Is there an evolutionary advantage to longevity?

Evolutionary theories predict that ageing or longevity evolves in response to patterns of extrinsic mortality or intrinsic damage. Evolutionary processes associated with longevity have an important role in explaining levels of biological diversity and speciation.

How does lifespan evolve?

Aging clearly shortens lifespan, but lifespan is also shaped by selection for an increased number of lifetime reproductive events. The evolution of lifespan is therefore a balance between selective factors that extend the reproductive period and components of intrinsic mortality that shorten it.

Does natural selection work for against human longevity?

Williams proposed that natural selection enriches genes promoting reproductive success but consequently ignores their negative effects on longevity. Importantly, this is only true when those negative effects occur after the onset of reproduction.

Does increasing longevity have a beneficial effect on society?

The Health Impact of Increased Longevity Healthy elderly citizens can share their wealth of knowledge with younger generations, help with child care, and volunteer or hold jobs in their communities. But with people living longer, associated medical problems will place a heavy burden on health systems.

What’s the evolutionary significance of death?

Contemporary evolutionary theory sees death as an important part of the process of natural selection. It is considered that organisms less adapted to their environment are more likely to die having produced fewer offspring, thereby reducing their contribution to the gene pool.

Why has the human lifespan increase?

The increased longevity of humans is, in part, attributable to environmental changes; improved food, water, and hygiene; reduced impact of infectious disease; and improved medical care at all ages. However, the above factors had an opportunity to play some role in increasing lifespan only in the last 2 centuries.

How does longevity affect society?

Societal aging can affect economic growth, patterns of work and retirement, the way that families function, the ability of governments and communities to provide adequate resources for older adults, and the prevalence of chronic disease and disability.

What effects life expectancy?

Life expectancy is affected by many factors such as: socioeconomic status, including employment, income, education and economic wellbeing; the quality of the health system and the ability of people to access it; health behaviours such as tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption, poor nutrition and lack of exercise; …

What affects lifespan?

Life expectancy refers to the average number of years an individual is expected to live. It can be affected by that person’s family and health history, genetics, environment, lifestyle factors such as diet, and even age and sex.

Why is life expectancy important?

Life expectancy is the key metric for assessing population health. Broader than the narrow metric of the infant and child mortality, which focus solely at mortality at a young age, life expectancy captures the mortality along the entire life course. It tells us the average age of death in a population.