NIJAMSS peer-reviewed article

Beyond Lifespan: Human Sustainability as an Integrative Paradigm for Women’s Emotional Longevity and Healthy Ageing

Moumita Nandy; J. Satpathy; Sweta Adatia

Abstract: Longevity science has progressed from preventing premature death to delaying biological ageing and extending health span. Despite major advances in geroscience, genomics, precision medicine, regenerative therapies and preventive care, contemporary models remain weighted toward biological mechanisms and clinical biomarkers. They insufficiently explain how emotional resilience, cognitive adaptability, social connectedness, caregiving, occupational participation, financial security, environmental conditions and purpose shape ageing trajectories, particularly among women. This conceptual review proposes Human Sustainability as an integrative life-course paradigm for healthy longevity. Human Sustainability is defined as the lifelong capacity to preserve, regenerate and adapt biological, emotional, cognitive, relational, occupational, financial, environmental and existential resources in ways that support meaningful and equitable ageing. Within this paradigm, Emotional Longevity is introduced as the sustained capacity for emotional regulation, psychological flexibility, recovery, connection and purpose across cumulative life transitions. Women’s Sustainability is presented as the gender-responsive application of Human Sustainability, recognising the interaction of reproductive transitions, caregiving, employment, social expectations and structural inequalities across the female life course. The paper develops the Human Sustainability Systems Model (HSSM), which conceptualises longevity as an emergent outcome of interacting adaptive systems rather than isolated biological processes. The framework complements, rather than replaces, Healthy Ageing, Geroscience, Precision Medicine, One Health, Planetary Health and the Social Determinants of Health. A research agenda is proposed for construct refinement, scale development, longitudinal validation, intervention testing and implementation. The paper concludes that additional years of life should be evaluated not only through survival and disease-free time, but also through resilience, autonomy, connection, participation, dignity and purpose.

Keywords: Emotional longevity; Geroscience; Healthy ageing; Human sustainability; Life-course approach; Resilience; Systems thinking; Women’s sustainability

Journal

Nexus International Journal of Applied Science, Medicine and Social Sciences

Publication date

May 2026

Volume / Issue

Vol. 1, Issue 1

Paper number

006

Article type

Conceptual Review

Published paper ID

NIJAMSS-V1S1-MAY2026-006

Publisher

Nexus Academic Press

Access

Open Access

Full text PDF: https://www.nijamss.org/archives-download/nijamss-vol-1-series-1-may-2026-paper-006.pdf