Say goodbye to lifespan – healthspan is the new cool new kid in town. Learn why the health factor that prioritises quality over quantity is so important and tips to improve your healthspan right now. 

Between eating our fruits and veggies, hitting the gym, and making sure we get enough shut-eye, there’s a reason why so many of us are prioritising our health. Whether it’s to feel or look better, often conversations and changes in our lifestyle spark from our desire to live longer. 

But while living longer is a totally understandable goal (after all, no one wants to cark it in their 30s!), it might be time for a bit of a shake-up in how we view health. Yes, we want to all live well into our twilight years. And yes, we want a chance to spend our superannuation that we’ve spent our entire youth saving for. But if we can’t walk, think, or have the energy for doing what we love, how good is living longer anyway?

Enter: healthspan. 

While much of the focus on health has been focused on how long we’re living, a new health factor is here that we need to start talking about – and it’s more concerned with quality over quantity. 

Ahead, what a healthspan is, why we need to start prioritising it, and how to improve yours right now. 

First, what is a healthspan?

While lifespan refers to our overall life expectancy and how long we live, healthspans are concerned with the quality of that life and how healthy we are into our twilight years.

Dr Denise Furness, Functional Geneticist and Nutritionist (PhD BSc (Hons) RNutr), tells Body+Soul that while we can be proud as punch of Aussie’s increasing lifespan, the same can’t be said for our healthspans. 

“Australia is one of the countries with the highest life expectancies in the world,” Dr Furness explains. “However, we are not doing so well when it comes to healthspan, which means those extra years we live are generally in poor health with chronic disease or disability.”

While the United Nations reports that there is a nine-year health gap across the world – meaning that people live the last nine years of their life with illness or a decreased quality of life. Shockingly, Aussies are behind the global average, meaning that we spend more of our last years in poor health than other countries. “In Australia, the health gap is closer to ten and a half years,” Dr Furness says.

But why are Australians lagging so far behind the rest of the world? Well, there’s a few reasons.

You’ve got your classic ageing factors like muscle loss and cognitive decline that contribute to poor health outcomes as we get older. 

Then you’ve also got some extra factors that current generations are experiencing more than previous ones. Dr Furness explains to us that one part of the reason why our healthspans aren’t in shape is because of a thing called oxidative stress, which can be caused by exposure to blue light, chemicals, and toxins – all of which we’re exposed to on a daily basis. “Oxidative stress is like rust in the body,” Dr Furness explains. “It accelerates ageing and increases risk for chronic diseases.”

But what can we actually do about these – and is it possible to increase your healthspan? 

How can I improve my healthspan?

But while it might seem like yet another thing to worry about when it comes to our health, the good news is that there are pretty simple lifestyle habits we can take on that will help increase our healthspan and close the gap. Unsurprisingly, this all has to do with the food we eat, how much physical activity we’re undertaking, and good old sleep. 

Dr Furness conducted a study into healthy ageing and found that nutrition and lifestyle changes slowed the ageing process in as little as three months. Her plan of attack? Plenty of coloured vegetables (as if you needed more encouragement to eat the rainbow!), protein based on body weight, and very specific nutrients to bolster parts of our health. 

The one that might be the key to unlocking anti-ageing? Mitochondrial health. 

Wait, what does mitochondria have to do with all this? 

If there’s only one thing you remember from high school science, it’s that “mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell”. And while we still might have absolutely zero idea what that actually means, it turns out that good old mitochondria is something we should reacquaint ourselves with if we want to live long, healthy lives.

Dr Furness explains that one of the key factors in health is having “full function” of our brain and body. This all comes down to having healthy cells – including our mitochondria. “Mitochondria are like car engines for our body, producing energy so body systems can operate,” she says. “Often people equate health to their energy levels – when you think of energy, think of your mitochondria.”

When it comes to our healthspans, Dr Furness says that mitochondrial health can influence multiple factors, diseases, and illness that affect our quality of life. As it’s essential to long-term cognitive health, dysfunctional mitochondria might lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzeheimer’s and Parkinson’s. 

Mitochondria is also essential to muscle function, where a deficiency might lead to decreased muscle strength and increased fatigue, making it harder for ageing people to take on simple, everyday tasks. 

But while it might all seem doom and gloom, there is a pretty easy way we can boost and support our mitochondria, aid our ageing bodies, and effectively improve our healthspans. And it’s through a little nutrient called Ubiquinol. 

“Ubiquinol is the fuel,” Dr Furness explains, adding that it was a key proponent in her own ageing studies. “It acts as an antioxidant helping reduce oxidative stress. This slows ageing and helps to improve healthspan.”

Dr Furness explains that the use of Ubiquinol, in addition to other interventions that support mitochondrial function like exercise and caloric restriction have been shown to support healthspan and might just help us not just live longer, but live better. 

After all, it’s about quality, not quantity.