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Health August 2014

How Long Will You Live? The Answer May Be in Your Mirror

By Teresa Ambord

You’ve heard about a process where scientists use a photo of someone who went missing as a child, then scientifically age the photo to determine how the person might look as an adult. Some scientists are now working on a system which would analyze details of your face to determine how long you are likely to live.

If you could know how long you will live, would you want to be told? What about that person you are about to marry? Before you tie the knot wouldn’t you want to know you have a good chance of spending a nice long life together? Life insurance companies go to great lengths to determine how long the average person just like you is likely to live. They set premiums by betting on your life expectancy so they’d have a vested interest in knowing how many years you have left. Some researchers believe the answer is as close as your mirror.

According to a recent article in the Washington Post (“Can Your Face Reveal How Long You’ll Live?”), there is some evidence suggesting that people with faces that age well tend to live longer. Of course, we all know of some guy who was the picture of health and then keeled over on the track during his daily jog. Every rule has exceptions, but suppose in a general sense, it is true. If you look younger than your true age, researchers say it could mean you can expect a long, healthy life, barring accidental death. Think of the implications.

  • Will insurance companies charge higher rates for life insurance because your face is saggy, making you an apparent poor risk?
  • Will your boss have your face analyzed before promoting you to a position of power or investing training in you?
  • How about presidential candidates? Hillary Clinton will be 69 in 2016. If she runs, should she and other candidates be subjected to facial scans, to predict if they will survive at least one term?
  • If you’re preparing to marry later in life, will your beloved check out your life expectancy through a facial scan before saying “I do”?
  • Then again, suppose a gold digger is after you for your millions. He or she might use a facial scan to predict just how long it will take before you kick the bucket.

The Washington Post article described at length the technology which studies aging, based on details of your face. You’ve heard about a process where scientists use a photo of someone who went missing as a child, then scientifically age the photo to determine how the person might look as an adult. Some scientists are now working on a system which would analyze details of your face to determine how long you are likely to live.

The key is how well you are aging overall, and some scientists believe this can be seen by a careful study of your face. Of course we all know that sagging skin and facial lines happen with age. But researchers also look at how well you… senesce. That’s just a fancy word for “grow older,” and is pronounced “sih-ness.” It’s also a friendlier sounding verb than “age.”

 

Who’s Doing the Research and How Are They Doing It?

The article focused mostly on the work of Jay Olshansky, a biodemographer from the University of Illinois at Chicago. “We know in the field of aging that some people tend to senesce, or grow older, more rapidly than others, and some more slowly. And we also know that the children of people who senesce more slowly tend to live longer than other people,” he told reporters.

According to the article, a computer scans your face for signs of aging, analyzing each section of the cheek, eye, brow, mouth, and jowl, looking for variations in shade which signal that change is coming. That is, change like lines, dark spots, drooping. They factor in race (darker skin ages more slowly because more pigment protects the skin from sun damage) gender (men age more slowly because the fat and blood vessels in the face are distributed differently) and smoking history (smoking may cause lines to form around the mouth). They also compare your scan with others in your age group having similar backgrounds.

Part of the reason for the research is the size of the baby boomer generation and the realization that a growing amount of resources will need to be devoted to seniors. More old people, more cost to care for them, I suppose. Researchers like Olshansky theorize that it’s not specific diseases that kill or disable people, as much as it is overall aging. If studying the aging process eventually helps to increase life expectancy by even 2.2 years due to slower aging, that could save $7.1 trillion in disability and entitlement payments over 50 years, according to their estimates. They also predict that living to 100, with an improved quality of life could become common.

 

Face-age Technology

So what is needed to further the studies into face-age technology? They’ve created a website called Face My Age where people can log on and submit their photos, along with a little biographical information. The photos must depict subjects who are not smiling, not wearing make-up, and who have not had plastic surgery.

In exchange for participating, you get feedback about what your face says about your longevity prospects, although I’m baffled about why anyone would want that information about him or herself.

They’re hoping to get 10,000 to 20,000 voluntary photos. But their research was recently given a boost when thousands of old photos were contributed. Many of those folks have since died, which gives researchers some insight into the life span of those individuals.

It’s an interesting topic. I can see where it would inspire curiosity. If you feel so inclined, check out the Face My Age website and send in your photo. Of course it is far from an exact science, if it’s a science at all. And in the long run, you might regret knowing the answer.

 

Teresa Ambord is a former accountant and Enrolled Agent with the IRS. Now she writes full time from her home, mostly for business, and about family when the inspiration strikes.

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