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Long Live Healthy Aging
by author Gail Johnson

Sheila Ringrose is a woman on the go. When she’s not synchronized swimming, going to the symphony, playing bridge, or travelling, she’s helping out with her nine grandkids, ranging in age from three months to 25 years. The Edmonton resident says she certainly doesn’t feel 78.

“That’s two years from 80, and 80 is old,” Ringrose says with a laugh. “Maybe when I’m 80, I’ll say 90 is old.”

The mother of four, who retired 15 years ago from a successful career teaching nursing, says that despite some health challenges—she has arthritis in her wrists and recently had cataract surgery—she feels fortunate to be so active.

“I’m always busy,” she says. “I’m so involved with my children, and I have a very supportive family. As you age, you’ve got to keep your mind and body as active as you can.”

She’s resilient to be sure, but Ringrose also admits that, as others have said before her, aging isn’t for wimps. Granted, no one wants to get old, especially in a culture obsessed with beauty and youth (as if one cannot exist without the other). But while it’s pointless to try to stop the process of aging altogether, there’s obvious good reason to at least try to slow things down.

Holistic aging

“We’re all trying to live longer, more fruitful, healthier lives. Ultimately, we’d all live a longer life if we could live a better life,” says Dr. Gidon Frame, director of the Anti-Aging Medical and Laser Clinic. “At this stage, people want quality of life by delaying the degeneration, deterioration, and disease that come with age ... healthy aging requires a proactive approach.”

Health experts agree it also calls for a holistic tack. To make those golden years greater, you need to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health. With the right blend of preventive health and positive outlook, aging might not be nearly as bad as it’s been made out to be.

Unlike what popular media portrays, “The majority of seniors are living their lives outside of care facilities like nursing homes,” says Dr. Jean-François Kozak, director of research at the Centre for Healthy Aging at Providence. “If you pay attention to your physical, mental, and social-emotional health, you will improve the likelihood that you will remain independent as well.”

Aging is popular

Canada’s senior population is growing, from 3.5 million people in 1996 to an estimated 6.9 million by 2021. Read the news, though, and instead of a positive spin on longevity you might catch yet another tale about how the aging of the baby boomers is doing nothing but straining publicly funded services.

“We hear about the aging of the population as if this is a really bad thing, when in fact it’s a huge success story,” says Kenneth Madden, Geriatric Medicine specialist at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Medicine. “We’ve wanted to reduce mortality, and now that we’ve succeeded it’s become a big problem.

“A few more people around with wisdom is a good thing. I have a patient who remembers the Great Depression. And with the current economic crisis, he’s giving me advice. That’s a great resource.”

Path to healthy aging

So what does it take to navigate later life as healthily as possible?

Health screening should be routine. Women should be tested regularly for breast and cervical cancer and osteoporosis, while men need to be tested for prostate cancer. As well, men and women should be checked for diabetes, obesity, colorectal cancer, and high blood pressure and cholesterol. Having regular vision, hearing, and oral-health tests are recommended too. So is getting up off the couch.

“We know how important it is for seniors to remain physically active no matter how frail they are,” Kozak says. “There’s a vicious cycle with those who are frail: the belief that they need to stay in bed because they’ll feel better or because it’s safer. For every day of bed rest they lose anywhere from two to eight percent of their functional capacity. They need to get out of bed.”

Gail Johnson is a Vancouver-based journalist.

Source: alive #324, October 2009