Successful Ageing

• Ageing well


  Promoting 'optimal ageing'
• Life expectancy has increased steadily over past decades; from 62.9 in 1940 to 81.5 in 2021
• The proportion of older adults exceeds the rate of population growth, putting increasing strain on economy/health care resources
• Measures to counteract secondary factors

  • Promote 'optimal ageing'
• Successful ageing


  Absence of disease and disability, high cognitive and physical function as well as engagement with life
• 5 ways to shorten your life

  • Being overweight
  • Drinking/driving
  • Not eating fruit/vegetables
  • Being physically inactive
  • Smoking
• Successful agers are well educated
• Ageing well


  Emphasise autonomy and independence
• Exercise


  • Compensates for physical and cognitive change and predicts wellbeing
  • Sedentary lifestyle = predisposition to health threats
• Obesity


  • Contributes to high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnoea, coronary heart disease, hypertension and asthma
• Diet


  • Changes occur when leaving home, often signalling a decline in nutrition
  • Contribution to obesity; bowel cancer, type 2 diabetes
  • Eating disorders – social pressure, perception of body image
• Smoking


  • Leads to increased risk of lung cancer, mouth and throat cancer, and other smoking-related illnesses (e.g., emphysema and heart disease)
  • Immediate effects of quitting
• Self-efficacy


  Belief in yourself that you can make things happen
• Sense of control


  Internal locus promotes action/responsibility
• Women who rated themselves successful agers scored highly in "psychologically" protective factors
• Education


  • Cognitive functioning predicts adaptation to demands of everyday life, such that cognitive function appears to be central to identity
  • Successful agers are highly educated; in the top 10
  • Leaving education signals loss of activity/lower income, which has been linked to heart disease
  • Education predicts physical and cognitive functioning, which also predicts subjective wellbeing
• Socioeconomic status


  • Impacts on lifestyle choice
• Life stress


  • Impacts on psychological/physical functioning
  • 'organ reverse' to deal with stress in those who look after their health
• Gender


  • Women live longer than men. But male attitudes to health are changing to narrow the gap
• Social network


  • Social support plays a larger role. Quality > Quantity. Important to keep in contact with friends and family
  • Adults with adequate social support have lower risk of disease, depression and premature death
• Social networking (mobile phone use)

  • The rise of FOMO – fear of missing out
  • Reduction in life satisfaction
  • Having to always be available produces stress and anxiety
• Biological, psychological and social change occurs during young adulthood. These 3 factors interact to influence development
• Biological, psychological and social-oriented lifestyle factors have a large contribution in shaping our developmental trajectory. They determine whether we age well or are prone to the effects of secondary ageing. The diversity observed in later life begins here!
• The detrimental influence of many lifestyle choices can be reserved but there are often barriers to change