Your declaration to live well, not just long

When it comes to health, the greatest gift is the ability to live fully, vibrantly and with self-reliance for as long as possible.
This is where healthspan – the years lived in good health – matters far more than lifespan alone.

What is the difference between lifespan and healthspan?

Lifespan is the total number of years you live (quantity) whereas healthspan refers to the number of those years lived in good health (quality), free from chronic disease and debilitating physical and mental conditions.
The average lifespan of a person is 73 years old yet studies have reported that only 63 of those are healthy. So what is the real goal? The goal is to live a life where you are adding life to those years: the capacity to live independently, feel strong, clear-headed, mobile and energised every day.

“Healthspan acknowledges a powerful truth: while we can’t control the number of years we live, we can influence the quality of those years,” said Maria Carpenter, Head of Momentum Multiply.

Your ability to perform at a high level – emotionally, cognitively and physically – is anchored in your own healthspan. The only way to create a better future for yourself is to set yourself up for a better trajectory and the only way to do that, is to take action now.

But how do you reset the clock?

Multiply is built on five pillars – Eat, Move, Breathe, Sleep and Connect – to help give you a practical roadmap for building sustainable health ownership.

Move: Exercise is the most powerful longevity drug and due to its effectiveness against the diseases of aging, has often been compared to medicine. The fitter you are, the lower your risk of death. Period. This is because the exercise strengthens your heart which improves the health of the systems in your body that produce energy in our cells. Endurance exercise like running or cycling has also been shown to affect parts of the brain that improves memory and cognitive function.

By the age of 80 years old, the average person will have lost eight kilograms of muscle. Research has found that people who are more active, lose less muscle – three to four kilograms on average. And why is muscle important? Because your exoskeleton (muscle) actually keeps your actual skeleton (your bones) upright and intact. A 2016 study which surveyed 837 adults aged 65 and older in Cape Town communities found that:

26,4% of older adults reported at least one fall in the previous 12 months.
11% reported recurrent falls (two or more falls in one year).
In a pilot sample, fall prevalence was 23,8% among older adults with an average age of 75,7 years.¹

Eat: Instead of following a “diet”, find the right eating pattern for you. Whether it’s fasting or time-restricted eating (regulating when you eat), counting calories, your nutrition goals should depend on your individual risk profile. Nutrition alone cannot turn back the clock. Find the nutritional plan that works for you and find your balance. What we do know is that protein and amino acids (the building blocks of life) become critically important as we age because without them we cannot build or maintain the lean muscle that we need.

Sleep: Studies have shown that lack of sleep can affect the way you function. In particular a study done on sleep-deprived medical personnel showed that they committed more mistakes than their well-rested counterparts. Research has also shown us powerful links between the lack of sufficient sleep (less than seven hours a night on average) and negative health outcomes such as increased susceptibility to colds and flu and heart attacks. Poor sleep can also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and effect hormonal balance. Good quality sleep is important for memory, cognitive function and emotional health.

Emotional health: Being in the best physical shape is meaningless if you ignore your emotional health. Emotional suffering can impact your health on all fronts. Similar to how one would approach taking care of their cardiovascular (heart) health, emotional health is about long-term prevention.

It’s important to recognise potential problems early and put in the work to address them over a long period of time. Each situation is unique with its own set of history and problems and therefore the ways in which one would go about taking better care of their emotional health will vary. Practicing mindfulness, exercising, reframing, sensory change (like taking a cold shower or a cold plunge), slow breathing are just some techniques that help the nervous system regulate.

A longer life spent in poor health also affects financial stability and therefore improving healthspan is one of the most powerful ways to protect your financial future.

“Movement is freedom, the freedom to participate, to show up, to stay independent.

Mental fitness is freedom. Freedom from overwhelm, reactivity and burnout begins with intentional practices. And long-term freedom is built through consistent, repeatable habits.

True health ownership is a daily declaration of freedom – the freedom to move, to thrive, to participate fully in your life,” Carpenter said.