It’s my goal to live to 100 – and it’s not just diet and exercise that will help me achieve it | Devi Sridhar

andOr most of the last century, the average age is constantly expected. In most countries in the world, children can hope to live, on average, a longer and healthier life than their parents. This expectation is still true in the huge wealthy. In reality, Technical billionaires And Melnderdars was recently Installed on finding The secret of a long life, convinced that with enough money, technology and advanced science, they can inevitably ignore for a few other decades to reach 120 or even 150 years.

But their efforts do not flow to our rest. Poor health crises in the world increases, with average life expectancy Back back In many high -income countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States. In Britain, the recession began before the roaming epidemic and decreased by six months, and in the United States by 2.33 years. Obesity rates rise – not only in rich countries, but also in places like Ghana, which witnessed a 650 % increase in obesity Since 1980, not 65 %; 650 %. Clean air is a scarcity in most places in the world. Mental health conditions such as depression In heightI was exacerbated by financial accuracy and stress.

We have been told for decades that if we only improve ourselves, we can live a longer and healthier life. How can we explain the gap between our increasing knowledge about living for a longer period of time and our collective health? Personally, I set myself a properly ambitious goal: living to 100 in good health and helping others do the same. According to The expected calculator ons onsI have a 9.3 % chance to make it long (although more challenging is to have a high -quality life during this time).

As a person who has a strong interest in sympathy for health, I follow the latest research about Superfoods and what to take. I tried sugar -free meals. I went for a while. I have tried all kinds of different exercise systems from running for long distance HyroxOutdoor camps, spin, hot pailate, bar and yoga -glue. In the mid -thirties of my age, I decided to become a personal coach to combine my interest in fitness, nutrition and luxury.

However, every time my mind goes on the path of “improvement”, I remember my main function and professional life for life as a public health world, and I look into the factors that affect the period in which we will live. Most of them are out of individual control and are attached to the country and society in which we live. The truth is that this novel “self -help” does not reflect the truth of how health works. In fact, focusing on personal responsibility and self-improvement has paid our attention from the real issue-the impact of public policy, infrastructure and society in influencing our health opportunities and longevity.

In public health, research projects have studied places where people live a longer life, or health – think about Japan or South Korea, or within Europe, Zurich, Madrid or Sardinia. In these places, chronic diseases such as heart disease and obesity are much less common. Take JapanWhich contains 80 % less breast and prostate cancer from North America and half the risk of hip fractures.

A lot of work has entered into analyzing the behavior of people who live in these cities and regions. Accordingly, we get lists of changes that we can make at an individual level of living for a longer period, such as moving to a plant -based diet, sleeping from seven hours to nine hours per night and revealing a certain amount of sunlight every day. This is of course useful, but I think that anyone in the regions mentioned above has read the book of self -assistance or has a daily “standing” list.

What emerges in these places is that people who live there not only make individual options that lead to better health – they live in places where healthy life is normalized by the government and culture.

Take the issue of obesity: The United Kingdom is not physical from Japan because it is a country full of different people who are essentially different who choose weight gain, lazy or stupid – this type of logic is not only naive, but it does not suffer from weight gain. In fact, it seems at the level of selection, the UK is more interested in following a diet, with the diet industry estimated To be a value of 2 billion pounds annually and write a diet that sells millions of copies every year. On the contrary, the diet in Japan is small, Worth 42.8 million dollars only. The main difference is in fact in the food environment – including fruit and vegetables at reasonable prices, nutritious school meals and support from the government – which means that it is much easier for the individual to stay in a healthy weight in Japan. The possibilities are stacked against you in Britain.

You can become a healthy “Outlier” or bubble yourself is one of the biggest societal challenges if you have a wealth, time and resources. You can carry an air purification device, drink Matcha Latte, swim in expensive entertainment centers, and even lease chef for fresh bread and prepare nutrient meals. There is a reason because being royal or marriage is one of the most important ways to live a long and healthy life. But for those of us from the general public, there is no completely optional from societal factors: We have to go outside to breathe air, walking and street cycle, drinking the coffin water and eating foods available near the place we live or at school.

While I am talking about it in my new book, if I will live to 100, I need more than my calories account and publish pictures of myself on Instagram (I am guilty). I need to live in a world where health is a collective responsibility, not an individual. This means supporting policies that make us all healthier – and politicians who give priority to good health conditions such as nutritious foods, especially for children, active cities, clean weather policies, preventive health care and general water savings, which must be at the heart of what the government provides to its citizens. There are lessons on how to improve life in all these regions around the world: these are places where good health is integrated into daily life.

If we think about Bons de Lyon Searching for eternity In 16^Y Century – At a time when the average life expected in his hometown was only 25 to 30 years, the lesson may be that answering a longer and healthier life was not in a fountain of young people but in the rise of government, public services, science and society. Technical billionaires can take a flag.

• Professor Devy Sarridhar is the head of global public health at Edinburgh University, and the author of the book ” How do you not die (very soon)