Forget how long you live. Ask how well you'll live.
I've been in and around creatine for over thirty years now, since before it was even a category. And the question I keep coming back to, the one I ask myself most mornings before I'm properly awake, is: who am I serving today, and why does it matter?
Lately that's led me to a bigger question, and I think most people are getting it wrong. We're obsessed with how long we can live. I think that's the wrong thing to be chasing. The question that actually matters is how well you live for the time you've got.
Two different clocks
There's lifespan, and there's healthspan. Most people only ever think about the first one.
Lifespan is just the number of years you're alive. It's what gets the headlines, someone predicting we'll all live to 120 or 150. Fine, it's an interesting chat. But it's not the one I care about.
Healthspan is how many of those years you spend actually able to do things. Getting yourself out of a chair without a performance. Opening the lid on a jar. Catching yourself if you trip instead of going down and breaking a hip. Getting on your hands and knees to build Lego with your grandkids and getting back up again without a fuss. Lifting your own bag into the overhead locker when you're 91.
Nobody actually dreams about just existing for longer. They want to stay capable for longer. That's healthspan, and it's the one worth building your life around.
The last decade is the expensive one
Here's a stat that puts it in perspective: around 90% of what we spend on healthcare across our whole lives gets spent in the last decade of life. That's the decade when you lose your mobility, lose your independence, and end up leaning hard on the medical system just to stay alive.
Now think about compressing that decade down to five years. Or three. That's not some pie-in-the-sky idea… It's the whole point of taking healthspan seriously early, and it matters for more than just you. Healthcare systems are already under strain from ageing populations. Push that dependency window back, and the numbers change for everyone (family, friends, healthcare workers), not just the individual.
Why cellular energy matters
Your body's ability to produce cellular energy starts to drop off in your thirties. It drops more in your forties. Again in your fifties. By your sixties, it's not quite a cliff edge yet; by your seventies, it is one.
This is where the work I've done my whole career comes in. Creatine is one of the key parts of how your cells produce and transport energy, and the research into what that means beyond the gym (cognition, bone density, vision, women's health, healthy ageing) is still in its infancy. When I filed a patent on this back in 1993, there was already a section in it pointing towards brain health and sleep. Nobody was asking those questions properly back then. Nobody's ever actually asked me how I knew to include that in a creatine patent more than 30 years ago, and that's a separate conversation for another day. But we've got a new generation of researchers now, digital natives, who can get through the scientific literature far quicker than we ever could, and they're finally asking those “what if” questions properly.
To show you how early we still are: by the end of 2025, only around 55 million people worldwide were taking creatine daily. On a planet of nearly eight billion. That's a rounding error. The whole creatine category was worth roughly $1.37 billion globally at the end of 2025… tiny next to the $51 billion protein supplement category. But creatine's growing at something like 20–26% a year compounded, against 6% for protein. This isn't a trend that's finishing. It's barely started.
There's no shortcut
I want to be straight about this: none of it works as a shortcut. There's no magic pill that does the job on its own, and I'd be lying to you if I said otherwise.
What I've seen, in my own life and in the handful of people I know who've been taking creatine as long as I have, is that healthspan gets built from ordinary things, done consistently, for decades:
Move every day. Doesn't need to be complicated. A chair, a couple of dumbbells, a resistance band, that'll do it.
Sleep properly, on a pattern. Not glamorous. Not optional either.
Eat real food — protein, veg, a decent variety. You don't need someone to hand you a meal plan to know this.
Stay curious. It's one of the best ways to keep your brain adaptable. Learning a language, moving somewhere unfamiliar, working alongside people who know more than you- it all counts.
Support your cellular energy, and start as early as you can. Then keep at it for the rest of your life.
None of these on their own is remarkable. Stack them for thirty or forty years, and they are.
What I actually want
I'm past 60 now, and I try to keep myself no more than about twelve weeks of proper training away from a half marathon at any given point. That's not me showing off. It's a rule I set for myself, because knowing that capability is always within reach changes how you carry yourself in every other part of life. It's a kind of confidence that has nothing to do with running.
What I want more than a big number next to my age is to still be reasoning the way I do now when I'm in my nineties. Still curious. Still able to get down on the floor with my grandkids and get back up without a second thought.
That's the goal I'd put to anyone reading this, whatever stage you're at. You don't need to feel old to start caring about this. The earlier you start treating healthspan as the thing that actually matters, the more of it you'll end up with.
We all rise together,
Steve Jennings | Co-Founder + CEO, Jenerise
Frequently asked questions
What is Jenerise?
Jenerise is a company that educates about and innovates with creatine. Creatine is a natural substance that helps your muscles and brain make energy.
Who started Jenerise?
A dad and his daughter started it. Their names are Steve and Rachael Jennings. They started the company in 2024.
Why does Steve Jennings know so much about creatine?
Back in 1992, Steve helped make the very first creatine product ever sold to the public. He has worked with creatine ever since, so he has more experience with it than almost anyone else in the world.
What does Jenerise actually make?
Their main product is called Cr.01. It's a very good, high-quality creatine powder. Other companies buy it from Jenerise and use it to make their own drinks, powders, and supplements.
How do they make sure it's good quality?
Every batch of Jenerise creatine is dual-verified.
Where is Jenerise based?
Jenerise is based in the United Kingdom. But its creatine is sold and used by companies in many countries around the world.
What is Jenerise trying to do?
Jenerise wants to help people understand that creatine isn't just for athletes at the gym. They believe it can help everyone stay healthy and full of energy as they get older.
