In Greek mythology, Eos, bringer of the morning Sun, asked Zeus, king of the gods, to grant her husband Tithonus eternal life. On doing so she realised that she had made a grave mistake. She had asked for eternal life but not eternal youth. She had to watch as her husband grew old and withered.

We remember this lesson when we think about longevity. It is not enough to live longer, you have to be able to enjoy it too.

And boy will we live longer. The average lifespan is increasing rapidly. Living to over 100 will not be that uncommon for our children. In the U.S. the average life expectancy has risen to just below 80. This is largely due to the advances made in modern life. Healthcare, hygiene, lifestyles and nutrition have all improved over the last few centuries and will continue to.

But does living longer mean that we enjoy it as much?

This is where the concept of healthspan comes in, and we here at Be Bright think about this a lot. We differentiate healthspan from lifespan this way: Lifespan is how long you live, regardless of the quality, and Healthspan is how long you live a quality life. I don’t know about you but I am not interested in living to 120 if the last 50 years are a physical struggle.

Now you might ask ‘What do you mean by quality, isn’t that different for everyone?’. You are right so this is really just from our perspective. Broadly speaking, what we want is to maintain these 3 aspects for as long as possible:

1. Mobility - Remain mobile enough to stop our world from shrinking
2. Strength - Be strong enough to not have to stop doing what we love doing
3. Beauty - Maintain a level of personal confidence in our appearance

MOBILITY

We do not want to be ‘trapped’ in our later life through illness, disability or poor health. We love travelling and expanding our horizons but also love just strolling through a market or going to see friends. Sadly, many people as they age reduce their interactions with the world. Studies have shown links between people's increased mobility in elderly life and significantly higher happiness. Living a life of quality means we have to keep ourselves healthy enough to be mobile as long as possible

STRENGTH

A good healthspan ensures that you can do the physical things you want to do for as long as possible. Why should you have to give up doing the sport you love or being able to swing your laughing grandchildren around in the garden? Looking after your body better extends our ability to do these things.

BEAUTY

Even though we hate to admit it, our physical appearance has a major impact on our well-being, happiness and personal confidence. Ageing is a fact of life and we will continuously change throughout our lives but you don’t have to give up on your appearance. Maintaining your body, posture, hair and skin from an early age can ensure years of gracious beauty. When you feel beautiful beauty radiates out of you, no matter your age.


We have a feeling that this list is not too different from what you want so let’s explore how we achieve this together.

This is the first in our series on Longevity. Over the coming weeks, we will dive into what living a life with a longer healthspan means to you. We will look at factors in our everyday lives that impact our longevity and small (and big) changes we can incorporate into our lives to lengthen our healthspan. Look out for our emails and blog posts so you can start the journey to a life well lived.

Next up: Finding out what longevity means to you.