By Samuel Ukah

Life expectancy in Scotland has been on a gradual decline for the past 3 years. Data released by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that the average life expectancy for both men and women have fallen drastically. Men in Scotland are now expected to live for about 76.5 years whilst women are expected to live for 80.7 years.

As a 1^st world-developed country with free healthcare and education, many would expect Scotland’s mortality rate to be at an all-time high especially with the progression of modern technology. Acute receiver for the NHS Lindsay Etchu attributes difficulties in healthcare accessibility as a reason for this continuous decline.

“Healthcare is virtually inaccessible nowadays, it is hard to get a doctors appointment meaning people can be waiting weeks to see a doctor and if they do so a doctor it is online and impersonable so things get missed. When they are finally picked up, its at critical levels whereas if it was picked up sooner, it could have been prevented”. – Lindsay Etchu

Making a conscious effort in changing lifestyle choices seems to be a way in which we can look to improve our life expectancy. Personal Trainer and owner of Two Birds Gym, Danny Stevenson reckons Scotland is lacking behind other nations when it comes to providing useful healthcare information to a younger generation.

“Especially in Scotland, we are behind the curve with other countries teaching sports from a really young age, but also getting the old narrative of lifting weights for kids needs to go”.

A lack of an affordable healthy diet may also play a role in the decreasing life expectancy of Scotland. Registered Dietitian and NHS acute service specialist Kerri Major links financial distress as a contributing factor to people’s poorer wellbeing decisions.

” When people are going to supermarkets and trying to get healthier options, a lot of people don’t realise that they are actually much more expensive”.

Lindsay Etchu also thinks this saying, “People have tough decisions to make, sometimes having to pick between heating or having a healthy meal so that definitely contributes to them living longer.

Making healthier choices more accessible to the general population could be something that we can hopefully look to implement going forward in the future.