It's a fact; we're living longer and sicker lives. Chronic diseases and ailments have become the norm in society, so while we're technically living longer, many of those years are spent in a state where we can't truly enjoy life.
So are we living or just existing? This is why the concept of "health span" is becoming more popular and is seen as a better idea than "life span". But what exactly do these terms mean, and how do they relate to longevity?
We're going to go over what longevity, life span, and health span mean and what they mean to your health.
Key Points You Need To Know!
|
Longevity, Life Span, Health Span
Longevity, life span, and health span are all related to our health and age. While often used interchangeably, they describe different aspects of aging and health.
Understanding the differences helps clarify what exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle habits are actually trying to improve and what's important.
What Is Longevity?
Longevity refers to the length or duration of an individual's life, or how long they live.
In context, longevity usually refers to extending life beyond the average lifespan, specifically while maintaining good health (Garmany et al., 2021).
It's ultimately just a fancy way of improving your health so you live longer with less disease.
In health and fitness discussions, longevity usually refers to strategies believed to improve survival, reduce disease risk, and increase the number of years lived.
How To Increase Longevity:
- Follow a conclusive exercise program
- Improve and build a healthy body composition
- Improve muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
- Limit or get rid of negative lifestyle behaviors (i.e., smoking, alcohol, etc.)
- Get sufficient amounts of quality sleep
| Key Point: Longevity is a general concept, not a precise scientific measurement. |
What Is Life Span?
Life span refers to the total number of years a person lives (Olshansky, 2018). For example;
- The average life span of
- Someone who dies at 90 years old has a life span of 90 years.
With that said, there are generally two ways it's discussed:
- Average Life Span: The average age a population tends to reach.
- Maximum Life Span: The upper biological limit of human life, often estimated at around 120 years.
Regardless, life span has traditionally been the metric society has used and sought to increase.
This has usually been done with modern medicine, including pharmaceuticals and interventions.
Most major advancements in medicine have been measured by life expectancy. For example:
- The invention of penicillin and other antibiotics drastically increased life span.
- An increase in babies' lifespan is commonly observed.
- The success of medical interventions is measured by life span after treatment.
While this is amazing for people afflicted, life span doesn't account for quality of life.
| Key Point: Life span only measures how long you live, not how healthy or functional you are years are. |
What Is Health Span?
Health span is a relatively new term amongst the general public, but an extremely important concept. It doesn't refer to how long a person lives, but to the number of years a person lives in relatively good health and physical function.
This includes having sufficient levels of:
- Mobility
- Cognitive function
- Independence functionality
- Strength
- Cardiovascular health
Therefore, a person may have:
- A long life span
- But a short health span
For example, someone may live to 90 but spend the final 20-30 years with severe disease, frailty, or disability. This means their health span was 60-70 years.
| Key Point: Health span focuses on quality of life, not just quantity of years. |
Why Health Span Is Becoming More Important
Modern medicine has become very good at extending survival. However, this is done with pharmaceuticals and other interventions.
This is because modern medicine isn't focused on prevention but treatment. At the same time, "success" of a treatment doesn't mean "healthy.
For example, when it comes to cancer, we often hear about "high 5-year survival rates." While that sounds encouraging, the survival rate simply means people are still alive after a certain period of time.
It does not tell us how healthy, functional, or independent those individuals are.
We're not anti-modern medicine or anti-doctors. However, many researchers now argue the goal should not simply be living longer, but staying healthier longer.
We Are Getting Sicker
Even though life span has increased, we are becoming sicker and sicker. In fact, chronic disease is so common now that people will still consider themselves healthy even though they're taking several prescriptions.
For example:
1. 42% of the US population is obese (including 10% with severe obesity). Obesity used to be nonexistent.
2. Children are now developing type II diabetes. Again, this used to be nonexistent (Peng et al., 2023).
3. A large review on the morbidity of the population concluded, "There is substantial evidence that we have done little to date to eliminate or delay disease or the physiological changes that are linked to age." (Crimmins & Beltrán-Sánchez, 2011).
4. Compared to a man born in 1978, a man born in 1986 could expect to live 1.1 years longer, but with an extra 2.3 years with disease and an extra 2 years with lack of mobility (Freeman, 2011).
5. Rates of numerous types of cancers and heart disease aren't just increasing but occurring in younger and younger people.
We could go on, but we don't think it's a secret. We might be living longer, but we're living sicker lives.
So instead of simply stressing about living longer, we should focus on living healthier. The good news is that this will also result in living longer!
How Do You Increase Health Span?
Increasing life span essentially comes down to following the basic health and physical activity guidelines.
This includes things like:
- Following a progressive strength training program
- Include adequate cardio to improve cardiovascular fitness.
- Increase your general activity, i.e., walk 10,000 steps.
- Following a proper diet and improving body composition
- Getting adequate levels of sleep.
In fact, in the past, when we have talked about the benefits of losing weight and strength training, we were ultimately talking about increasing life span.
Numerous studies have shown that training to maintain a healthy body composition can;
- Slow down epigenetic aging.
- Decreasing mortality and risk of disease
- Improving mental well-being
Longevity, Life Span, Health Span: Final Takeaway
Longevity, life span, and health span all have a role in our health
- Longevity = the general concept of living longer
- Life span = total years lived
- Health span = years lived in good health.
Ultimately, most people do not simply want a longer life. While we might say "I want to live longer", the assumption is that those years are healthy, that we can enjoy. This is why it's so important that we get past the idea of just wanting to live longer and focus on the quality of our lives.
Therefore, the majority of the population should be concerned with longevity and health span.
FAQ:
What Is Longevity?
Longevity refers to living a longer life, usually while maintaining relatively good health and reducing the risk of disease and mortality.
What Is The Difference Between Life Span And Health Span?
Life span refers to the total number of years a person lives, while health span refers to the number of years a person lives in good health, mobility, and independence.
Why Is Health Span Important?
Health span is important because living longer does not always mean living healthier. A person may have a long life span but spend many years with chronic disease, disability, or poor physical function.
How Do You Increase Longevity And Health Span?
The best ways to increase longevity and health span include regular exercise, strength training, cardiovascular training, maintaining a healthy body composition, sleeping well, and avoiding harmful lifestyle behaviors such as smoking.
Can Exercise Increase Life Span?
Yes. Research consistently shows that regular physical activity and exercise are associated with lower mortality risk, improved cardiovascular health, better body composition, and increased life expectancy.
Why Are People Living Longer But Becoming Sicker?
Modern medicine has improved survival rates and increased life span, but rates of obesity, chronic disease, poor mobility, and metabolic disorders continue to rise. This is why improving health span has become an important public health focus.
References
- Ammous, F., Peterson, M. D., Mitchell, C., & Faul, J. D. (2025). Physical Activity Is Associated With Decreased Epigenetic Aging: Findings From the Health and Retirement Study. Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 16(3), e13873. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcsm.13873
- Crimmins, E. M., & Beltrán-Sánchez, H. (2011). Mortality and morbidity trends: is there compression of morbidity?. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 66(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbq088
- Freeman K. S. (2011). US lives: longer but sicker?. Environmental health perspectives, 119(3), a118. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.119-a118a
- Garmany, A., Yamada, S., & Terzic, A. (2021). Longevity leap: mind the healthspan gap. NPJ Regenerative medicine, 6(1), 57. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41536-021-00169-5
- Liu, T., Conley, Y. P., Erickson, K. I., Miao, H., Connolly, C. G., Ormsbee, M. J., & Li, C. (2025). 12-year physical activity trajectories and epigenetic age acceleration among middle-aged and older adults. Biological Research for Nursing, 27(3), 442–452. https://doi.org/10.1177/10998004251334415
- Mandsager, K., Harb, S., Cremer, P., Phelan, D., Nissen, S. E., & Jaber, W. (2018). Association of cardiorespiratory fitness with long-term mortality among adults undergoing exercise treadmill testing. JAMA Network Open, 1(6), e183605. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3605
- Olshansky S. J. (2018). From Lifespan to Healthspan. JAMA, 320(13), 1323–1324. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.12621
- Perng, W., Conway, R., Mayer-Davis, E., & Dabelea, D. (2023). Youth-onset type 2 diabetes: The epidemiology of an awakening epidemic. Diabetes Care, 46(3), 490–499. https://doi.org/10.2337/dci22-0046
- Yang Y., Dixon-Suen S. C., Dugué P. A., Hodge A. M., Lynch B. M., English D. R. (2022). Physical activity and sedentary behaviour over adulthood in relation to all-cause and cause-specific mortality: A systematic review of analytic strategies and study findings. International Journal of Epidemiology, 51(2), 641–667. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyab181
- You Y., Chen Y., Wang X., Wei M., Zhang Q., Cao Q. (2023). Accelerometer-measured physical activity patterns are associated with phenotypic age: Isotemporal substitution effects. Heliyon, 9(9), Article e19158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19158
0 Comments