X-Message-Number: 20084 Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 19:10:25 -0700 From: James Swayze <> Subject: Living longer... butt :) We're Living Longer...BUT (Big But, Too) By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor Here's the good news Americans are living longer than ever before as the infant mortality rate has dropped to a record low and life expectancy has hit a record high--74 years old for men and almost 80 years old for women. But. Or maybe that should be "butt" as in "big butt." We're also overweight and lazy and we spend more on health care than any other country in the world, according to a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here are the specifics, as summarized by Reuters Be a LOSER! Check out Hollywood's most popular diets and find out why the stars are addicted to them. http://people.aol.com/people/special/0,11859,237767,00.html --The infant mortality rate (birth to age 1) dropped to a record low of 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000. --For those 1 to 24 years old, mortality has declined due to fewer unintentional deaths and a decline in cancer and heart disease. --The risk of death is lowered for those 25 to 64 because they are less likely to die in accidents, as well as from heart disease and stroke. --For those 65 and over, death rates from heart disease and stroke have lessened, which has increased the average number of years Americans can expect to live. We're living longer because we have better medical care, we're smoking less, cars are safer, and more women receive prenatal care early in the pregnancy. But we're gaining weight and not exercising--with the result that 61 percent of American adults are overweight and 27 percent are obese, while 13 percent of kids are overweight. Here's the BEST exercise you can do. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020121/walking.html [End quote] So, one wonders how much longer the life span could be if people slimmed down to an even healthier weight? The high cost of health care, much argued over, would diminish greatly if the gluttony would stop. Would that people could be shamed into it on the grounds their gluttony pushes proper medical care out of the reach of the working poor. Welfare costs would also reduce and so to perhaps the complaints about it that often catch up the deserving with the undeserving. James -- Cryonics Institute of Michigan Member! The Immortalist Society Member! The Society for Venturism Member! MY WEBSITE: http://www.geocities.com/~davidpascal/swayze/ While there follow the links to photos of me and some of my artwork and a radio interview on Dr. J's ChangeSurfer Radio program with me and the father of cryonics Prof. Robert Ettinger, author of "The Prospect of Immortality". A RELIGION I actually recommend: http://uk.geocities.com/venturist2001/index.html A FAVORITE quote: Last lines of the first Star Trek the Next Generation movie. Capt. Picard: "What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived, after all Number One, we're only mortal." Will Ryker: "Speak for yourself captain, I intend to live forever!" Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20084