Latest news with #healthspan
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What's the Best Age to Start Building Healthy Habits to Boost Longevity? An Expert Explains
Aging is a natural part of life. Despite what the anti-aging industry tries to sell you, you can't stop the clock. However, there are ways to maintain and improve our physical and mental wellbeing as we age, which may help slow down the biological aging process and prevent age-related diseases. Maximizing our "healthspan," or the number of years we live in good health and disease-free, is just as important as maximizing our lifespan, according to Dr. Eric Topol, cardiologist and longevity scientist at the Scripps Research Institute. previously spoke with Topol about his science-backed lifestyle habits to age healthier in his New York Times bestseller 'Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity.' These include things like exercising regularly, avoiding ultra-processed foods, prioritizing nutrition, eating enough fiber, getting enough sleep, and staying mentally active. When is the best time to build these healthy aging habits? Expert Tip of the Day: It's Never Too Early or Late to Prioritize Healthy Aging "It's never too early or too late," Topol said of starting healthy aging habits in a TODAY segment aired June 25. Generally, your 60s are when you start to experience significant loss of muscle mass and bone density. "As you get to be 60, age-related diseases start to really hit," said Topol. These include cardiovascular disease, cancer and Alzheimer's. The earlier you start building healthy aging habits, the better, says Topol. However, if you can start adopting these by your 50s, it can make a big difference. "In advance of that (decline) in your 60s, if you start at age 50 doing all those things, it's about seven to 10 years of healthy aging that you can gain," says Topol. But if you're over 50 or 60 and haven't changed your habits, it's never too late to start. Why It Matters Previously, it was thought that the secret to aging healthy was good genes. But in a 2007 study, Topol and other scientists at Scripps Institute analyzed the DNA of 1,400 people between the ages of 80–105 who had never developed any common chronic diseases. "We found almost nothing to account from their genetics for their extraordinary healthspan," said Topol. However, they did share common lifestyle habits that may help slow down biological aging, he explained. "Exercise is paramount, (especially) strength training," said Topol, adding that it not only maintains muscle mass and bone density but also promotes balance, which prevents falls. It also keeps the immune system strong as we age. In his late 60s, Topol started strength training three days a week. "I'm more fit and stronger than I can ever remember,' Topol, now 71, said. It's also important to eat a balanced diet that provides enough protein, healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins and minerals. Fiber is a standout healthy aging nutrient, said Topol, and getting enough of fiber can help prevent chronic disease. And prioritizing sleep and staying mentally fit can protect our brain health as we age and reduce the risk of cognitive decline. How to Get Started No matter how old you are, you can adopt these habits to live a healthier, longer life. Here are more of Topol's science-backed "lifestyle-plus" factors: Do 100 minutes a week of resistance training. Follow a Mediterranean diet. Eat 25–30 grams of fiber per day. Avoid ultraprocessed foods. Socialize with others. Don't take unnecessary supplements. Spend time outdoors in nature. TODAY's Expert Tip of the Day series is all about simple strategies to make life a little easier. Every Monday through Friday, different qualified experts share their best advice on diet, fitness, heart health, mental wellness and more. This article was originally published on
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I'm an expert on ageing. Here's what I know about thriving in later life
Anyone who says 'age is just a number' has not reached the high numbers. Ageing is not easy, and 'forever young' is not a plan. Regardless of how many burpees you can do or protein smoothies you chug, the passing of time brings challenges. Roles that you relished change, words on menus seem to shrink, necks sag, diagnoses arise. On the other hand, ageing is not the downhill slide that people believe it is. A multibillion-dollar antiageing industry profits when you feel awful about yourself and fear ageing like the plague. The tragedy of ageing is not that we will all grow old and die, but that ageing has been made unnecessarily, and at times excruciatingly, painful and humiliating. Ageing does not have to be this way. I taught geriatric medicine and gerontology for 19 years at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. At UCI's senior health center, I had a front-row seat to observe people, and their families, navigate old age. What struck me most was the radical differences in how people experienced their own ageing process. For some, it is a frustrating, degrading, painful trajectory of ever-increasing decline. For others, there is visible delight, spirituality, and joy in occupying their eighth, ninth, and 10th decades. When it comes to longevity, the primary focus has been lifespan, the length of life. More recently though, the scope has expanded beyond years of life to years of life in good health, or healthspan. This is a welcome shift, because we all want to live as healthy as possible for as long as possible. But there's a catch. A long life, even a long life in good health, doesn't mean much if you don't like your life. As geriatrician Dr Louise Aronson observes: 'We've added a couple of decades, essentially an entire generation, onto our lives, and we haven't figured out how to handle that.' To thrive in old age means to live a fulfilling, purposeful and satisfying life despite the challenges that accompany ageing. It involves maximizing physical health, cognitive function, emotional wellbeing, social connections, and a sense of meaning. Thriving doesn't mean being free of all health problems or challenges; rather, it emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and the ability to find joy and value in life. People don't thrive in longevity by mistake or luck. People who thrive in longevity actively maximize the quality of their lives. But how? I scoured the findings of 35 years of empirical testing on psychological wellbeing in longevity. The deeper I dug into the findings, the more I recognized a profound underlying pattern. The hundreds of predictors found in thousands of studies on what is necessary to thrive in longevity consistently group into four essential elements. Grow: They continue to expand and explore. Connect: They put time into new and existing relationships. Adapt: They adjust to changing and challenging situations. Give: They share themselves. Each of these elements is non-negotiable for wellbeing in longevity, and you can improve in each area. What we've been missing is a practical vocabulary and approach to maximizing the quality of our long lives. It's not enough to have a long lifespan and healthspan; we want what I call a long joyspan. Joyspan, or the experience of wellbeing and satisfaction in longevity, matters because without it, long life is a drag. The American Psychological Association defines joy as the feeling that arises from a sense of wellbeing or satisfaction. Experiencing joy is different from feeling happy. Happiness comes and goes and is often dependent on external circumstances. Joy can be experienced even in adverse situations. More akin to contentment than to ecstasy, joy may show up in the form of a smile, but many times it does not. You cannot always ascertain someone's joy by observing them. One older woman looking at the trees through her window may be lonely and miserable, while a different older woman looking at the same trees may be experiencing great joy. Regardless of your current age, you hold one of two mindsets: ageing as decline or ageing as continued growth. The decline mindset believes everything gets worse as you grow older and then you die. Sadly, this mindset is the most prevalent. The growth mindset sees ageing as a time of continued progress in becoming who you are. This mindset recognizes not only the challenges and losses of growing older but also the opportunities and strengths. Take my neighbor Dee, who is 81. A few days ago, I saw her on her front porch while I was walking the dogs, and she waved me over so she could tell me all about her sore hands, the 'absolute drivel' on TV, and how bad the hot weather makes her feel. Because Dee sees her life as a downward free fall, she's stopped showing up for it. She does not pursue her former interests, reach out to friends, or challenge herself. The long hours spent in her recliner have seriously weakened her legs, which she blames on the curse of being old. Our conversations never have room for topics beyond her discomfort. Despite our many conversations, Dee doesn't know anything about me other than the fact that I have two golden retrievers. There isn't any space for me to share my life, because her life, as miserable as she finds it, is the topic that dominates her mind. Dee definitely holds a decline mindset. I often run into another neighbor, Joan, who walks the same loop I do. I absolutely love it when I run into Joan. She is 82 and just radiant. Soon after our middle daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I saw Joan and she noticed right away that something was off. She asked me what was going on in a way that felt safe for me to share. She listened intensely, then suggested ways to adjust to this 'new normal'. Joan has had so many new normals. Always very interested in something – a new plant she's potted, a new recipe, an interesting book, an upcoming art exhibit – Joan has a growth mindset. Growing older is about, well, growing, about becoming. Joan knows that interior strengths can continue to develop throughout life. I once told Joan how much I admire her attitude, and she laughed, saying: 'I find life fascinating. I'm still growing now, just as I have in every other phase of my life.' This is an adapted excerpt from Joyspan by Dr Kerry Burnight. For 18 years, she taught geriatric medicine and gerontology at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. Used with permission from Worthy Books, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
I'm an expert on ageing. Here's what I know about thriving in later life
Anyone who says 'age is just a number' has not reached the high numbers. Ageing is not easy, and 'forever young' is not a plan. Regardless of how many burpees you can do or protein smoothies you chug, the passing of time brings challenges. Roles that you relished change, words on menus seem to shrink, necks sag, diagnoses arise. On the other hand, ageing is not the downhill slide that people believe it is. A multibillion-dollar antiageing industry profits when you feel awful about yourself and fear ageing like the plague. The tragedy of ageing is not that we will all grow old and die, but that ageing has been made unnecessarily, and at times excruciatingly, painful and humiliating. Ageing does not have to be this way. I taught geriatric medicine and gerontology for 19 years at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. At UCI's senior health center, I had a front-row seat to observe people, and their families, navigate old age. What struck me most was the radical differences in how people experienced their own ageing process. For some, it is a frustrating, degrading, painful trajectory of ever-increasing decline. For others, there is visible delight, spirituality, and joy in occupying their eighth, ninth, and 10th decades. When it comes to longevity, the primary focus has been lifespan, the length of life. More recently though, the scope has expanded beyond years of life to years of life in good health, or healthspan. This is a welcome shift, because we all want to live as healthy as possible for as long as possible. But there's a catch. A long life, even a long life in good health, doesn't mean much if you don't like your life. As geriatrician Dr Louise Aronson observes: 'We've added a couple of decades, essentially an entire generation, onto our lives, and we haven't figured out how to handle that.' To thrive in old age means to live a fulfilling, purposeful and satisfying life despite the challenges that accompany ageing. It involves maximizing physical health, cognitive function, emotional wellbeing, social connections, and a sense of meaning. Thriving doesn't mean being free of all health problems or challenges; rather, it emphasizes resilience, adaptability, and the ability to find joy and value in life. People don't thrive in longevity by mistake or luck. People who thrive in longevity actively maximize the quality of their lives. But how? I scoured the findings of 35 years of empirical testing on psychological wellbeing in longevity. The deeper I dug into the findings, the more I recognized a profound underlying pattern. The hundreds of predictors found in thousands of studies on what is necessary to thrive in longevity consistently group into four essential elements. Grow: They continue to expand and explore. Connect: They put time into new and existing relationships. Adapt: They adjust to changing and challenging situations. Give: They share themselves. Each of these elements is non-negotiable for wellbeing in longevity, and you can improve in each area. What we've been missing is a practical vocabulary and approach to maximizing the quality of our long lives. It's not enough to have a long lifespan and healthspan; we want what I call a long joyspan. Joyspan, or the experience of wellbeing and satisfaction in longevity, matters because without it, long life is a drag. The American Psychological Association defines joy as the feeling that arises from a sense of wellbeing or satisfaction. Experiencing joy is different from feeling happy. Happiness comes and goes and is often dependent on external circumstances. Joy can be experienced even in adverse situations. More akin to contentment than to ecstasy, joy may show up in the form of a smile, but many times it does not. You cannot always ascertain someone's joy by observing them. One older woman looking at the trees through her window may be lonely and miserable, while a different older woman looking at the same trees may be experiencing great joy. Regardless of your current age, you hold one of two mindsets: ageing as decline or ageing as continued growth. The decline mindset believes everything gets worse as you grow older and then you die. Sadly, this mindset is the most prevalent. The growth mindset sees ageing as a time of continued progress in becoming who you are. This mindset recognizes not only the challenges and losses of growing older but also the opportunities and strengths. Take my neighbor Dee, who is 81. A few days ago, I saw her on her front porch while I was walking the dogs, and she waved me over so she could tell me all about her sore hands, the 'absolute drivel' on TV, and how bad the hot weather makes her feel. Because Dee sees her life as a downward free fall, she's stopped showing up for it. She does not pursue her former interests, reach out to friends, or challenge herself. The long hours spent in her recliner have seriously weakened her legs, which she blames on the curse of being old. Our conversations never have room for topics beyond her discomfort. Despite our many conversations, Dee doesn't know anything about me other than the fact that I have two golden retrievers. There isn't any space for me to share my life, because her life, as miserable as she finds it, is the topic that dominates her mind. Dee definitely holds a decline mindset. I often run into another neighbor, Joan, who walks the same loop I do. I absolutely love it when I run into Joan. She is 82 and just radiant. Soon after our middle daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I saw Joan and she noticed right away that something was off. She asked me what was going on in a way that felt safe for me to share. She listened intensely, then suggested ways to adjust to this 'new normal'. Joan has had so many new normals. Always very interested in something – a new plant she's potted, a new recipe, an interesting book, an upcoming art exhibit – Joan has a growth mindset. Growing older is about, well, growing, about becoming. Joan knows that interior strengths can continue to develop throughout life. I once told Joan how much I admire her attitude, and she laughed, saying: 'I find life fascinating. I'm still growing now, just as I have in every other phase of my life.' This is an adapted excerpt from Joyspan by Dr Kerry Burnight. For 18 years, she taught geriatric medicine and gerontology at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. Used with permission from Worthy Books, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Issue with Living Longer
Credit - Westend61—Getty Images We're living longer than ever—but those extra years aren't unfolding the way many hoped. Instead of later years spent thriving, millions are instead facing chronic illness, cognitive decline, and financial strain. As of July 2025, the estimated global average life expectancy is approximately 73.5 years. This represents a slight increase from previous years, continuing a long-term trend of rising longevity (despite a temporary dip due to the COVID-19 pandemic). High-income countries with advanced healthcare systems, good sanitation, and healthy lifestyles have an even longer life expectancy average, reaching up to 84 years. Our lifespans have expanded, but our healthspans—the number of years we live with mental sharpness, physical independence, and emotional well-being—has not kept pace. If we don't prepare now, the result won't just be personal hardship. It will reshape families, erode legacies, and overwhelm the caregiving systems we all depend on. For much of the modern era, societies structured life around a four-stage model: youth, family-building, work, and a relatively short retirement. That framework no longer reflects reality. We now live through five distinct life segments, two of which—mid-life caregiving and prolonged dependency in later years—are stretching families, economies, and communities in entirely new ways. The modern life course now looks more like this: Youth (0–20): Education and early development Single and Working (20–30): Career-building often accompanied by personal growth through travel and experiences Family Formation and Caregiving (30–50): A phase defined by diverse paths—raising children, supporting chosen families, or balancing demanding careers and eldercare responsibilities Working with Dependent Parents (50–67): The 'sandwich generation,' increasingly caring for both younger and older generations Retired, Often Dependent (67–80+): Longer retirements, often accompanied by increasing cognitive and physical decline The shift from four to five segments may seem incremental, but the consequences are profound. Mid-life adults are being pulled in multiple directions, often while navigating dual-income households or living alone. Retirement, once a brief final chapter, can now stretch 20 to 30 years, and too often, those years are marked by rising dependency. Systems of support—social, economic, and medical—are struggling to keep up. What's emerging is a global healthspan gap, where we're living longer but not necessarily living well. The healthspan gap—and what it costs Research suggests that we're entering the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history, with trillions expected to pass from older to younger generations. But much of that wealth may never arrive. Long-term care costs—especially when not covered by insurance or public programs—can quickly erode assets. Just a few years of residential or home-based care can deplete savings accumulated over a lifetime. Many families face these costs without adequate safety nets, and in aging societies, public eldercare systems are under mounting financial pressure. If fiscal tightening leads to austerity-driven cutbacks, families may shoulder even more of the burden—quietly draining the legacies they hoped to pass on. We're not just living longer—we're also living longer with dementia, Alzheimer's, and other forms of cognitive impairment. And without meaningful action, this trajectory could accelerate. This is not a dystopian fantasy. It's a tangible future scenario if healthspan continues to lag behind lifespan, and our support systems fail to evolve. The healthspan imperative If we want longer lives to truly become better lives, we must shift our focus from simply extending lifespan to improving healthspan. That requires new thinking in prevention, technology, policy, and planning. First, we must prioritize prevention and delay—not just in old age, but across all stages of life. Expanding access to community-based wellness programs focused on movement, nutrition, and connection can promote healthier aging. Preventive care must start earlier and before symptoms emerge, with lifelong attention to cognitive and emotional health. Supporting flexible work and phased retirement can reduce stress on caregivers in their peak working years. Second, technology is a powerful enabler. AI assistants and care robots can assist with mobility, medication reminders, and safety monitoring to help older adults remain independent longer. In parenting, tech is already expanding: AI tutors and robotic companions support learning in dual-income or single-parent households. Predictive tools and remote monitoring systems can detect early signs of decline – whether cognitive, physical or emotional – and trigger timely intervention. These tools don't replace human care. They extend it by enhancing independence, extending capabilities, and reducing caregiver stress. Our public systems must also evolve. Governments should shift more funding from institutional care to proactive, community-based models. Policies that support aging in place, expand caregiver tax credits, and create savings incentives for long-term care can align care with reality—especially as aging populations strain public budgets. Finally, we must plan across generations. Families need support to discuss roles, responsibilities, and expectations before a crisis hits. Healthspan should be integrated into financial and estate planning, because how long we live well directly affects what we leave behind. Caregiving, aging, and inheritance are not separate life challenges, but parts of a shared human journey that requires input and support from all those involved. We stand at a global inflection point. If we let longevity unfold without intention, we risk decades of dependency, fragmented families, and generational loss. But if we choose to invest in healthspan—early, equitably, and boldly—we can reshape the future. We can protect the well-being of aging populations without sacrificing the financial and emotional security of younger generations. We can use innovation not just to extend life, but to enrich it. And we can build communities that grow older with strength, grace, and resilience. We've already added years to life. Now it's time to add life to those years. Contact us at letters@
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Is ‘Joyspan' the Key to Aging Well?
You've probably heard the term life span. And maybe you've learned about health span, a longevity term that describes the number of years someone spends in good health. Not to overload you with 'spans,' but I just heard about another one: Joyspan. Joyspan is a term coined by Kerry Burnight, who was a professor of geriatric medicine and gerontology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine for 18 years. In her upcoming book, 'Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half,' she says that a lengthy life span does not equal a life well lived: You have to like your life, too. Dr. Burnight, who has treated thousands of older patients, writes that aging need not be 'the downhill slide that people believe it is.' You can thrive, even when faced with health problems and challenges. 'How we step up to those challenges can be the difference between thriving and suffering,' she said. She has had some patients who have become immobilized by the realities of aging, such as a death of a loved one or a chronic condition, 'while others have been able to find creative ways to navigate their new normal.' And you can lengthen your joyspan through everyday choices, regardless of your age or physical condition, by focusing on four 'nonnegotiable' actions she has identified in her research, she said. I asked her to take me through each one. Growth is the desire to explore and learn, and research suggests that a sense of curiosity and a willingness to learn help maintain cognitive function and mental health in older adults. To spark your curiosity, Dr. Burnight said, write down anything that has captured your interest, no matter how esoteric — whether it's Renaissance fairs, learning to play the drums, genealogy research or rucking. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
