It is time to work on the extension of body growth and reproductive stages.

Abstract

There are three major changes for the human lifespan in the past half decade: the decreased age of sexual maturity, slight increase in age of menopause/ andropause, and a trend of increase in life expectancy. The ages of puberty and menopause are the transitions in life stages, such that early puberty leads to loss and late menopause leads to gain the lifespan. So far, the strategies for increased lifespan have been largely focused on the post-reproductive stage. These approaches are challenging and may at some point reach a plateau. It might be interesting to expand this focus to potentially delaying the puberty and extending the period of body growth, which might yield longer reproductive stages as well as the longer and healthier lifespan.