How Your Parents Age Can Determine Your Life Span

There are many online tests that determine a person's life span. These are based merely on the taker's answers to a given questionnaire but a recent study offers a more reliable reference. Backed up by research, a person can know how long he/she is going to live by simply looking at one's parents.

According to a new study published in the Journal of American Cardiology, those whose parents are 70 years old and up are more likely to not suffer from a heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They are at a twenty percent less risk of dying, therefore they have longer life spans (via Philly).

Philly reports that for eight years, the researchers monitored 186,000 British people from ages 55 to 73 who no longer have parents. Among these participants, 4,700 died.

They looked at other factors that might have had an effect on their lifespan such as education, age, weight and physical activity. Nonetheless, the relation between parents reaching past 70 and children with healthier hearts was still present.

The science behind this longer lifespan for children with long-lived parents is genetics. The children's genetic makeup that they got from their parents seem to have positively affected blood pressure, cholesterol levels, tobacco addiction and levels of obesity.

Although, the study warns that this is not a reason for people whose parents had shorter life spans to take their health for granted. For one, the cause of the parents' death should be looked at because if they died from an accident or crime, that doesn't really count.

As per Social Security Administration, a man who reaches 65 years old can expect to live up to 84.3 years old on average. A 65-year-old woman, on the other hand, can live up to 86.6 years old. It predicts further, based on yearly averages, that about one out of every four 65-year-olds will live over 90 and one out of ten will live past 95 years old.

According to Administration for Community Living, there are 46.2 million people in America that are 65 years or older, based on 2014 statistics. This makes up 14.5 percent of the U.S. population or one in every seven Americans.

If given the choice, how long do you want your life span to be? Sound off your thoughts in the Comments section and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.