We want to live long, happy lives and hope for the same for our senior loved ones — maybe even more than for ourselves.
What we don’t want is for them or us to live those long years in sickness, weak and infirm.
We want our seniors and ourselves to stay healthy through the aging process and have a good quality of life.
We don’t just want years in our senior loved ones’ lives – we want them to have life in their years!
Study: 90 Year Olds Improving with Time
A new study reports that our current 90 year olds are mentally sharper than those who were 90 only a decade ago. That’s great news for a population that continues to grow older in average age!
This finding disputes what many of us believe (or fear), that the older we live the more frail we become in body and mind.
Over 3,800 elders (2262 now/1584 then) were studied by testing mental acuity, such as recall ability, and signs of depression as well as with “performance tests,” which measured their ability to complete their own activities of daily living such as grooming, dressing, bathing, transferring and eating. Researchers found that the current 90 year olds were more likely to reach the age of 95 and also scored higher on all tests performed compared to the elders in the previous decade.
What that means is that the current 90 year olds had a higher functional ability than the prior 90 year olds. Also found in the current group was that 40% had dementia.
The researchers stated that the higher level of quality of life is due in part to better living conditions, improvements in health care and, to a lesser degree, improvements in education.
“Factors such as nutrition, burden of infectious disease, work environment, intellectual stimulation and general living conditions also play an important part in the improvement of cognitive functioning,” according to the study’s authors.
Keeping Life in Our Years
- Get and stay physically active
- Stay mentally active and engaged
- Eat healthy foods that are nutritious and low in fat
- Reduce and manage stress
- Lose some pounds and maintain a healthy weight
How successfully we age is a concern for us all because, according to the 2010 census, there are 425,000 Americans age 95 and older at the present time and the numbers are growing. It will be the responsibility for the current “younger” generations to care for these seniors.
Encouraging and promoting health and wellness for everyone will improve the life in their years – – and maybe add even more years to their lives!
This is a really a good article drawing attention to the fact that people are living longer well into their 90s. I have every intention of living longer. I have made significant changes in my life so that I will live longer, healthier, an happier.
I could not agree more. We try to give our residents the opportunity to successfully age with help in selecting appropriate lifestyle choices that improve or maintain functional mobility and overall health. Doing what we can to keep them moving and active is part of this but we also believe that you also need to focus on their emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, social and environmental well being.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts BJ! We couldn’t agree more!