Living well in old age -- shocking news!

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So what does it take to live well in old age? You’d better sit down for this one, it’s going to be a shocker.

According to a study in this month’s Journals of Gerontology, those who are more likely to ‘thrive’ (their word) in old age have these things going on: a positive outlook, lower levels of stress, not smoking, drinking moderately, a moderate to higher income, and no chronic health conditions. Yep, that’s all it takes!

Researchers surveyed nearly 2,500 Canadians ages 65 to 85 who took part in a 10-year Canadian National Population Health Survey about their quality of life. They were then put into four categories: thrivers, or people who sustained exceptional health with no or only mild disability; nonthrivers, those who had a moderate or severe disability; those who were institutionalized; and those who died during the course of the study.

Although about 50% of participants were categorized as thrivers at the beginning of the study, after 10 years, a scant 8% were classified as thrivers, 47% were nonthrivers, 9% were institutionalized, and 36% died. Those who made the thriver category at the end had a higher income, lower psychological distress, never smoked, drank moderately and had more self-esteem. They were also younger at the beginning of the study.

While this may elicit a collective ‘duh’ from everyone, let’s think for a minute what we can take away from the information. Study co-author David Feeny, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, offers this: ‘Many of these factors can be modified when you are young or middle-aged,’ he said in a release. Also, many of the commonalities in the thrivers were not physiological, such as having more self-esteem and lower stress.

If only other aspects of life were as easy to figure out.

-- Jeannine Stein