Some Good News About Healthspan
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OLDER ADULTS APPEAR NOT ONLY TO BE LIVING LONGER but better too. Those are the conclusions of a new study from the United Kingdom. So many of us fear old age but embrace age if we are healthy. I am after a long healthspan, not simply longevity.
We begin with a nod to healthspan before turning to the new British study. Then we’ll pivot to five key ways (and one bonus one) you may achieve both longevity and a long healthspan.
Are you similar to me, focusing on how long you will be healthy (instead of simply looking at how many full years you have)?
What is healthspan?
It seems everyone I know is interested in longevity. I know I am: It’s my 59th birthday today, and we often become more reflective at ages 29, 39, 49, etc.
Awareness about healthspan seems to lag significantly behind knowledge about longevity. What does healthspan mean to you?
To me, healthspan is a life free from severe disease. I like that definition better than a healthy life, as we all have different definitions of being healthy.
Among Gallup’s 2021 survey respondents, the average retirement age was 62. The average age at which working respondents planned to retire was 64.
That leaves approximately 14 years for us to enjoy retirement, no? Not exactly. First, older adults are working longer. Approximately one in three men and women begin claiming Social Security at 62.
Another one-third begin collecting Social Security at full retirement age (65 or 66 years when researchers collected the data, and 67 for those born after 1960).
So how many good years do we have? The average healthspan in the United States is only 63 years (2017 calculation).
Healthspan increasing
Life expectancy has increased by 30 years since the mid-twentieth century. Alas, healthspan expansion has not followed, in large part because of chronic diseases afflicting an enlarging older population.
