Make your healthspan match your lifespan

Thanks to modern medicine and scientific research, it is now commonplace for human beings' lifespans to extend significantly beyond their health span. This means there is a good chance that the length of your life will exceed your good health, mental sharpness, and physical independence.

For many this gap is filled with suffering, depression, and struggle as they are slowly dying, and at the same time also need to contend with the struggle of the challenges of daily living.

Our hospitals are filled with older people who are currently navigating this challenge. Their cupboards are filled with prescriptions, calendars are filled with specialist visits, and endless hours are spent idling in clinic waiting rooms. Furthermore, our retirement homes are filled with once vibrant people now surrounded by around-the-clock care who are simply existing - too healthy to die, yet too unhealthy to have a meaningful quality of life.

Of course there are many for whom this is a reality are grateful to have more life even while it is a struggle. My contention is not to criticize this - but rather to make the call to bridge the gap between the two so all of us can have lives that are longer, healthier, and with less suffering.

So the solution is simple - but seems persistently hard to do - reduce the gap through our daily healthy lifestyle choices. To do this - focus on the basics - eat real food and less of it, move more than you are idle, get as much sleep as you can, prioritize rest and recovery, lift heavy things regularly, build strong relationships, and lastly avoid letting stress compound over time.

These things, done consistently over time, will greatly increase your odds of living a long and productive life, where your quality of life and independence run in parallel with its length.