Mayo Clinic Q&A: Lifespan vs. healthspan

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I’ve been hearing a lot lately about healthspan versus lifespan when it comes to aging. What do they each mean? And what is the difference?

ANSWER: We get a lot of questions about what distinguishes between lifespan and healthspan. The simplest answer is to paraphrase a quote from President John F. Kennedy, “It is not enough for a great nation merely to have added new years to life — our objective must also be to add new life to those years.” With lifespan, people are trying to add years to life. For healthspan, we are trying to add life to your years. We are trying to optimize the number of active, healthy and productive years that you enjoy. Lifespan refers to the total number of years a person lives, from birth to death. Healthspan is a concept that focuses on the number of those years that a person remains free of significant illness or disease.

The Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic aims to improve healthspan through understanding the fundamental biological mechanisms of aging. It has dedicated research programs on musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, neurological, immunological and metabolic health. The intent is to better understand the aging process to come up with interventions that have the potential to delay the onset of age-related diseases as a group. Whether it’s Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, impaired bone health or kidney or liver function, most conditions or diseases are a result of getting older. In contrast to managing one disease at a time, targeting aging itself has the potential to postpone the onset of age-related diseases, extend healthspan and reduce the length of disease and disability in our final days.

There is a lot of interest surrounding the biology of aging. We often question what it is about getting older that leads to so many different health conditions ranging from osteoporosis to dementia, cancer and diabetes. We’re starting to understand the biology of aging and how it contributes to these processes. One fundamental aspect of aging is a cell fate called senescence. A cell can become senescent in response to different forms of wear and tear on our cells. If a cell is unable to repair the damage, it can either die or transition into a state of senescence. Senescent cells, in a way, are a good thing because they help prevent the growth and spread of tumors. When we are young, they are effectively cleared by our immune system. But if they linger, they start contributing to deterioration, inflammation and age-related conditions. But they tend to accumulate as we age and if they linger, they start contributing to the deterioration and inflammation of tissues and cause age-related conditions.

As much as we’re searching for the “magic pill,” our studies show that lifestyle factors such as physical activity, healthy nutritional habits, social connectedness and sleep profoundly affect how well we age and extend our healthspan. What we’ve shown in our studies is that higher levels of physical activity and reduced calories while maintaining adequate nutrition have the potential to reduce the number and burden of the cells. Taking care of your body and incorporating some of these fundamental activities can improve your lifespan and build a foundation for healthy aging. — Nathan LeBrasseur, Ph.D., Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

(Mayo Clinic Q & A is an educational resource and doesn’t replace regular medical care. This Mayo Clinic Q&A represents inquiries this healthcare expert has received from patients. For more information, visit www.mayoclinic.org.)

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