I think the life expansion is merely a byproduct of other things that have ultimately led to a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other amyloid plaque based d

I think the life expansion is merely a byproduct of other things that have ultimately led to a higher prevalence of Alzheimer’s and other amyloid plaque based diseases. We have a few factors that have greatly attributed to this increase in life and increase in mental illnesses: decrease in tobacco (specifically smoking) use, increase in processed food eating, increase in life sustaining medicines, decrease in overall activity. Tobacco: on one hand we know that smoking raises chances of having a shorter life span as it really accelerates cellular inflammation and deterioration. (1) On the other the stimulant aspect of nicotine helps the brain continue to stay active and helps resist atrophy. Personally, I notice more and more people I interact with on antidepressants. My parents and grandparents generations probably suffered the same levels of depression (more or less) but moderated this with smoking. Processed Foods: Modern processed foods started to flood grocery stores after the Second World War and became the staples of the American diet. Natural fats were replaced with unnatural and chemical based preservatives were put in many goods to increase shelf life. We know empirically that these foods also (like smoking tobacco) increase all cause mortality. Alzheimer’s prevention advice typically advocates for a diet removing such items. (2) Better Medicine & Decrease in Activity: these two factors may need no introduction but we know that the older we get the less stem cells we have and the worse our cellular health is overall. Moderate Exercise helps slow the death of such cells. (3) Again, this is circumstantial, but all of the people I personally know with Alzheimer’s and other amyloid plaque based diseases did not lead active lifestyles and I would define their lifestyles as quite sedentary. (1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4098701/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4098701/ (2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer's#Epidemiology (3) https://www.google.com/amp/s/time.com/4776345/exercise-aging-telomeres/%3famp=true https://www.google.com/amp/s/time.com/4776345/exercise-aging...