Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If you guys have been on CD and read any of my posts, you know where I stand. Firmly behind Fiction. It seems like some marketing gimmick to sell seaweed or fish as aides to prolonging human life. My first "tip-off" is that I studied with Japanese students, and they eat just what many other people eat, including beef and pork.
Maybe they eat more rice, but with all the arsenic...how can that be conducive to longevity? But as they say there are three types of lies:
Lies
Da_ned Lies
and Statistics
"demographic experts say they doubt that discoveries of the living or the dead would have much impact on Japan’s vaunted life expectancy figures; the country has the world’s highest life expectancy" I'm not sure who these experts are, but I'd advise them to keep checking. Some numbers at the high end can really skew an average. I'd bet anything they were using an average and not the median...
As we have found out time and time again, if there is free money to be collected, there will be fraud, boys and girls. To my knowledge, Japan's economy has been in serious trouble for decades, and they were just mailing people checks on TRUST? I'll trust that my fellow CDers will discuss the bejesus out of this topic.
Longevity is a genetically determined thing (telomere length) and life-style & fortune can only shorten that ultimate limit.
Studies comparing Americanized Japanese show they don't live as long (by only a few months) than those in Japan. It must be the diet!-- as if that's the only difference between the two populations.
The myth of The Mediterranean Diet is interesting: the concept was originated by studying the life histories of one lousy clan of about 2 dz Cypriots who headed for the hills and lived off the land during WWII. Lucky for them and the relative inbreeding of an island population, they all had long lives., so, again, it must be the diet!
I believe it to be factual that Japanese live longer. The life expectancy of men is 79 years and for women it's a little over 86 years. I have no knowledge or information regarding anything contained in the links posted by the OP however.
I've had the opportunity to observe the Japanese for nearly 30 years. I've worked with them and along side them. I've ate with them daily,and I've socialized with them many times. All of this has given me an insight into them that the average American won't have, so I'd like to list several observations.
1. After WWII the Japanese had one of the shortest life spans of any developed country, which suggests to me that their longevity is not a product of genetics. They are a smaller people that go to the Dr. far more often than Americans do, and from what I have observed they are keenly aware of the need to protect themselves from viruses and communicable diseases.
2. The Japanese diet is much healthier than our own. For example, they eat far more fish and far less red meat than we do. I will say however, that when new Japanese team members come to the U.S. they quickly stray from their typical diet and start eating like their American counterparts. Case in point, when they first arrive they eat mostly fish and rice, with a lot of tofu thrown in the mix. Give them a year though and they fall in love with cheeseburgers and french fries. Keep in mind that this is temporary, as they go back to Japan and return to their normal,fish heavy diet. I could write pages about the Japanese diet, but you get the picture.
3. Japanese people do not sit as much as Americans do. It's almost comical to see Japanese management members in a long meeting because they tend to fall asleep quickly. The Japanese tend to stand, where we might be looking for the nearest chair. In Japan, people walk, ride bikes, or take commuter trains all the time, which of course is the opposite of our sedentary lifestyle.
4. The Japanese are very social people. Not only that, they still value family very highly. The eldest is still responsible for taking care of aging parents, which ensures them very good care as they age. Not all do this, but a large part still do. Also, the Japanese businessmen require after hours socializing, which studies have shown can lead to increased longevity. This in spite of the heavy smoking and drinking they do.
At any rate, I could probably write a book on the subject. From my personal observations only, I can see a lot of reasons for the Japanese living so long. YMMV.
The USA pays vastly more for medical care than other civilized nations and yet has a shorter or similar lifespan - meaning that we ain't getting much for our money!
Quite close to Cuba, actually. Pretty amazing since their health care costs are known to be less than $500 per person per year (we are 10,800 and climbing quickly)....
Costa Rica is ahead of us. Amazing!
I guess it goes to show.....we know how to churn money and get nothing for it. But we make some great weapons.
At any rate, I could probably write a book on the subject. From my personal observations only, I can see a lot of reasons for the Japanese living so long. YMMV.
For a nation to achieve things it must try.
That's a BIG problem here in the USA...where we can't even agree that 64 OZ sodas might fatten up the population and cost society big time....or that maybe too much fast food lowers the life span (or at least the healthy life span)...
There is an article I read about the Japanese and IQ - highest in the world now, but it wasn't before. They embarked on a program and raised the national IQ 7 points in less than 20 years.
Imagine if we did that? Instead we have guys like Rich Perry who want to do away with departments that they can't even remember the name of (Education being one) and then who get put in charge of one of those departments....the one in charge of nuclear weapons!
You couldn't make this stuff up if you were trying to write a comedy or fiction.
At some point the USA has to get it together - and, as the founders said "Hang together....or surely we will hang separately".
Have you lived in Japan. If so where; in Tokyo or in some of the small rural cities. I did. It was very obvious that there were many older Japanese people that were still active than in America. When I moved into my home the maid of the previous tenant asked me is she could continue to clean my place. She was 80, and still did everything including riding her bike or walking the 2 to 3 miles to my house. That was very common to see there.
There were almost no commercial restaurants there except Shoney's Big Boy and McDonalds. Everything else was local mom/pop places. Yes there were some very unhealthy places (Fried cheese rolls anyone), but they ate in general a much healthier diet and way way more seafood than the average American and there were very, very few overweight Japanese compared to the U.S.
It isn't just diet, there is genetics, lifestyle, etc. Regardless or the reason, having lived there I can say it is a fact that there is a larger population of active elderly people in Japan compared to U.S. At least outside of Tokyo.
It isn't just diet, there is genetics, lifestyle, etc. Regardless or the reason, having lived there I can say it is a fact that there is a larger population of active elderly people in Japan compared to U.S. At least outside of Tokyo.
I think you are largely correct except with the "genetics" part.
If Japan could raise their IQ's by a vast amount in a generation due to a PROGRAM, then education and lifestyle and diet can do the same thing.
In other words, we in the USA could do similar if we didn't have so many here fighting against their own interests. We are rotting from the inside out. No one need conquer us because we are our own worst enemy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
