Healthy longevity refers to the aim of living longer whilst also maintaining health. It encompasses the goal of increasing lifespan and maintaining a high level of physical and mental function, known as healthspan.
Scientifically speaking, lifespan is the total time an organism is expected to live based on statistical averages.
The maximum lifespan of humans is currently estimated to be around 120 years, although most people do not live to this age!
While lifespan refers to the total length of time we live, healthspan measures the duration we can maintain our physical, cognitive, and social function throughout our lifespan. Healthspan is closely related to the ageing process.
It is important to note that a longer lifespan doesn’t guarantee a longer healthspan. In fact, although lifespan has been on an upward trajectory for decades, there has not been a corresponding rate of improvement in healthspan.
In other words — the number of years we can expect to live in relatively good health, free of chronic disease and disabilities of ageing, isn’t keeping pace with the increasing life expectancy. As a result, we are spending ever longer in poor health and disability.
The good news is that over the past decade, research in the ageing field — energized by the publication of the nine hallmarks of ageing — has exploded, opening up the development of compounds and molecules in the form of longevity supplements to promote healthy ageing and increase lifespan, as well as therapeutics to treat and potentially prevent the onset and progression of age-related conditions.
Our mission at AVEA is to enable healthy longevity. That means increasing the number of healthy years as close as possible to the number of years lived and extending the number of years lived.
In this guide, we will detail aspects to understand better what healthy longevity is, including what exactly health is and what biological age is.
