With humans living longer lives, the question of how we make the most of our extended decades is coming to the fore. Barbara Rey Actis details the trends and technology which can help us live fulfilling, extended lives.

…you must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long.” This understanding of time and one’s life comes to us from Seneca some two thousand years ago. Yet, still to this day one of our major preoccupations is how to live a long life – and indeed we are, on average, on the earth longer. In 1950, the world’s overall life expectancy was 45.51. The current life expectancy is 72.81.

Thus, our longevity gives us the opportunity to participate in several decades of an active, vibrant, productive, fulfilling, and healthy life. Achieving this takes significant planning and foresight along with external help from the healthcare industry, technology, and genetic sciences – and those reading this article may reach the ripe old age of 100. In fact, there are some experts who think this number is actually too low. Researchers have recently estimated the human lifespan to stretch to 150 in the not too distant future.

There are a number of factors that have contributed to a longer averaged life expectancy over the last hundred years, but three elements in particular have proven to be key:

Keep on reading on InSights >>

Bárbara Rey Actis is an Instituto de Empresa Alumni where she graduated with honors in 2019 after finishing her Excetuve MBA. She is a senior Marketing professional working for multinational companies for more than 25 years. She is also devoted to research and write articles related to Longevity, Aging Population, Lifespan. Her last milestone is the launching of “Longevity Initiatives”, a personal project created intended to lead the knowledge of this world´s fastest growing and most misunderstood market: The Seniors. She participates pro-bono in different groups and associations to extend her contribution to society, such as “Aging 2.0”, “Foro de la Sociedad Civil”, “Pharma & Health Care Club at Instituto de Empresa” and is also Student Mentor at “Instituto de Empresa” and “Nova Talent”. Bárbara Rey Actis works as a research collaborator at the Observatory of Demography and Generational Diversity.