Healthspan vs Lifespan: What Are We Really Trying to Extend?

For most of my life, if somebody had asked me whether I wanted to live longer, I probably would have said yes without thinking very much about the question.

Today, I think differently.

Because there is a much more interesting question:

How do you want to live those extra years?

Living longer isn't quite the same as living better

Lifespan is relatively simple. It describes how long we live.

Healthspan is concerned with something different: the period of our lives in which we remain healthy, capable and able to do the things that matter to us.

The World Health Organization describes healthy ageing in terms of maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing as we grow older. That includes things such as being mobile, making decisions, maintaining relationships and continuing to participate in life.

I find that distinction incredibly powerful.

Because I'm not particularly interested in reaching a certain age simply so I can say I reached it.

I want to be there — properly.

I want to move.

Think clearly.

Travel.

Train.

Spend time with people I care about.

Make plans.

Remain independent.

And wake up interested in the day ahead.

I suspect most people feel the same.

Age isn't the whole story

One of the things that fascinates me about ageing is how differently people experience it.

We all know somebody in their seventies who seems younger than someone else in their fifties.

That's not simply imagination.

People of the same chronological age can have remarkably different levels of physical and mental capacity.

That raises another interesting question:

If chronological age tells us how many years we've lived, what tells us how well we're ageing?

That's where conversations around biological age, physical capacity, body composition, metabolic health, cardiovascular fitness, sleep, cognition and recovery become interesting.

None provides the entire answer.

Together, however, they encourage us to stop seeing ageing as nothing more than a date on a birth certificate.

The things we do still matter

There is no single “longevity hack”.

And anybody promising one should probably make you suspicious.

But the fundamentals matter enormously.

Regular physical activity, for example, supports healthy ageing and can benefit sleep, cardiovascular health, strength and emotional wellbeing. It remains valuable even when started later in life.

Sleep matters.

Maintaining muscle matters.

Nutrition matters.

Relationships matter.

Stress matters.

Understanding what is actually happening in your own body matters.

And increasingly, there are new areas of research and health optimisation worth understanding too.

The important thing, in my experience, is not to chase every new idea.

It's to become curious enough to ask better questions.

The question I now ask

I no longer ask:

“How can I live as long as possible?”

I ask:

“How can I remain as capable as possible for as long as possible?”

That subtle change completely altered the way I think about ageing.

Maybe it's a question worth asking yourself too.

What would you still like to be doing at 70? At 80? Beyond that?

And are the choices you're making today helping you get there?

You don't need to have the answers.

Sometimes an honest conversation is simply a good place to begin.