Across all generations, more Americans would choose to feel 25% healthier than live 25% longer. Broken down, 60% of Gen Z and millennials say they would choose to feel healthier rather than live longer as compared to 67% of Gen X and 70% of Boomers, according to a consumer trends report from The New Consumer in partnership with Coefficient Capital. Only 15% of Boomers, 22% of Gen X, and about a third of Gen Z and millennials say they would rather live 25% longer.
The results echo the current sentiment that more people are eager to feel better, healthier, and more energized as they age. “We’re in the middle of a health span revolution,” Peter Diamandis, the longevity expert, entrepreneur, and executive founder of Singularity University, previously told Fortune.
Health span refers to how long you live in good health in the absence of disease, compared to the total number of years lived or life span. About half of Americans are diagnosed with at least one chronic condition, such as heart disease, with cases steadily rising since 1995, according to the American Hospital Association. (This report found over 40% of respondents say they are living with a chronic condition, including 17% of Gen Z). As more people spend their golden years of life in pain, maximizing health span has become the new gold standard in longevity care.
“Being able to grow old is not in parallel with healthy, disease-free living,” says Dr. Scott Braunstein, an internal medicine and emergency medicine doctor and the national medical director at Sollis Health, previously told Fortune.
Founder of the New Consumer, Dan Frommer, specifically wanted to understand Americans’ views on living longer versus feeling better. The report found that a third of respondents want to live forever, but the rest are happy to cap off around 90. It suggests aging well is much more about maximizing health span than living past 100—although usually maximizing healthspan, in turn, also lengthens lifespan. While certain end-of-life events are not in everyone’s control, there’s a load of evidence for the role lifestyle factors play in minimizing the risk for cognitive and physical decline.
How to lengthen your health span
The typical advice for improving your general health applies to lengthening health span too.
- Routine physical exercise can boost cardiovascular health and protect us against heart disease
- Sleeping the recommended seven to nine hours a night is critical to our physical and mental health
- Feeling connected to family and friends protects us from the health consequences of loneliness like falling, developing chronic conditions, and dementia.
Adopting a “longevity mindset” can also help lengthen your health span, which refers to how people view aging. Self-directed ageism can do more harm beyond negatively impacting self-esteem.
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