Life Expectancy?

Post Reply New Topic

I am enjoying life a lot at the moment since i have friends and a caring family. But something is troubling which i read up about people with aspergers living a shorter life on wikipedia.

"Individuals with AS appear to have normal life expectancy, but have an increased prevalence of comorbid psychiatric conditions, such as major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder that may significantly affect prognosis."

I do suffer from depression as well.

God that really sucks. I am only 21 and do suffer from anxiety disorders and find it hard to manage stress but i still want to live a long healthy life because i don't abuse myself by smoking or taking drugs and always eat healthy and exercise

If you want to counter it then the obvious solution is working out, eating healthy etc... I also try to minimize my stress as much as possible, I'm quite a calm person these days.

Well, kind of bad for me, because my biggest fear is death.

Yeah but is just having AS intself a death sentence to living a shorter life? I want to live untill i am 100.

What do you mean by working out? Going to the gym or running/cycling?

My biggest fear is death as well.

No, AS itself isn't. When they talk about psych conditions lowering life expectancy what they mean is suicide. Poverty from unemployment can also be a factor. But if you don't kill yourself you should be fine, if you die through results of poverty that's the fault of society not AS.

Stress, Depression and anxiety affect life expectancy though.

NTs can have all that. Death is interesting. I wonder who doesn't fear it.

[Post Deleted]

Last edited by ocdgirl123 on 25 Jan 2011, 7:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I don't fear it. I mean, I still have a survival instinct causing the same fight/flight reaction as always. And I want to live as long as possible because I enjoy life. But I don't fear death the way I used to. I think it's because I've had several medical situations where I wasn't sure if I'd live or die. And I discovered one of those times that I totally accepted death if that was going to happen to me. All the worries about which of my belongings went to which person vanished entirely. It was just calm acceptance. And that's never gone away since then. It just doesn't seem horrifying anymore.

I'd also suggest if you don't want to go through life with lots of anxiety the fear of death is one of those things you might want to work on.

I can't stand therapy. I can't do "do-it-yourself therpapy" either, I'm not self-disciplined enough.

Hmmm, adding another question to this, does severe depression (for a few years) and being on a computer for hours a day screw up your life expectancy?

If you are going to spend hours on the computer, make sure you get some exercise. Being stagnant for years at a time isn't good for your health.

If you want a long life expectancy, try to find a job that fits your abilities. Stress in the workplace is usually the #1 cause of stress for most people, because they aren't in a position to escape it.

It is easy to set your expectations in life too high, and if what you do in life does not meet others expectations try to focus on the fact that your health is more important than doing a job that doesn't fit your abilities.

I didn't know I had Autism at your age but I did know that my potential to handle stress was not extremely high. After getting three degrees I got a job at a Government
Bowling Center for 18 years. The whole time I worked there people told me oh you are so smart you can do better. Looking back, staying there in that low stress job, is the best decision I made in my life. It made all the difference in my quality of life. Eventually I was pushed into an extremely stressful job, and it burned me out in about two years.

There are some interesting topics on this website about how Autism affects older people. Many of them do experience some sort of burn-out in mid-life and it is usually from living in a stressful situation too long, that they are not able to manage. It also can happen at a younger age, depending on the person and situation.

One of the best things you have going for you is caring friends and family. Positive social relationships, in general, are the number one factor in happiness and research shows that these relationships play an important part in longevity.

The fact that you exercise is also extremely important; it is natures way of burning off excess stress chemicals. Unfortunately some are not able to physically do it. If all you do is walk everyday that will be a tremendous help. The important thing is to stick to something you can do your entire life, if possible.

LOL. Can I use this in my sig?

Sure.

Fearing the inevitable is counterproductive. Live as healthy a life as you can. Eat right. Exercise. Do not permit negative emotions to dominate your waking life. Enjoy you relations with other people as much as you are able. Your end will come when it comes. There is no point being afraid of something you cannot avoid.

ruveyn

Last edited by ruveyn on 25 Jan 2011, 11:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.