The United States is on the brink of a longevity revolution. By 2030, the number of older Americans will have more than doubled to 70 million, or one in every five Americans. The growing number and proportion of older adults places increasing demands on the public health system and on medical and social services.

Chronic diseases exact a particularly heavy health and economic burden on older adults due to associated long-term illness, diminished quality of life, and greatly increased health care costs. Although the risk of disease and disability clearly increases with advancing age, poor health is not an inevitable consequence of aging.

Much of the illness, disability, and death associated with chronic disease is avoidable through known prevention measures. Key measures include practicing a healthy lifestyle (e.g., regular physical activity, healthy eating, and avoiding tobacco use) and the use of early detection practices (e.g., screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers, diabetes and its complications, and depression).

Quality of Life:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted research on adult health-related quality of life. Here are some of their key findings:

• Americans said they feel unhealthy (physically or mentally) about 6 days per month.
• Americans said they feel "healthy and full of energy" about 19 days per month.
• Nearly one-third of Americans say they suffer from some mental or emotional problem every month—including 10 percent who said their mental health was not good for 14 or more days a month.
• Younger American adults, aged 18–24 years, suffered the most mental health distress.
• Older adults suffered the most poor physical health and activity limitation.
• Native Americans and Alaska Natives have reported the highest levels of unhealthy days among American race/ethnicity groups.
• Adults with the lowest income or education reported more unhealthy days than did those with higher income or education.
• Americans with chronic diseases or disabilities reported high levels of unhealthy days.

What You Can Do To Impact Your Aging:

Science is increasingly showing that certain health choices can slow and perhaps even reverse the rate of aging. Even choices made late in life make a difference. For example, people who exercise early in life, but quit, may show no longevity benefit. In contrast, people who start exercising in their 50s and 60s, or even later, show considerable benefit.

The biological age of your body is determined by your genetics, medical history, and your lifestyle choices. However, current estimates are that genetic factors only account for about 30% of a person's longevity. This means that your lifestyle choices play a major role in how long you will live and the quality of the life you will have.

Your true age or RealAge may be older or younger depending on how you take care of yourself. Fortunately, you can impact that by taking steps to lead a healthy lifestyle. The RealAge assessment has been validated scientifically and can help start you on the process to healthy living and healthy aging.

Click here to take the RealAge Test to determine your true biological age.

Sources: Healthy Aging for Older Adults, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; RealAge.com