is directly linked to the understanding that access to social rights is essential to ensure a good quality of life in maturity.

Moreover, there is an evolution in the way people see care with their own body. If before the goal was just to live many years, now the goal is to live many years with quality. And this care should not be limited to the population over 60.

Decades ago, medical offices were predominantly frequented by more advanced or debilitated patients, often facing immobility and multiple diseases without adequate control. In recent years, however, there is an increase in awareness on the part of the population, which seeks pre-trial care more early, as well as by doctors, who have directed patients to a broader and more preventive approach with the geriatrician.

Ana Carolina Garcia and Garcia, geriatric and director of the Brazilian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology of São Paulo, observes a growing movement of younger patients seeking specialized care. According to her, doctors from other fronts have also referred patients for full follow -up.

“There was an increase in the number of men between 50 and 60 years old who spontaneously seek the geriatrician, without the need to be carried by wives or children. In addition, we are seeing a growth in search of young adults, between 30 and 40 years old, who want to invest in a more promising, happy and functional aging. We are entering the it was from prevention previously restricted to cardiologists because of the high prevalence of cardiovascular events in adults, ”says Ana Carolina.

According to the doctor, the greatest concerns reported by patients are related to the lack of control of pre-existing diseases and the search for ways to prevent the emergence of new health conditions. The focus is to understand how to keep these diseases under control so that they do not get worse or cause long -term limitations.

How to achieve longevity

If desire is to live longer and with quality of life, it is necessary to know how to achieve such objective. The revenue, however, involves a set of individual measures, health professionals and the public power.

First involves the adoption of a healthy lifestyle, with a nutritious and balanced diet, the practice of physical activities regularly, mental health care and the surrounding relationships, periodic consultations, vaccination on time, among other attitudes that preserve the well-being.

Added to this, it is important to mobilize doctors and other health agents for preventive actions that contribute to the early detection of disease.

“There are many of them that pass silent and when the person feels something is too late. Diabetes is a classic example. At first it feels nothing, but gradually generates problems to the kidneys, the eyes, the circulation and eventually the person goes into dialysis, which causes the person to lose their ability and to take an infection – increasing their chance To die, ”says Vasserman.

Finally, Crenitte reinforces the importance of public policies that ensure access to the population to quality food, spaces where she can exercise, and health centers where she can take care of her body and mind.

“From a deep intersectoral view that guarantees money, funds, rights and access, then, for sure, we will have a much healthier life for all. A society that invests in this will spend much less, because this population will be active, economically viable longer, will generate fewer expenses. Encourage a healthy life to have a better future, not just for a minority group of people, ”concludes Crenitte.

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This content was originally published in longevity: why focus on quality and not only years lived on the CNN Brazil website.

Source: CNN Brasil