Active aging can help you live longer and improve your quality of life—6 steps to get started

You’ve probably heard the term “active aging,” but what does it really mean? Should you hit the gym every day, or hike every week?

Absolutely not. Active aging includes a wide range of activities that keep your mind, body, emotions and spirit engaged, regardless of age, health or socioeconomic status, according to World Health Organization (WHO). It also means being diligent about your own health and well-being.

Following the principles of active aging helps extend longevity and quality of life, according to Colin Milner, founder and CEO of International Council on Active Aging. “Physical activity is just one of the many elements that make up a person. “It is just as important that we are socially connected and that we are intellectually active.”

How to be an active age

Stay positive

Active aging starts with having a positive attitude about aging. Research by Yale psychologist Becca Levy and others found that negative attitudes about aging can cut 7.5 years off your life. Other studies find connections between positive attitudes about aging and better health, including lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, as well as better quality sleep.

Stay connected

Seniors who have active social interaction with family and friends – either in person or virtually – may live longer and reduce their risk of depression, according to The American Geriatrics Society. On the contrary, isolation or solitude the possibility increases in poor health.

Stay engaged

Participating in cultural, social, economic, and civic activities also helps promote health and healthy aging regardless of physical or cognitive status, the WHO reports. Activities such as volunteering in the community, participating in intergenerational programs (think: tutoring, reading to children, family gatherings), participating in politics, or even helping a neighbor develop a sense of satisfaction and purpose.

Stay healthy at all ages and stages

Your behavior early in life—including diet, alcohol and tobacco use—sets the stage for active aging later, according to Dr. Susan Friedman, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of Rochester. Friedman taught a growing recognition among medical professionals that lifestyle can really make a difference in healthy aging.

“However, people need to know that they can live active, healthy, happy, productive lives, despite chronic illness or disability,” Friedman said. And, it’s never too late to adopt healthier habits, which can help reduce the effects of disease and extend longevity, he said.

Stay curious

Intellectual engagement is just as important as physical and social stimulation, experts say. Activities that promote brain health, such as taking a class, playing music, reading books about new subjects, or learning a new skill, prevents the brain from engaging and firing of neurons.

Stay calm

Managing stress and anxiety is different as a senior. You may experience new types of stressors, such as the loss of a loved one, a change in financial situation or less structure in your day due to retirement, as well as physical changes, according to Harvard Health experts. Exercise, deep breathing techniques, mindfulness or meditation, and additional social and mental health support are just a few non-pharmacologic ways to help manage life’s ups and downs.

Other factors that contribute to longevity

While other factors such as biology and genetics, income, education, and access to health care, play an important role in healthy longevity, all can be active methods of aging, whatever yet their particular circumstances, Friedman said.

Building on the many components—physical, dietary, social, stress reduction, and avoiding toxins like tobacco—means you’ll be more likely to promote your own healthy aging. “The more we can do with this life cycle approach, the better off we are,” he said.

Beyond the individual

While individuals must take the lead, health care systems, governments and policymakers must also develop ways to promote healthy old age. A 2020 report from McKinsey Global Institute, concluded that we need to think of health and aging as an economic and social investment rather than an economic burden or safety net.

“Long-term health prevention and promotion cannot be left to health care providers or health care systems. It is literally everyone’s business,” the report said. At the individual level , people who are more involved in their own health and aging reduce the burden on the health care system, and contribute more to the economy.

No matter where you live, or what your specific lifestyle and health status is, anyone can be an active senior, according to Milner. “Even if you are in long-term care, you can always squeeze the juice of life. So you can live better, longer, in that situation,” he said.

There are no hard and fast rules for active aging, except to be as whole of yourself as possible, Friedman says. “You don’t have to climb the mountain. You need to take that first step. “



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