Does longevity run in families?
I was wondering, because many people in my family have lived to be very old.
My mother's grandmother lived until she was almost 103 years old. I have a lot of great aunts and uncles on this side of the family that are over 80 and still going strong.
My dad's grandfather and great-grandfather both lived to be 97. On this side of my family, there are a lot of people that lived to be 80+. My own grandmother is almost 84 and I think she's still pretty healthy.
Does this run in families? Or are my family members just lucky? I'm curious.
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Although there are many factors that may affect the length of ones life, I think that the most effective factor is the environment that one lives in. Whether or not they are being exposed to hazardous materials such as smoke which can decrease the length of ones life. Also, various activities that or drugs that one takes may also affect.
The second factor could be genes. For example, how tall a person becomes is due to polygenic inheritance. This is a type of inheritance where multiples or thousands of genes play a role, and thus results in a variation of height. Same with the skin color. Although, i'm not so sure whether these genes play the same role in the longevity of a person, but if it did, then these would be the second factor aside from environmental surroundings.
Genes inherited through your family are believed to play a role in longevity, but they do not completely decide it either. About half is genes and half is lifestyle. (not sure what the actual percentages were).