Lifespan vs Healthspan-Why It Matters
If you care about living a long and healthy life, the word Healthspan should be top of mind. The idea of living longer, while having good health, is what distinguishes healthspan from lifespan.
Most of us have never considered the differences between lifespan and healthspan. It just seems logical that the goal should be to live a long time. While living a long life is a noble goal, we need to consider the quality of the life we are living. And, when it comes to living a long time, the health that we maintain while we are living is key.
There are some key differences between our typical lifespan and healthspan:
Definitions and Differences
Lifespan is defined as basic longevity-The length of time in which a person exists (lives). There is no differentiation between being alive or being alive and healthy. Right now the Average US lifespan is 79.3 years.
Healthspan- Compared to lifespan, healthspan is the number of years that someone can expect to live in reasonably good health.
OR
The period of good health in a person’s life.
Currently the average number of years of “good health” is about 63.
One thing should immediately catch your attention with the above 2 numbers, 79.3 and 63. There’s a big difference in them, 16 years to be exact. Those 16 years difference between lifespan and healthspan equates to nearly 20% of the average lifespan-Big difference!
How can we close that gap?
Components of Healthspan:
There are two main components we should consider when trying to close the gap between healthspan and lifespan. Both components need to be present if we hope to have a long healthspan.
Body-Physical health
Brain-Mental/Brain health
First, our bodies need to be in good health in order to close the gap between healthspan and lifespan. We need a well-functioning body if we hope to make it late into life still be healthy and vibrant.
The other component that is essential to lifespan and healthspan getting closer is that our brains need to be healthy. Cognitive decline (Alzheimers/Dementia) is what many of us think of when we think of an unhealthy brain but there are other factors such as emotional maturity, neuroplasticity (ability of the brain to adapt and change) that we need to account for.
Supporting Components
Here are some specific supporting components that will help us maintain good body and brain health:
Disease prevention: Reducing the incidence of major disease is one of the best ways to close the gap between healthspan and lifespan. Here’s a chart showing the top 10 causes of death in the US and the age the disease 1st occurs:
I’m no mathematician but those 10 diseases look to claim nearly 1.5 million lives each year! Just imagine if we could reduce that number by half. What would that do to our average healthspan?
The other thing that’s interesting is that almost all of these diseases can be reduced to a large extent by us taking positive action and responsibility for our health. By getting regular exercise, eating better, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding things like smoking, we have a fighting chance of increasing our healthspan.
Physical fitness: Taking care of our bodies by helping do what it was designed to do, has a huge impact on our healthspan. Physical fitness encompasses much more than just going out for a walk or run. While those activities are great for building aerobic fitness, we need to make sure we are getting enough strength training as well as balance and flexibility training in order to be truly physically fit, especially as we get older. I’ve been a lifelong endurance athlete (running, cycling) and have always found it challenging to do enough of all the other stuff. That’s become a huge focus for me the last couple of years or so and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Brain health/development: Our brains can consume up to 20% of the calories our bodies need, so it’s obvious that nature places a high value on it’s health. The bottom line is that if we hope to have any amount of healthspan we need to keep our brains healthy. From keeping our brain flexible and ready to adapt to change, to maintaining a positive and productive outlook, our brains need to be pampered and pushed. What we eat, how we approach life, and craving new experiences/skills all will contribute to the health of our brain.
Nutrition and diet: You’ve all probably heard the saying “You are what you eat”. Well, it’s 100 true. Unfortunately many of us have diets that are, let’s say, less than optimal. Between over-packed schedules, and the convenience offered by all the restaurants, packaged food and nearly instantaneous delivery, we have become a society that rarely eats “real food”. This has impacted society directly in terms of an explosion of type 2 diabetes and obesity specifically and to a large extent any of the diseases listed above. Increasing our healthspan demands that we give our bodies quality fuel.
Financial wellness: We all want to live a long and healthy life but if we don’t have the financial means, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. Like it or not, money is part of everything we do and we need to be good stewards of the money that enters our lives. From effective budgeting and saving to making smart decisions about how to spend our money, we need to be financially well if we hope to be physically well.
THE BIG QUESTION: Which would you really rather have?
Years in your Life: Just being alive?
Or
Life In Your Years: Vital, healthy, active, engaged, involved
I Know Which One I’d Rather Have! How About You?
Next Steps
Ok, I’ve spent a lot of digital ink explaining all of the things we need to be thinking of if we want to improve our healthspan. Now what?
Good question! The answer is that all of the rest of the content that comes from me will be focused on what we can do to take action in each of these areas to improve the quality of our lives.
If you are interested in coming along for the ride and exploring what it means to-Not Just Live Life…But Live Life Better!- I encourage you to subscribe and join our community.
Maximus of the week
Recipe of the week
Crispy Ground Pork and Cabbage:
This has become a go-to weekend recipe for us. It's easy to make, tasty (and spicy, if you want) and pretty healthy. I "created" this version from a couple online recipes to suit our tastes. Here's how to make it:
Ingredients (2-4 servings):
1-2 tablespoons avocado oil
1lb ground pork
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons lemongrass, chopped, minced or paste (you can buy lemongrass paste at many stores)
1 teaspoon chopped red pepper flakes (optional, depending on your preference)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3-4 cups chopped red or green cabbage
Steps:
Preheat Avocado oil in pan at medium/medium high
Add ground pork and start browning, stirring often (3-5 minutes)
Add chopped onion and continue stirring until pork is completely cooked (2-4 minutes)
Add brown sugar and mix into cooked pork.
Add lemongrass, garlic, chopped peppers and fish sauce. Stir to combine
Set heat to medium-high and cook until pork gets crispy/caramelized (about 5-15 minutes)
Place chopped cabbage in bowls and put crispy pork on top.
Enjoy!
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That’s it for this week,