Healthy ageing is an individual lived experience that is influenced by healthy behaviours over the course of a lifetime, including good nutrition, physical activity, access to high-quality healthcare and social engagement. The intent to age well should be fostered early in life.
WHO defines healthy ageing as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.” Functional ability is about having the capabilities that enable all people to be and do what they have reason to value.
Six out of the nine studies included determinants of successful ageing within the three healthy ageing domains of physical, mental/cognitive, and social well-being (Table 2, Fig. 2) [14–17, 20, 21]. Three studies only addressed the mental/cognitive and social domains.
The World Health Organization defines healthy or active ageing as 'the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age'.
These are the abilities to: meet basic needs; learn, grow and make decisions; be mobile; build and maintain relationships; and contribute to society. Being able to live in environments that support and maintain your intrinsic capacity and functional ability is key to Healthy Ageing.
(13, 14), successful ageing is defined by the domains of health and activities of daily living (ADL), physical and cognitive functioning, social participation and engagement, and also positive affect and control, when the definition by Baltes et colleagues (15, 16) is also considered. Kok et al.
They also identify “seven pillars” of aging, intertwined processes driving the aging process. They are: adaption to stress, epigenetics, inflammation, macromolecular damage, metabolism, proteostasis, and stem cells and regeneration. Through study of these processes, experts hope to find ways to slow down aging.
The three principal components in the successful aging model developed by Rowe and Kahn, “absence of disease and disease-related disability,” “maintenance of high mental and physical function,” and “continued engagement with life,” were used to determine successful aging.
They found people tend to fall into one of four biological aging pathways, or ageotypes: immune, kidney, liver or metabolic. Snyder said that metabolic agers, for example, may be at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes as they grow older.
Some of the benefits of staying active and healthy as you get older include increasing wellbeing and participation, recovering from illness more quickly, reducing the risk of getting chronic disease, and preventing falls.
What is healthy ageing? The World Health Organization defines healthy ageing as 'the process of developing and maintaining the functional. ability that enables wellbeing in older age,' where 'functional ability comprises the health-related attributes that enable people to be and to do what they have reason to value'.
In broader terms, aging can be broken down into three distinct and often related categories: biological aging, psychological aging, and social aging.
In the care of the elderly patient, eleven essential principles should be considered: (1) the role of the physician as the integrator of the biopsychosocial-spiritual model; (2) continuity of care; (3) the bolstering of the family and home; (4) good communication skills; (5) a sound doctor-patient relationship; (6) the ...
Take proper care of your health.
Take basic care of yourself by making sure to see your doctor and dentist regularly. Stay up to date on your health tests as you age. Get good sleep. Wear sunscreen.
All You Need Is Love (and exercise helps too!)
As important as physical exercise is to aging well, by far the most important determinant to healthy aging is the quality of our relationships, he said. “Loving relationships are key to thriving longevity.” "Loving relationships are key to thriving longevity."
Modern biological theories of aging in humans fall into two main categories: programmed and damage or error theories.
These hallmarks are: genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication.
While the biomedical model emphasises absence of disease and the maintenance of physical and mental functioning as the keys to ageing successfully, sociopsychological models emphasise life satisfaction, social participation and functioning, and psychological resources, including personal growth.