Extending Your Healthy Years

Dana G Smith Health and Wellness reporter for the NY Times published an article today suggesting we "Pay Greater Attention to Health Span." This is one of the key takeaways from my new book The Rule of 70. Dana quotes Eric Verdin who notes that while a "very vocal fringe" of the longevity community talks about living to 140, "most serious people in the field do not." He argues a more attainable goal should be to push good health into our '90s. Smith notes that today the average American has a healthspan that takes them only into their mid-60s. Link to Times Article (paywall)

This is an excerpt from my new book, which supports the concepts in the Times article:

Healthspan matters more than Lifespan

"In my mind, there are few sins so egregious as extending life without health. It does not matter if we can extend lifespans if we cannot expand healthpans to an equal extent"

- David A. Sinclair

Healthspan is a qualitative measure. It is the period of time people are free from significant ill health.

Lifespan – Sickspan = Healthspan.

Most Americans’ last years are punctuated with the acceleration of one or more morbidities: heart disease, cancer, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and dementia.

While these conditions can impact anyone of any age, their effects tend to multiply over the last years of our lives. While no quantitative measure of “healthy” exists, the average American can expect to spend their last 10 years adapting to a different reality. Healthspan improvement is as important a goal as lifespan improvement.

The chart below is an example. Everyone has a different chart. The optimal situation is you are perfectly healthy until the day you pass away. Pushing out the curve for as long as possible takes luck and some healthy living. Most of us will have a curve that looks something like this one:

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Healthspan also reinforces the Rule of 70. While Americans' average lifespan is 77.5, American healthspan is estimated by the WHO at 66.1 healthy years.

Even if you are younger, and your life expectancy is longer, you might spend 10+ years in less than good health.

Gaining healthspan means improving across many systems to avoid the chronic conditions present in aging, which has no simple fix. It means addressing the underlying issues of inflammation, damaging oxidative stress, and cellular mitochondrial dysfunction. Damage accumulates over decades.

The reality is harsh. Most of us will lose our good health long before our death. Take comfort though. People over 70 are happier than younger adults. Read the book to learn to plan for happiness sooner and health longer.

Excerpt from The Rule of 70, a Single Rule for a Rewarding Life 2024, Vincent Dicks, Career Gaudium Press