Meaning & use
healthspan
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
The number of years in a person's life during which they stay free from serious illness and able to live independently.
Grammar: Usually singular with a possessive: her healthspan; also used as a general concept: healthspan matters more than lifespan.
Patterns
- extend your healthspan
- healthspan and lifespan
Doctors now talk about extending healthspan rather than simply adding years to life.
Regular walking and good sleep may lengthen your healthspan by several years.
His grandfather's lifespan was long, but his healthspan ended at seventy when he developed severe arthritis.
Word forms
| plural | healthspans |
|---|
Common combinations
- extend healthspan
- The study asks which habits extend healthspan in older adults.
- increase your healthspan
- Eating more vegetables can help increase your healthspan.
- healthspan versus lifespan
- Healthspan versus lifespan is the central question in her research.
- average healthspan
- The average healthspan in the region is about ten years shorter than the lifespan.
- healthspan research
- Healthspan research attracts a lot of funding from technology investors.
Synonyms and how they differ
- healthy life expectancy
- This is the formal statistical term used by public health agencies, whereas healthspan sounds more personal and popular.
- vitality
- Vitality describes energy and liveliness at one moment, while healthspan measures a whole stretch of years.
- longevity
- Longevity only counts how long someone lives, so it says nothing about whether those years are healthy.
Opposites
Word family
- health noun
- the condition of your body and mind
- healthy adjective
- in good physical condition
- lifespan noun
- the total length of a life
- healthcare noun
- services that look after people's health
Commonly confused: healthspan or lifespan?
healthspan vs lifespan
Lifespan is the total years you live. Healthspan is only the part of that time when you are in good health.
Practice
Which sentence uses healthspan correctly?
Choose one answer.
Healthspan refers to years of good health and contrasts naturally with lifespan. The battery sentence would need lifespan, and the others misuse the noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “healthspan”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.