The wealth, health, and lifespan trifecta in the digital age

Scott Fulton explores how emerging technologies and proactive choices can reshape our approach to longevity, healthspan and well-being.

My take on this: Scott Fulton highlights how, despite more people worldwide exceeding US life expectancy, Americans continue to face major health challenges, including high rates of diabetes and obesity, which hinder progress toward better outcomes.

The doom and gloom saga surrounding America’s health and aging outcomes seems endless, but there’s also a vibrant message of real hope. With over a billion people worldwide now exceeding US life expectancy, it points to abundant opportunities for you and me if we can replace subjective comparisons against our contemporaries and US norms with substantive measurements that can transform wealth, health, and lifespan outcomes from aspirations into realities. Several current and emerging technologies offer definitive lane markers to help guide us toward intentional destinations along the amazing journey of life.

“We’re all living longer.” Is it a fact or a compelling marketing slogan? A sharp drop in global child mortality rates between 1850 to 1950 accounts for the lion’s share of lifespan gains, followed by medical advancements, infectious disease treatments, public health education, higher standard of living, and access to better foods. Icn the US, progress slowed markedly in the second half of the 20th century and ultimately flatlined in 2010. In the meantime, the rest of the world kept moving forward, pushing the US life expectancy world ranking outside the top fifty countries, placing it behind every developed country and about 20 emerging countries. The recent global pandemic served to underline an already troubled trajectory. Since 2010, for every American living longer, another is dying younger. This is unprecedented in modern history and unfathomable in today’s advanced society. So, yes, the familiar phrase is accurate, just not for Americans.

Technologies like television, computers, and smartphones are frequently cited as causal, but all of these technologies are prevalent throughout the developed world and can’t explain the US anomaly. Several key factors contribute to the United States’ weak performance, but its #1 ranking in developed countries for the prevalence of both diabetes and overweight adults is a good place to start. Currently, the CDC reports that 48% of adult Americans are prediabetic or type 2 diabetic, and 73% of adults are overweight, obese, or severely obese. These conditions are well-known gateways to chronic diseases guaranteed to shorten life significantly. Diabetes undermines the normal function of every organ and is the underlying trigger of several early deaths, including a 2 to 4‐fold higher cardiovascular disease mortality. Confound the issue with excess weight, and it’s like driving a rusty car overloaded with a trunk full of rocks 24/7 on rough gravel roads. It will shorten its life and require many more repairs than a car operated as designed.

Get to know more about the powerful connection between wealth, health, and longevity in the digital age in our op-ed from Scott Fulton right HERE.

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