It’s best to use a broker who deals with several companies, if you know little about buying life insurance. A broker can educate you about the different options available and how the cash values accumulate. He can even explain to you what the policy will cost you over different periods of time. Although your premium is based on your age, that too can increase over a period of time.
If the protection you want exceeds $500,000, you can purchase a few policies from various companies. Required by law, each state has its own life insurance guaranty corporation.  This is to protect insureds in the event an insurer is unable to pay a claim. But there are limits to this type of protection. The limits here are generally $300,000 up to $500,000 and any policy that goes over this amount are not covered.
Some typical questions to ask your agent are: How do cash values accumulate? In the past year, how has the policy
s cash value performed? Does this policy have any special features? and do add value or are they just bells and whistles? What is the rating of the company with Standard & Poor’s, Best and Moody’s?  These ratings can be found online and in public libraries. If the company is financially stable, they will be listed in the top three.

Standard, substandard, preferred and uninsurable, are the four groups that insurance companies use to divide us up. If you are preferred, you are seen as a low risk.  You do not work in a high risk job, you are not sick, are in good health and so you pay lower premiums. If you are in the standard group you are knows as an average risk. You have no illness that is terminal but have had a few health issues. Your have no hobby that is seen as high risk and so you pay the average cost for similarly situated insureds.
The substandard category is for those who have a high risk job, like a pilot or diver or even a scaffold worker. You already have a chronic illness as in diabetes, high blood pressure or heat disease. These people will have a higher premium. The uninsurable people have a terminal illness so you are definitely a high risk and you will probably not find anyone to insure you.
Companies seen everyone differently so shop around and ask questions. One may label you substandard and another may not. A professional who understand insurance can shop around for you but see a broker first.  Once you have been put in the substandard category, you must disclose to subsequent companies when you apply for their coverage.

Is there any actions can you take to increase the length of your life expectancy? Actuaries and statisticians have been tracking average life expectancy for decades and it is still impossible to know how long a person  will live.  Life expectancy and those factors that can decrease or increase it remain unknown.
Unfortunately, the most important things that influence our life span are out of our control. Predicting longevity is our genetic make-up and out sex. But there are various other factors that we can effect.
What we eat and if we smoke and how much exercise we get are all things we can do something about. Certain sports like scuba diving and mountain climbing, piloting aircraft and how we drive out cars can be adjusted. Our choice to use drugs and alcohol are also factors that are within out control.

There is a Life Expectancy Calculator that used date to predict the life span of numerous individuals according to their risk profiles. Some factors are fixed, like your race and year of birth, other factors that can be changed are those like health habits.