Move over longevity: Healthspan is what we should be chasing

The best way to treat chronic illness is to delay it. (Unsplash+/Getty Images) Move over longevity: Healthspan is what we should be chasing Published: August 9, 2026 9.08am EDT Share article Print article I’ve spent more than three decades studying how exercise and diet keep us healthy. But one thing keeps showing up in the data: living longer and living well are not in sync. While we’ve partly solved the first one, we are lagging behind at the second. Over the past century, the average Canadian’s life expectancy has increased by 22 years, to roughly 80 for men and 84 for women. Medical and scientific research may push those numbers higher. However, the number of years we can expect to live in good health has been declining, and in Canada it now stands at about 67, down from a peak of about 70 years. That means a lot of us are on track to spend close to two decades, sometimes longer, living with chronic illness, cognitive decline or lost mobility. That gap, not lifespan itself, is the real crisis. And almost nobody treats it like one. The Grey Revolution, a series produced by The Conversation Canada/La Conversation. This article is part of our ongoing series The Grey Revolution. The Conversation Canada and La Conversation are exploring the impact of the aging boomer generation on Canadian society, including housing, working, culture, nutrition, travelling and health care. The series explores the upheavals already underway and those looming ahead. Longevity is the wrong score Longevity is the word on everyone’s lips, with influencers discussing the possibility of three-digit lifespans. One wealthy biohacker was investing millions into his goal of 160 years of life, and inviting others to spend as much as US$1 million a year to join him. He recently announced he has developed an autoimmune condition. Life has become an endurance event, and we need to push through to the bitter end. In contrast, picture the 80-year-old down the street who carries their own groceries, climbs their own stairs, drives their car and gets down on the floor to play with their grandchild. That’s the target worth chasing. Ideally, good health and health-related quality of life would last our whole lives. The balance between the quality and quantity of our years is the idea behind healthspan: the period of our lives we spend in good health. Admittedly, good health is subjective, and it has been argued that healthspan may not be definable at a single age and is more…