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The good news in your 70s: Yes, you still have many great adventures ahead.
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The reality check in your 70s: Your quality of life is in your hands.
- You feel optimistic about aging. Sixty-six percent of people in their 70s felt very good about growing older, compared with 46 percent of people in their 30s, a recent University of Chicago survey found. One in five 70-year-olds even said they were “excited” about getting older. In another study, half of people in their 70s said their lives have turned out better than they ever expected.
- You can expect plenty of good years to come. By age 65, women are projected to live another 20.6 years; men, 18 — a two-year jump for women and a four-year increase for men since 1981.
- You’re 26 percent less likely to die of cancer than those in your parents’ generation were. Thanks to more powerful treatments and a drop in smoking, cancer death rates have dropped dramatically since the 1990s — saving 2.4 million lives. But it is important to get screened. Here’s one way to stack the deck in your favor: Pursue recommended colon cancer screenings, something many older Americans are skipping, the American Cancer Society reports. Screenings are the top reason colon cancer deaths fell 52 percent between 1970 and 2015. If you can’t deal with a colonoscopy, ask your physician to prescribe a test that will allow you to mail a stool sample to a lab for screening.
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