Part of this is caused by the spate of long term illnesses that turn your final decades a slow descent into death, e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dem

Part of this is caused by the spate of long term illnesses that turn your final decades a slow descent into death, e.g. heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia. But the good news is that your chances of suffering from any of them goes down drastically if you take good care of yourself. The point isn’t to live forever, but if you do stay healthy you’re far more likely to have a few good decades in retirement and die quickly.