Will your ‘health span’ keep up with your lifespan?

People are living longer than ever before. Modern medicine has greatly extended the average lifespan. But this has not corresponded with an equivalent increase in what has come to be known as “health span.” In fact, the opposite is occurring. Many people are living longer but are sicker, thanks to unhealthy modern lifestyle choices.

“Lifespan is how long someone lives and health span is how long they are healthy and free of illness – in other words, the healthiness of your life,” said general surgeon Peter Hopewood, MD, FACS, of Falmouth General Surgery.

It can have profound effects on quality of life. It might be great to live to be 100, but what if the last 30 years are filled with pain and disability?

Ideally, lifespan and health span would be pretty close to the same age, but this is not the case in recent years in the United States according to a Dec. 2024 JAMA study. The gap in years between the lifespan and health span has been steadily growing longer, Dr. Hopewood explained. In 1990, the difference was about 11 years.

"Now, it's up to 12.4 years," he said.

There are many causes for the widening gap, Dr. Hopewood said. Lifestyle choices like smoking and being sedentary, and diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, joint disease and cancer all take their toll on a person’s body. Poverty is also part of the problem. Your economic status can help determine how long a person lives and the quality of their life.

“Patients with the highest net worth have an average life expectancy of almost 86 years,” he said. “People with very little or zero net worth have a life expectancy of 72. These are part of social determinants of health, so they are all patients from impoverished or vulnerable populations.”

Anyone can extend both their lifespan and their health span with the following healthy habits, according to Dr. Hopewood.

• Don’t smoke.
• Limit alcohol.
• Eat a plant-based whole food diet.
• Avoid highly processed foods and sugary beverages.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Maintain an active social life.

Preventive healthcare is another way to increase your health span, Dr. Hopewood said. He recommends several key steps, including:

• Schedule annual check-ups with blood work.
• Do regular blood pressure screenings.
• Begin regular colorectal cancer screening at age 45 if at average risk.
• Women should get yearly mammograms.
• Women should ask their doctor how often they should get a pap test.
• Men should consider beginning routine prostate screening between 45-50 if at average risk, following with a PSA test every one to two years.
• Current or former smokers aged 50-80 who have at least a 20-pack year smoking history should have a yearly low-dose lung CT scan.
• Practice regular skin self-exams and see a doctor for anything new or changing.
• Keep current on vaccines.

There are diseases you can’t control, he said. But early detection greatly increases the chance that you won’t shorten your lifespan or your health span because there are effective treatments for early disease detection.

“There’s a quote out there that says, ‘live long, die fast,’” Dr. Hopewood said. “When you think about it, that’s what we want, right?”