TheBioHacker

What is Longevity?

Longevity is basically the long duration of a person’s life. It’s a field of research where scientists study factors that constitute a longer, disease-free existence.

Thanks to advancements in medical research and technology, longevity (sometimes used in place of ‘life expectancy’) has steadily increased over the past century. When you increase your ability to live a longer, healthier life, you’re also increasing your chances of living a happier, more fulfilling life.

A lot of biohacking discussion is focused around increasing lifespan. In fact, many respected biohackers like Ray Kurzweil, Tim Ferriss, Dave Asprey, Dr. Peter Attia, and Dr. Rhonda Patrick talk a lot about it in their websites.

But for many, healthspan is just as important, if not more important, than lifespan. Healthspan is defined as the period in life where a person is generally in good health. But unlike the average lifespan, which is around 78.7 in the U.S. (2018), there weren’t any statistics that marked the end of the average healthspan. To resolve this, the World Health Organization came up with an average healthy life expectancy indicator, which is said to be 67.3 years old.

When you increase your healthspan, you’re basically improving and maintaining your health as you get older, so your quality of life is retained, or even better, as you age.

Just imagine running like you’re 20 when you’re already 70, or having 20/20 vision even when you’re 80. The idea is to be able to preserve your health, including all bodily functions that decline as you age, for a longer period of time.