We’re getting better at stopping death, but not progressing equally well on enhancing life.
Want an extra dozen years at the end of your life? Would you still want them if you knew they were spent mostly in a poor quality of life where you’re just existing but not enjoying life?
That’s kind of where we are now with lifespan-health discrepancy. Lifespan is how long you live. Healthspan is probably about how long you want to. Healthspan is how long you are healthy.
And in the United States, where we insist on being tops in everything, even the bad stuff, the lifespan-healthspan gap is the largest of the 183 World Health Organization member countries examined in new research generating these findings. The lifespan-healthspan gap is 12.4 years in the USA.
Given lifespan numbers, that’s about 15% of living with poor vitality and low quality of life.
I typically introduce healthspan with a different term – either “playspan” or “Fungevity” – which refers to how long can you have fun and play in life. (see the link for more details and research showing that more playful physical activity helps longevity more than non-playful.)
A few years ago in this blog titled “The Goal You Never Knew You Had”, I highlighted how the number 1 goal that I discovered from getting started with clients was some variation of “be able to play with my kids/grandkids. This goal was most often not written down by the client. Rather, it was in conversations with them to uncover what really matters to them and what truly motivates them.
That’s the essence of “playspan.”
We’re getting better and better at stopping death, but not progressing equally well on enhancing life.
We suck the fun out of movement and make it a chore. If we never discover enjoyable ways to move then we will always struggle to move consistently. We’ll always be forcing ourselves to on some level.
What can a capable body do for you? What activities does it allow you to pursue or try? Who in your life do you care deeply about that a capable body allows you to have cherished experiences with.
- Play with your grandkids.
- Run around and play with your dog or cat.
- Try the rubber chicken foot toss with someone (or use any stuffed animal or squeak toy)
- Help teach your kids or grandkids how to ice skate.
- Go sledding.
- Help shovel out a neighbor after a snowstorm.
(Can you tell I am writing this in winter?)
- Try something new you’ve always wanted to.
- Do something familiar that you haven’t done in a long time.
- Find a hike where it’s a manageable challenge for you.
- Dance to a favorite song that always makes your body move.
Day in, day out, these are the little choices that keep us healthy, not just alive. And these little day to day choices are the only way to keep your lifespan-healthspan gap as small as possible.