Healthspan vs Lifespan
Add years to your life, and life to your years.
Not long ago, my elderly father was reaching for something in the fridge, and slipped. The first I knew of this was with a desperate and exasperated call from my mother to come quickly to help (we live close by, not by accident).
I raced over to find Dad propped up against the wall, still on the floor.
“I’ve done something to my bloody hip Ben, I can’t get up" he said breathily, followed by a couple of expletives, unusual from him, as he contemplated his precarious predicament. I knew it was serious when the suggestion of an ambulance was met without resistance.
We learnt ceramic hip replacements are like fine china, they shatter easily. We’d had this nagging worry that something like this might happen to Dad. His balance was off and he had been stumbling and falling back in his seat with increasing frequency. It seemed inevitable - he’d reached the age when tripping over is termed 'a fall'.
Before he was eventually wheeled into surgery to repair the fracture, my mother and I met with his surgeon. It was a reality check. He spoke in the detached way of someone who has life and death conversations daily. This was going to be a complicated surgery, with the potential for a variety of complications, and the outlook for a nonagenarian was not great. “This operation could be a life-changer for Frank, it could also be life-ending…and to be clear, your Dad will probably be a different guy after this.”
A different guy? What did that mean? He explained further: getting older means we don’t bounce back like we used to. But I couldn’t understand why my Dad couldn’t just dust himself off like he has in the past? Age is just a number, right? Dad has beaten cancer twice, has two new hips, and has jumped a multitude of other health-hurdles in the last ten years. Why is this such a big deal? He’s lived 80 good healthy years, and only in the last 10 have things started to happen.
If you asked Dad now if he’d like to live to 100 years old, I’m pretty sure he’d say ‘no thanks’. It made me think - maybe we’ve been focusing on the wrong things. Maybe it’s not just about clocking up the years, 90 in my fathers case, but about making sure all our years are good ones. That’s the thinking behind ‘Healthspan’ not lifespan.
Why Do I Care?
Watching my father navigate these challenges makes my heart squeeze with a mixture of fear and empathy. Fear, because every step, every moment, brings him closer to an end I’m not ready to confront. Empathy, because the agile, boisterous man I remember is grappling with the bodily vulnerabilities of age, whilst his brain remains tack-like sharp. In these moments, I’m not an advertising professional creating a campaign or analysing fast changing market dynamics; I’m a 15-year-old boy, watching with sadness, not wanting to lose the safe and familiar figure who has guided me through life.
I see now that it’s not so much the length of life that matters, but the quality. This realization has changed not only how I approach my own health, but it now also bleeds into my work. In advertising, like in life, it’s about adding value, not just about the numbers. It’s not about how long your campaign runs or how many ads you churn out; it’s about the quality of the message, the impact on the audience, and ultimately, the meaningful connections you create. Just like my father’s healthspan, it’s the quality and content that truly counts.
Wellness, not illness
This shift from lifespan to healthspan isn’t just semantics. It has real-world impacts. For you and me, it means living more fulfilling and healthy lives. We get to be independent, stay active, and do things we love way into our old age.
And it’s not just about personal well-being - it also has broader societal implications. With the explosion of our ageing population, our healthcare systems are under increasing stress, dealing with and more and more chronic illness and disease, as we live longer, but not better.
It’s not uncommon for someone to spend their later years managing multiple chronic conditions, from heart disease to diabetes, usually requiring frequent doctor visits, hospital stays, and ongoing treatments. It’s a lot of time, resources, and money going towards managing illness, when our focus should be promoting wellness.
If we can shift our focus to living healthier for longer – increasing our healthspan – we could lighten the load on these systems significantly. We’re talking about fewer hospital admissions, less need for long-term care, and a reduction in costly medical procedures. That’s a win-win for everyone involved, from the individual, right through to the healthcare system and society as a whole.
But there’s another layer to this. Some experts are sounding the alarm on another looming crisis. With lowering population growth, there will be fewer in the younger generations contributing to taxable income in the future. This will lead to a significant strain on the public funds needed to support our growing elderly population.
By focusing on increasing our healthspan – the years we can live in good and productive health – we will improve our own lives, and contribute to a more sustainable future for our healthcare system and society.
Prevention is better than the cure.
As the old adage goes - prevention is better than the cure. And what does that look like in the 21st century? Health insurance means we have specialists and technology at our disposal like never before, to help us determine potential issues before they become illness and disease. Imaging - MRI, CT, Ultrasound, are non-invasive tools implemented to better understand an individuals unique inner workings, uncovering problems before they become irreversible.
The world of private healthcare is expansive and growing. It's not a luxury but a mechanism to ensure a better healthspan, accessible to all with targeted education and information. In this age of personalized medicine and wellness, the possibilities for prevention and early intervention are greater than ever, making it an exciting time to prioritize our health and wellbeing.