Australia's twelve year problem

We talk about how long Australians live. We rarely talk about how long we live well.

Those are different numbers. The distance between them is where most of the cost, the worry and the lost time sits.

The gap, measured

In December 2024, researchers at Mayo Clinic analysed World Health Organization data across 183 countries. They compared life expectancy with health-adjusted life expectancy: the years lived in good health.

Globally, the gap between the two widened from 8.5 years in 2000 to 9.6 years in 2019.

Australia's gap was 12.1 years. Only the United States, at 12.4, was wider.

Women carried a larger gap than men, by about 2.4 years on average across the countries studied.

What that means in a life

Twelve years is a long time. It is grandchildren growing from toddlers to teenagers. It is the stretch of retirement most people plan around.

The researchers linked wider gaps to a heavier burden of non-communicable disease: heart disease, metabolic disease, musculoskeletal conditions and mental health.

These are conditions that build slowly. They are shaped over decades by how we move, sleep, recover and connect.

Where Norge fits

We build saunas, ice baths and recovery equipment. We are clear about what they are and what they are not.

They are not a cure. No product closes a twelve year gap on its own.

What they can be is an anchor. A daily ritual that makes the other habits easier to keep: training, sleeping well, switching off, spending time with the people you live with.

Over the next month this Journal will go through the research on heat, cold and light, one study at a time. We will say what each study found, who was in it, and what it cannot tell you.

That is the standard we want to hold ourselves to. Healthspan is too important for hype.

Start with the number that moves

If you take one thing from this piece: lifespan is mostly a result. Healthspan is something you work on.

The rest of this series is about how.

Free: The Norge Longevity Guide. Heat, cold and light after 50, with the evidence and the safety rules in one place. Get the guide.

Sources

1. Garmany and Terzic, Global Healthspan-Lifespan Gaps Among 183 WHO Member States, JAMA Network Open, 2024
2. Mayo Clinic News Network, The global divide between longer life and good health

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have a heart condition, low blood pressure or are pregnant, speak with your GP before using heat or cold.