A focus on healthspan
By Mark Quirk
There’s lots of debate about if and how we might live longer. But there’s less discussion about how long we maintain our health – and if you look at the averages recorded by the UK office for national statistics, there is a big difference between the average UK lifespan and healthspan.
My healthspan is how many years I spend with vitality, free of disabling ill health. If I follow the averages, I’ll spend the last 15-20 years with some disability due to ill health.
I don’t find that statistic very encouraging! But what is encouraging is that when you look at what contributes to our healthspan, it’s mostly within our influence. We might not be able to change our genes, but for almost everything else, how we live can significantly impact our healthspan – and the expression of many of our genes is influenced by how we live too.
There is encouragement to eat well, exercise and get enough sleep to support our wellbeing. But I think it’s easy to miss that as well as supporting short-term wellbeing; this advice is also the foundation for healthspan, an investment in avoiding the diseases of ageing. One of the sure things about ageing is that, left to their own devices, our bodies and minds will deteriorate. But it is not all inevitable! What you do now impacts how you will be in years to come.
We could say if you want vitality in your final decade, whenever that is, ensure you exercise, make space for your sleep and eat the best quality food you can afford.
How can I say this? Most of the issues that lead to illness in our final years develop slowly, over decades. For example, cardiovascular diseases and dementias are the two most common reasons we leave this mortal coil – diseases that typically take decades to develop.
I don’t want to head too far down a maudlin path because, irrespective of the statistics, I want to encourage you to actively invest in your healthspan – no matter your current health or age. And congratulations if you’re already on a healthspan-sustaining path!
So, it’s all down to exercise, sleep and food, then? Well, no, I’d like to add emotional health and relationships – both of which influence our physical and mental health.
I’ll summarise emotional health as a combination of how we deal with the stressful parts of our lives and our outlook on life. When it comes to relationships, being a fundamentally social species, the quality of our connections, particularly those close to us, has a substantial impact too.
So, if we are to tip the odds in our favour toward our longest possible healthspan, then whether you are nineteen or ninety-nine, investing in and learning to love the five pillars of healthy habits is a splendid investment. So, how would you rate your: sleep quality, movement and exercise, diet quality and quantity, emotional skills, and relationships?