Beyond Lifespan and Healthspan: Why Joyspan Could Be the Next Chapter of Longevity
By Eryn Behan, Founder of NEE-V
First came lifespan.
Then came healthspan.
Now there's another word entering the longevity conversation that I think we're going to hear a lot more about:
Joyspan.
I came across the term recently and immediately loved what it represents.
Because while so much of the longevity movement has focused on extending life and maintaining our physical health for longer, joyspan asks a wonderfully simple question:
What's the point of living longer if we're not enjoying the years we're adding?
And increasingly, it seems I'm not the only person paying attention.
Marie Claire UK recently described joyspan as “the wellness buzzword to pay attention to this year”, signalling that an idea which began in gerontology is quickly entering the broader wellness and longevity conversation.
So what exactly is joyspan, where did the idea come from, and could it change the way we think about healthy ageing?
What Is Joyspan?
The term joyspan was introduced by American gerontologist Dr Kerry Burnight, whose work focuses on ageing and helping people thrive throughout the second half of life.
Burnight developed the idea after decades working with older people and studying why some people appear to thrive as they age while others struggle.
In 2025, she brought the concept together in her book Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half.
Her central idea is powerful:
Longevity shouldn't simply be measured by how long we live.
Nor should it only be measured by how long we remain physically healthy.
We should also consider how long we enjoy being alive.
That's joyspan.
Burnight's framework draws on the science of wellbeing, contentment, connection, meaning, growth, choice and purpose, and challenges the fear-driven idea that ageing inevitably means decline.
I think that's an important shift.
Lifespan vs Healthspan vs Joyspan
The easiest way to understand joyspan is to look at the three ideas together.
Lifespan
How long you live.
Healthspan
How many of those years you spend in good health.
Joyspan
How much of that life you genuinely enjoy.
For years, longevity science understandably concentrated heavily on lifespan.
Then healthspan became the bigger conversation.
People began asking:
What's the value of living to 100 if the final decades are spent in poor health?
Joyspan takes that thinking one step further.
What if we live longer and remain physically healthy, but lose our connection, curiosity, purpose or enjoyment along the way?
Perhaps the ultimate goal of longevity isn't simply adding years to life.
Perhaps it's adding life to those years.
Why Everyone Is Suddenly Talking About Joyspan
Joyspan isn't yet as familiar as lifespan or healthspan, but that's beginning to change.
Marie Claire UK recently identified it as a major emerging wellness idea, connecting joyspan with the growing interest in longevity and the realisation that optimising every aspect of our physical health isn't the entire answer.
And I understand why it's resonating.
The wellness industry has become obsessed with optimisation.
Track your sleep.
Measure your steps.
Monitor your glucose.
Count your protein.
Take your supplements.
Strength train.
Cold plunge.
Sauna.
Optimise your morning.
Optimise your evening.
Optimise your ageing.
I'm interested in many of these things too.
But perhaps we've been so busy trying to optimise life that we occasionally forget to enjoy it.
That's why joyspan feels refreshing.
It doesn't reject longevity.
It completes it.
The Four Ideas Behind Joyspan
Dr Burnight's approach centres around four actions:
Grow
Continue learning, challenging yourself and remaining curious.
Age shouldn't mean becoming smaller.
Learning a language, travelling somewhere new, starting a business, trying a different form of movement, reading, creating or simply allowing yourself to become interested in something new all contribute to growth.
Connect
Relationships matter.
Family, friendship, community and meaningful human connection are fundamental parts of wellbeing.
We spend enormous amounts of money trying to improve our physical health, yet some of the most important things we can do for ourselves may involve something as simple as calling a friend, sharing a meal or feeling part of a community.
Adapt
Life changes.
Our bodies change.
Relationships change.
Careers change.
Families change.
Ageing well isn't about preventing change. It's about developing the resilience to move through it without allowing change to define what's possible next.
Give
Purpose often comes from contributing beyond ourselves.
That might mean helping family, mentoring someone, volunteering, sharing experience, creating something or simply being present for another person.
Giving gives life meaning.
And meaning matters enormously when we talk about living well.
Why Joyspan Resonates With Me
I've written before about why I prefer healthy ageing to the language of anti-ageing.
I don't believe ageing is something we need to fight.
And increasingly, I don't think longevity should become another thing we're frightened into pursuing either.
I want to be strong as I age.
I want to look after my skin.
I want to protect my health.
I want to maintain muscle.
I want to nourish my body.
I want energy.
I want independence.
But I also want dinners with friends.
Travel.
Laughter.
Long walks.
Great food.
New experiences.
Purpose.
Curiosity.
And the freedom to enjoy all of it.
That's joyspan.
And perhaps that's what healthy ageing should have been about all along.
Where Wellness Fits Into Joyspan
Wellness should support our lives.
It shouldn't become our lives.
Movement matters because it helps us remain capable of doing the things we love.
Strength matters because maintaining physical capacity becomes increasingly important as we age.
Nutrition matters because our bodies need the building blocks to function.
Sleep matters because recovery matters.
Looking after our skin can matter because feeling confident in ourselves matters.
And simple daily wellness rituals can matter because small behaviours, repeated consistently, can support how we feel over time.
But none of those things should exist simply to chase a number.
The goal isn't perfect health.
The goal is having the health, strength and vitality to participate fully in our lives.
That's where I think joyspan and longevity meet.
From Beauty From Within to Longevity From Within
When I started NEE-V, the conversation was predominantly about collagen and skin.
But the deeper I've gone into healthy ageing, the more I've realised that skin is only one part of a much bigger picture.
How we age is connected to muscle, strength, nutrition, movement, metabolic health, sleep, connection, purpose and the everyday choices we make.
It's why NEE-V is evolving too.
Beauty from within will always be part of our DNA.
But increasingly, I'm interested in wellness from within.
Something New Is Coming to NEE-V
Behind the scenes, I've been working on something that represents the next chapter of NEE-V.
It's our first step beyond collagen into the broader longevity and cellular wellness space.
I'm not ready to reveal exactly what it is yet.
But it has been developed around something I believe becomes increasingly important as we age:
Strength. Vitality. Longevity.
Like everything I want to create for NEE-V, the philosophy behind it is simple.
Evidence-led.
Purposeful.
No unnecessary complexity.
And designed to become an effortless part of everyday life.
Because the more I learn about longevity, the more convinced I become that healthy ageing isn't built through one dramatic intervention.
It's built through the small rituals we repeat every day.
And ultimately, those rituals should help us do something much bigger:
keep living the life we love.
More soon.
Perhaps We Need to Rethink Longevity
For years the question was:
How can we live longer?
Then it became:
How can we stay healthier for longer?
Joyspan introduces another question that might be just as important:
How can we enjoy more of the life we're working so hard to extend?
Maybe true longevity sits at the intersection of all three.
More years.
More healthy years.
More joyful years.
That's a version of longevity I can believe in.
And it's the direction I'm increasingly excited to explore through NEE-V.
Created with care. Backed by science. Designed for living well.
Continue Exploring Healthy Ageing
Discover more from the NEE-V Skin & Wellness Journal on collagen, healthy ageing, longevity and the science behind living well for longer.
Trust Me, I'm a Longevity Expert—Joyspan Is the Wellness Buzzword to Pay Attention to This Year