Is life expectancy really getting greater?

I keep reading that people are living longer.  Do you think that is true?  Do statistics make the case?  I think that the numbers so support the concept...but I have a couple of questions.

If you contract or develop (I'm not sure of the right term) Alzheimers, does the rest of your live count?  I mean...if you don't know your past, do you get credit for the past years?  Or should your count start over...at one?  I don't know.

Does stress kill?  I ask this because if it does, it would suggest that smart, aware people suffer more of it...and probably die earlier.  If that is so, does that skew the value of the average age?  I don't know.  Do you?  Is it worth considering.

I once told my daughter that if my mind should fail, she should pay the vet whatever he wanted to come over an put me down in the backyard; I have no interest in "living" if my mind is not operating at least close to normal.  I don't care if I have senior moments; I just don't want them to connect.

She promised that she would...but if my mind is gone, how will I know?  I guess my point is that it isn't life that is so valuable; it is quality of life.  Now this might seem like a "puff" piece.  Not so.  

I suggest that even when your are young, what is prime about life is living each day...not the goal, not tomorrow, and certainly never yesterday...in that day.  Appreciate the people around you, what they say, how they look, and remember to appreciate your family and every scene you pass as you walk, drive, fly or drive.  Because only today is within your grasp and appreciation.  Take the time.  Yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come...but today is YOURS.