The amount of time a person can expect to live under ideal circumstances – ideal nutrition, health care, physical activity, social circumstances.
Deeper dive
Helping people live as long as possible, or achieve longevity, by adopting healthy habits is the focus of a small library of books – some based on good science, some less so. Included are titles such as “The Longevity Prescription: The 8 Proven Keys to a Long and Healthy Life,” by gerontologist Robert Butler, M.D., former head of the National Institute on Aging, and Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity by Albert Einstein College of Medicine researcher and director of their Institute for Aging Research, Nir Barzali, M.D.
The field of anti-aging medicine similarly extends a promise of extended longevity to adherents, though many therapies and practices marketed by anti-aging practitioners are unproven and of questionable benefit.
Scientists are pursuing many avenues of research related to longevity. Some have been studying “centenarians” — people who live to the age of 100 years or more and who therefore have achieved longevity. Meanwhile, others have been exploring whether there is a “longevity gene” that could be manipulated with drugs to help extend long life.