Healthspan vs lifespan: what is the difference?
Lifespan is how many years you live. Healthspan is how many of those years you spend in good health, free of serious disease and disability. Worldwide, the average person spends about ten years of life in poor health.
Two different counts
Lifespan counts every year you live. Healthspan counts only the years in good health.
Over the last century, clean water, vaccines and medicine added many years to the average lifespan. Healthy years rose more slowly.
The difference between the two is called the healthspan-lifespan gap. A 2024 study of 183 countries put the gap at about 9.6 years on average. The United States had the widest gap in the study, about 12.4 years.
Why healthspan is the better goal
How well you age depends more on things you can change: sleep, movement, food, alcohol, smoking, blood pressure and cholesterol. When you die depends a great deal on chance.
These things add up over decades. A habit started at 40 has more years to work than the same habit started at 70.
Some risks, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, cause damage for years without symptoms. Finding them early gives you more time to act.
What your DNA can tell you about healthspan
Your DNA cannot tell you how long you will live.
It can show how you process certain medicines, which health checks may be worth starting earlier, and how you handle some nutrients.
A variant changes your odds. Two people with the same variant can age very differently, depending on how they live.
A whole-genome report lists the results that apply to you, each with a next step where there is one. A scientist checks every result before it goes in the report.
Informational and educational, not a diagnosis. Bring anything of medical consequence to your physician.
Test once. Keep it for life.
Your DNA stays the same all your life. Adriano De Marino, PhD, reviews every report.
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