12-Year Gap: Aussies' Secret to Longer, Healthier Lives

Australians face a decade of poor health unless they close the gap between living longer and staying well.

There is an average 12-year gap between Australians' lifespan and health span that will reshape how people experience ageing, from the jobs they hold in their 60s and 70s to the products they buy, the health care they receive, and the way they plan for retirement.

UNSW Science Scientia Professor, Kaarin Anstey , one of the world's leading experts on cognitive ageing and dementia prevention, said this shift meant Australians needed to rethink when they started caring about brain health and what they could do to compress the years spent in poor health.

"Well, in fact, we should be caring about it throughout our lives, which is a hard answer to process when you're in your 20s. But we know that, for example, with brain ageing, the things that improve your brain as you age and protect it from cognitive decline and dementia, those exposures accumulate through the life course," said Prof. Anstey, who was recently interviewed by Dr Juliet Bourke , Adjunct Professor in the School of Management and Governance at UNSW Business School, for The Business Of , a podcast from UNSW Business School .

The implications of this were important for every Australian. By 2050, Prof. Anstey said, the nation would have only 2.7 people in the workforce for every person over 65 or child outside the workforce, down from five workers at present. This meant people could expect to work longer, while workplaces would need to adapt to keep workers engaged and productive across decades.

What does health span mean for your future?

Prof. Anstey, an ARC Laureate Fellow who also serves as Director of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute , said the distinction between health span and lifespan determined whether people spent their later years in independence or dependence.

"Health span is the number of years in which you have a healthy life, and lifespan is how long you live," she explained. "For example, you might live to 100, but you become disabled in your mid-80s, in which case your health span might be 85, and you have 15 years with a disability. And so, in ageing, we're trying to compress that time spent in disability and extend that health span."

The question of when to start protecting brain health is critical to the issue of how people age. While many assumed they could worry about health in later life, Prof. Anstey said, research showed that behaviours accumulated throughout life that affected health and broader life outcomes. Midlife, for example, was when risk factors such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity emerged, making this period crucial for decisions that would influence health in decades to come.

She also noted that the definition of midlife itself had shifted upward. "In the academic world, when we do research, we classify midlife as 40 to 65, but it's actually quite interesting, because about 15 years ago, when I was writing papers on this, it was 40 to 60," said Prof. Anstey, who has also held advisory roles with the World Health Organisation since 2016.

"So, we've already expanded that upper limit to 65, and I can see a time where we almost talk about 40 to 70 as midlife."

Brain health and what technology can, and cannot, do

Cognitive health would determine whether people could maintain independence, solve problems, work, and preserve their sense of self as they aged, said Prof. Anstey, who described cognitive health as fundamental to functioning. "Cognitive health is your ability to process information, solve problems, your memory," she said.

"Basically, without cognitive health, you can't function, so you can't solve everyday problems, you can't work, you can't participate in society. And it's about the self as well. It's your identity, who you are, your memory."

Prof. Anstey also noted that technology was evolving to assist with maintaining cognitive function through stimulation and engagement, while other technology could compensate for certain health challenges.

While home monitoring systems, digital reminders, and assistant tools could help people remain in their homes as they aged, Prof. Anstey said, there were questions about whether outsourcing thinking to AI systems might affect cognition over time.

"We have examples from other areas, where, when people stop using particular cognitive skills, it's like physical muscles that atrophy," said Prof. Anstey, who pointed to phone numbers as an example. People once memorised dozens of contacts, but smartphones eliminated that need. Whether such changes affect brain health over the course of decades remains unknown.

Importantly, she said, the solution involved ensuring that, as people delegated tasks to technology, they maintained cognitive engagement through other activities.

"What we will need to do is make sure that, if we outsource aspects of our thinking and problem solving to AI, we compensate and have other activities to engage our brain and ensure that we keep mentally active and don't lose those cognitive skills," Prof. Anstey said.

What to expect from your workplace

Prof. Anstey also told Dr Bourke that Australians could expect to work longer than previous generations, but the form that work took would need to change. She described how ageism remained "really the one form of discrimination which is socially acceptable, and the more you become aware of it, the more you see".

However, demographic realities meant workplaces would need to adapt and, Prof. Anstey said, research showed that workers wanted flexibility rather than simply extending careers in the same roles.

"What we're hearing is that people want flexibility," she said. "They don't necessarily want to work in the same job. They may choose and do something that they'd always wanted to try."

This could mean more time for hobbies, travel, and caring responsibilities alongside paid work, rather than working 9am to 5pm for another decade.

Evidence from organisations that have redesigned workplaces for workers across all ages showed what people could expect, said UNSW Business School Professor Barney Tan , who also spoke on the podcast . He described how BMW's German plant created a pilot assembly line staffed mainly by workers in older age groups, who were asked to help redesign the workspace.

Prof. Tan said the result involved around 70 modifications, including flooring that reduced joint strain, adjustable workstations that allowed sitting or standing, lighting improvements, screens with greater clarity, and job rotation to vary the demands on the body.

Importantly, productivity on the older workers' assembly line matched or exceeded that of other lines, while Prof. Tan noted that error rates and absenteeism also dropped. Workers in younger age groups also benefited from the same changes.

Prof. Anstey emphasised that workplaces would need to invest in training for workers across all ages. "The other really important area, and this is important for all of us, is lifelong learning and realising that we all constantly need to train and upskill ourselves, particularly with AI and giving people the opportunity to upskill and investing in older workers as you would invest in a younger worker," she said.