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Life expectancy continues to inch upward in the United States, and if you are middle-aged or older, you may be looking ahead and contemplating the coming years. Will you live a long, vibrant life? Will you maintain your vigor and independence in your later years, or will they be marred by disability?
Fortunately, successful aging -- a term coined by MacArthur Foundation researchers who have delved deeply into that topic -- is well within your grasp. What does it require? The desire and means to sidestep disease, sustain a high level of mental and physical function, and engage actively in life. The wealth of well-documented information in this special report on healthy aging can help you do just that.
You’ll also learn about the latest scientific findings on aging and how today’s scientific discoveries may add healthy years to human life span. But, even more importantly, you’ll discover what you can do today to improve your chances of leading a longer, healthier life.
This report aims to help you avoid common health woes of aging, such as heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and sight and hearing disorders. Its pages pose and answer many questions. What supplements should you take and which ones might endanger you? How does exercise affect your body and mind? What steps can you take to stay sharp? When is memory loss normal and when is it a sign of more serious trouble? How can you stay socially connected and why is that important to your health?
As you’ll see, the simple lifestyle choices -- what you eat, how active you are, whether you smoke -- have an enormous impact on your longevity and quality of life. Prepared by the editors of Harvard Health Publications in consultation with Anne Fabiny, M.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Chief of Geriatrics, Cambridge Health Alliance. 50 pages. (2008)
“If there is anything close to a fountain of youth, it is exercise,” says Dr. Anne Fabiny, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Given its proven benefits and low side-effect profile, if it were a pill, everyone would be on it!”
Exercise reduces your chances of getting a host of illnesses, keeps bones strong and healthy, helps you maintain your vitality and independence in later years, and improves your mood and mental functioning. In short, it can help you live a longer, healthier life.
Study after study shows that fitness prolongs life. To name just a few examples, researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that women who began walking a mile a day after age 65 were about half as likely to have died of heart disease, cancer, or any cause compared with their sedentary counterparts. In the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2005, researchers reported that moderate and high activity levels extended total life expectancy and held off cardiovascular disease. They found that moderate activity added 1.3 years of life for men and 1.5 years for women, while high activity levels tacked on 3.7 years of life for men and 3.5 years for women. Even gardening works: another study found that gardeners who set aside more than an hour a week to enjoy that pastime were less likely to die of cardiac arrest than inactive folks.
Other studies have found that it’s never too late to reap the benefits of exercise. A large study of Americans ages 65 and over found that men and women who were at least moderately active gained between 3 and 5.7 years, depending on how often they exercised. And just as importantly, a greater-than-average portion of those years were lived free from disability.
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