Taiwan’s average life expectancy has reached a new high, but the average unhealthy life years that each person can expect to experience have also increased year after year. In 2018, the nation’s average life expectancy was 80.69 years and the average unhealthy life years were 8.41. Although this figure is similar to those of European countries, the trend is in the opposite direction, with the duration of unhealthy life getting shorter in Europe, but longer in Taiwan.
Although longevity is a common goal of all societies, our aim is to extend healthy life expectancy while reducing unhealthy life years. If not, we can expect to spend the last years of our lives bedridden and dependent on others to take care of us, which is surely not what people wish for.
To effectively reduce unhealthy life years, we need to adopt a life course perspective and provide personalized action plans at different stages of life. In terms of subjective perception and motivations, people in their 40s and 50s are a very important group who need to think about how to remain healthy for the rest of their lives.
The government should draw up proactive policies to improve people’s health and reduce unhealthy life years. Its National Ten-Year Long-Term Care Plan 2.0 emphasizes early preventive services to minimize and delay the onset of disabilities, but statistics for 2018 showed that disabilities continued to increase. The government must therefore reflect deeply about how to set the right direction for the nation’s future.
One of the authors of this article — Stan Shih (施振榮) — has reached the average age at which people in Taiwan start to suffer from dementia or disabilities. However, Shih pays close attention to his health. He does his best to walk 10,000 steps each day, while keeping his mind healthy by doing mental tasks every day. By actively strengthening his physical and mental functions, he aims to shorten his unhealthy life “days.” Thinking in terms of days instead of years is one part of his efforts to improve his health.
How can the government effectively reduce everyone’s unhealthy life years?
To achieve this goal, the government must implement more effective policies. Although it is possible to prevent disability and dementia, to gain tangible effects requires doing multiple kinds of exercise of sufficient intensity, i.e. 30 minutes of exercise that is vigorous enough to get you slightly out of breath. This definitely cannot be attained by the usual kinds of community activities.
Policies cannot just focus on participation in activities — they must also focus on the effectiveness of interventions.
The next point is that the government should strongly promote integration of health services for older people. Illnesses and functional impairments happen in tandem during the aging process. The emphasis of national health insurance is largely on examinations, medications and treatment, while insurance does not pay for non-pharmaceutical lifestyle interventions. This causes the healthcare system to miss opportunities for timely intervention. It only provides medical treatment, while not doing much to maintain good health.
Third, the government, the healthcare system, community services and citizens must have a proper understanding of the WHO’s slogans of “healthy aging,” “active aging,” “healthy longevity” and “integrated care,” which are often arbitrarily interpreted according to their literal translations while overlooking their originally intended implications and strategies.
In terms of implementation, it is necessary to go beyond the different standpoints of medical care and long-term care and to develop policies that have systematic viewpoints and comprehensive strategies with citizens’ lives as their positive goal.
We strongly recommend that people in their 40s and 50s develop the following five habits that will allow them to have a healthy and long-lasting old age: First, varied, continuous and reasonably vigorous exercise, along with a healthy diet with sufficient protein intake. Second, lifelong and diverse learning. Third, timely preventive healthcare. Fourth, cross-sector and cross-generational social networks. Fifth, consistent chronic disease management.
It is not easy to achieve an ideal life in old age, but if you develop habits and stick with them, you can achieve an ideal life without even realizing it. In particular, the three aspects of exercise, learning and social networks must be diverse and strong.
The effects cannot be taken for granted, and momentary satisfaction with an activity does not add up to substantial effects. Only by gradually cultivating habits and modifying lifestyles can we avoid further extending the number of unhealthy life years.
Only if the government, and people of their own accord, start planning ahead can we hope, in a decade or two, to reverse the statistics we see today, so that unhealthy life years can be reduced and longevity can become a real blessing rather than something to worry about.
Stan Shih is cofounder and honorary chairman of Acer Group. Chen Liang-kung is superintendent of Taipei Municipal Gan-Dau Hospital (managed by Taipei Veterans General Hospital).
Translated by Julian Clegg
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under