Be Unique: Optimize Your Health Span

by Meg Sharp MSc., CGOC Fitness & Well Being Consultant

Life Span:  The number of years you survive. 

Health Span: The quality of those years. 

Whichever phenomena you deem more important, you don’t in fact have to choose.  The two are powerfully interrelated and, from a behavioural standpoint, much of what we do to support one typically boosts the other. 

There are interventions which increase lifespan with little to no regard for concurrently improving healthspan.  Such measures may have negative complications ranging from physical and emotional pain to added expense and burden on our health care system. 

Adopting specific habits and behaviours that improve either, on the other hand, is win-win. 

Physical activity, sleep, mindful eating and social connections are 4 of the ingredients proved to improve quality of life in many.  These same behaviours are powerful shields in the face of frailty, disease and dependance – three of the top predictors of a shorter life span.  Specific movement in the form of strength training is also understood to have a significant impact. 

While it’s true that the headlines so far this year insist that lifespan is far more shaped by heredity – over 50%! – than previous thought and that robust health span is rare with supporting variables difficult to formally pin down, I remain relentlessly optimistic.  I am confident in the steps I can take to live a truly fabulous life and you should be too.   

The road map is simple:  Move.  Lift.  Sleep.  Eat well.  Connect.   

Yes, these things take time and effort.  If that weren’t the case the majority of Canadians would embrace them all.  As it stands very few of us move enough with “lack of time” insisted as one of the top barriers. (This as screens rob us of valuable minutes and actively disrupt many healthful behaviours.) 

I’ll state them again:  Move.  Lift.  Sleep.  Eat well.  Connect.   

Chances are you’re doing at least one.  Aim to add a little bit of another.  Isn’t it interesting that as we start making healthier choices, additional healthy choices become more appealing and tangible. 

However many days you live, you have the power to remain vital and sharp.  Full of energy, purpose and strength.  And if the day should come when you’re supposed to get run over by a bus… well maybe you’re agile enough to jump out of the way.