Successful Ageing there is so much to it – find out the final pieces!
- Elissa Burton
- 5 minutes ago
- 8 min read
This month’s blog is the final piece in my series on successful ageing, which was defined by almost 2,000 older adults from across different parts of the world [1]. We will be talking about the four remaining themes in today’s blog:
Resilience and Acceptance
Social-Emotional Connection and Support
Health Promotion and Maintenance
Mentally Healthy/Cognitively Sound
Resilience and Acceptance
Almost 800 older adults spoke about having resilience and acceptance in how they were ageing and the important role it played in them defining successful ageing. Some of the aspects within resilience and acceptance that were identified included one’s outlook on life, and sense of self.
Some examples of outlook on life included:
“Being of sound mind, active, within realms, and having a positive outlook on life.” (Participant 719)
“Keeping a positive outlook on life, enjoying family and friends.” (Participant 1897)
“Having a positive outlook on life. Accepting physical declines as they occur, having friends and family that you are able to have interactions with. Be physically active, be mentally active, trial new activities, have interests, enjoy people, be able to be on your own, be able to ask for assistance when needed. Have a deep spiritual practice, this last one does not mean it has to be an organised religion.” (Participant 2901)
Having a strong sense of self is also important to successful ageing. In this fast paced world that we live in, with marketing and advertising geared towards being young and beautiful (whatever that means!!!) and social media putting an unrealistic spin on how the world actually is, having a strong sense of self appears to be becoming more and more important and is something that I think we can all learn from older adults.
“Maintaining physical and mental wellbeing. Staying active and useful within the community. Being happy within oneself.” (Participant 3058)
“Contentment in oneself. Reasonable physical and mental health.” (Participant 1671)
I taught a class last week for Masters of Clinical Exercise Physiology students and asked everyone to describe something about older adults. One student said, “they speak their mind.” They were not being derogatory at all, they almost said it with a sense of pride and it felt like there was a little bit of – I wish I could do that more! I remember when I used to spend hours talking with my Grandma, and it now happens when I chat with Mum and Dad each week, that they literally just say it how it is. Mum was always a little more concerned about what others thought, but when she is talking with me, she now just says it how it is, and I just love that. As long as you’re not hurting someone it really does make life easier, but I think to be that open you need a strong sense of self and perhaps that comes with time and experience.
Resilience plays an important part in life at any age, and it was fascinating that so many older adults included it in their definition. Life doesn’t always go exactly how we would like it to, and we all have ups and downs. Money makes things easier, but it certainly doesn't solve all of our problems or mean our lives go without bumps in the road. Resilience is essential to having good mental health and examples of this from the participants included:
“Successful aging means to enjoy life, to be at peace with myself, to take each day as it comes. To look back and appreciate that I am the sum of my choices. I appreciate that I have learned so much over the years very often more from the mistakes I’ve made, than from those things I have done well. My mantra has been “if you don’t use it you will lose it” so until the COVID restrictions I went to aqua size regularly, I have reached the age of 92 because I was fortunate enough to have a bypass operation when I was 81 and that has enabled me to enjoy my grandchildren who are now nine and seven. My mother passed away when I was 16 and I didn’t grieve for her until I was 40 years old and I think understanding the grieving process has enabled me to cope with the continual losses of friends, colleagues and relatives that are a part of successful ageing. As a child of the Second World War I developed resilience that has stood me in good stead.”
(Participant 3070)
”Being in good physical and mental health as much as possible. Having appropriate health care available when needed. Enjoying grandchildren. Supporting all family and friends. Community involvement - giving back. Having new experiences and meeting new people. Having a full life, taking advantage of all opportunities. Continual learning. Positive attitude to life. Resilience to overcome and learn from life experiences.” (Participant 114)
As you can see the more life experience we have and the longer we live the more resilience is required, especially if you want to continue to have a positive outlook on life. Acceptance that things will happen that are out of your control and you just need to ride the wave and find the solution over time is also really important to successful ageing.
“Enjoyment, acceptance, modification, a reason to get up in the morning” (Participant 210)
“An ability to manage all physical aspects of self-care, the realisation and acceptance that life has changed, time for mental reflection, taking pleasure in the natural world, and realising that you are on that final trajectory of life, regardless of a desire to be a rather disreputable granny!” (Participant 65)
“Successful ageing, from my perspective, is coming to terms (accepting & understanding) that there are lots of things I could once do that are now just memories & being OK with that & not beating myself up over not being the man I was. A large part of this acceptance/understanding paradigm is not seeing it as a loss, for there are benefits. Perhaps a little wisdom, patience, greater compassion for others, calm & a degree of peace.” (Participant 320).
Social-Emotional Connection and Support
Older adults really want to be connected to their friends, family and pets, but they also want to connect with their community and more importantly they want to contribute to their community. The participants spoke about having support from family and friends, but equally they talked about supporting their family, in particular their children and grandchildren. Having strong connections often provides purpose in life and the time grandparents get to spend with their grandkids are often the most positive and fun, and create lifelong memories. My sister and I learnt from Grandma that you don’t buy the drinks and lollies at the movies, you go down to the supermarket and buy the cheaper ones, with better selection, and then go and enjoy the movie together. I ended up passing on this tip to my niece and nephew when we would take them to the movies when they were little. Small things but they make me smile when I think back on the time spent with each of them.
“Having good health, a comfortable lifestyle, being able to enjoy family and friends and the occasional holiday.” (Participant 324)
“Being able to do what you want to do. Being actively involved in family/community life” (Participant 328)
Dogs were the most talked about pet among this group, and they have many benefits. Firstly, people described walking their dog each day which they found good for their health but because they were doing it for their dog it wasn’t so much of a chore, and they prioritised it within their day. Dogs also show unconditional love and even when you have had a bad day, you get home and the dog has no clue whatsoever, they are just really, really, really excited to see you. That type of love and companionship is so important to many people of all ages and dogs can certainly add to your life.
Health Promotion and Maintenance
Maintaining health and preventing health issues was also reported by a smaller number of older people and we viewed this as being different to how they spoke about the importance of physical activity and wellbeing, which was more about the actual engagement in these activities. Types of prevention included making sure their health screening was up to date, be it skin, heart, breast screens and having annual blood tests and medication reviews.
Some of the comments regarding this included:
“Being as well as I can be as I get older. Looking after my body. Taking preventative measures for as long as I can” (Participant 1114)
“Having preventative tests” (Participant 4192)
“Attend[ing] to one’s health; having screening tests where necessary. Preferably having a regular GP and a good relationship with them” (Participant 85)
“Keeping healthy … by which I mean preventative maintenance … keeping up health checks” (Participant 120).
Mentally Healthy/Cognitively Sound
The final theme was mentally healthy and cognitively sound. This was described by only 96 people, which I found surprising. Depending on the study you read, around 14-20% of older adults live with a mental health issue, depression and anxiety being the two most prevalent. Often being mentally fit was also included when the older participants were describing physical fitness as well. Mental capacity and acuity were also discussed because it was important to be able to continue to do things for oneself and not have to rely on others for help.
“Being able physically and mentally to continue all activities that I have been interested in all my life.” (Participant 1146)
“Survival in full possession of your mental ability” (Participant 1582)
“Being able to get out of bed in the morning and being independent both physically and mentally” (Participant 1683)
What did you think of these last four themes, are you ticking boxes on each, or are there things you would like to work on?
Interestingly, key strategies to building resilience include things like have social connections, a positive mindset, purposeful engagement, problem solving abilities, being physically active and having good support systems and acceptance to how things go in life. All of these strategies have been included by older adults in their definition of successful ageing. If there is something missing that you have always wanted to try, give it a go today, make a plan, to make it happen.
Are you up to date with your preventive health screening? When did you last have your annual blood tests or medications reviewed? If you can’t remember it has probably been a while, book in to see your GP and make sure all is well. Also speak with your GP about your preventative health screens and whether they are up to date, there are a number of them, and it differs in each country, don’t forget your eyes and ears too!
If you have a dog, I am sure you understood what I was meaning about them being so pleased to see you. If you don’t have a dog and don’t want to have the responsibility of caring for them and potentially paying the vet bills, then there are other ways around this. Dog shelters are often looking for volunteers and there are organisations that link people happy to walk dogs for older people who can no longer walk their dog, but still want to keep them at home. In WA it’s called Pets of Older People (POOPs WA), look them up and see if there is one near where you live, they will get you moving.
That finishes our successful ageing series. There are so many aspects to successful ageing and when you look at them as a whole they make so much sense. Successful ageing really is more than just health.
Live the good life!
Reference:
1. Burton, E., Teater, B., Chonody, J., Alford, S. 2024. What does it mean to successfully age? Multinational study of older adults’ perceptions. The Gerontologist; 64(10): gnae102. DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnae102