WANNA LIVE A REALLY LONG TIME?
By Dan Miller
September 17, 2007
It's simple..... just live in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Oh, and you'll need to be an Asian-American woman as well.
Hard to believe, but the "average" Asian-American woman in Bergen County, N.J. lives to reach her 91st birthday.
That's the average!
When I first read that little fact a year ago, my first thought was....
well, we don't know exactly how many Asian-American women have lived and died in Bergen County, New Jersey.
I figured if only 2 or 3 Asian-American women have lived there.... and one of them happened to live to 98 or 100, then the figures could be unnaturally skewed.
On the other hand, if the number is in the thousands, then it could really signify something.
So I looked it up...
As of 2000, there were more than 80,000 Asian-Americans living in Bergen County, N.J., so the statistics are impressive.
And this is interesting.... according to Associated Press medical writer Lauran Neergaard, scientists have long thought that the longer life spans enjoyed by Asian people would level out once immigrant families started eating Western diets.
But that hasn't happened.
A Harvard study, after examining second-generation Asian-Americans, found their longevity advantage persists.
So, go figure.
All that information comes from a report released in 2006 by the Harvard School of Public Health.
I have more advice for you on living a long time.
Try to avoid being an American Indian man living in rural South Dakota.... because, on average, you'll die at about 58 years old.
That's the worst in the U.S.
What's the reason for the wide variations? ..... it's hard to say.
According to Dr. Christopher Murray, several factors come into play, including.... access to medical care.... ancestry.... geography.... how people live their lives.... physical activity.... the complicated tapestry of local and cultural industry and customs.... what people eat.... alchohol and tobacco use.... blood pressure.... cholesterol and obesity.
I looked over the entire list of longevity expectations -- by states -- and found Hawaii ranked number 1.
That would seem to make sense, since Hawaii is considered an island paradise.
But, on the other hand, many other states where people enjoy unusually long lives are in the north, where it gets quite cold.... states like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, North Dakota, etc... So perhaps there's an advantage to living in a colder climate.
Here in Tennessee we're not doing all that well.... 45th, with an overall average life expectancy of 75.1 years.
The longest life-expectancy in our state is in Williamson County, at 78.8 years.
Cross the line into Davidson County, and your life-expectancy drops by exactly 4 years to 74.8 years.
Go live in McNairy and Dyer counties in West Tennessee, and you'll lop almost another two years off your life expectancy.... with an average life span of 73 years.
I'm always cynical about these types of research findings.
Too many variables.
For example, if a Native American man of 57 left rural South Dakota and moved to Hawaii -- would his life expectancy immediately go up.... or would it take years (perhaps more than he has left) to increase his life span?
I'll end with one statement we can all agree on.
It comes from American journalist Henry Louis Mencken.
He said, "No matter how long he lives, no man ever becomes as wise as the average woman of 48."
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