Age: A word we encounter on a frequent basis.
What is age?
Age could be a number, a state of mind, or something much more complex. I believe that aging is the change that occurs to an organism over a period of time. When one measures age, there are an infinite number of ways that one can look at it. It is not simply the dilemma of whether the glass is half full or half empty. Aging can be viewed a change physical, mental, spiritual or emotional state.
What about healthy aging?
I believe that healthy aging intertwines many factors of human life. We all inherit genetic material that causes us to be predisposed to certain effects of aging. Occurrences such as hair loss at a young age cannot be entirely avoided with any sort of lifestyle due to predispositions. The loss of hair certainly does not mean that one is experiencing unhealthy aging.
The lifestyle choices that we make often have the greatest impact on defining ‘healthy aging’. Healthy lifestyle choices that lead to healthy aging include eating well (fruits and vegetables), being active and taking adequate care of yourself. Routinely visiting the doctor for physical examinations and actively partaking in preventative medicine.
Another essential part of healthy aging is keeping a positive outlook on life. Having a negative outlook about life or not keeping good company will prevent one from having a healthy aging experience.
The main activities that I consider to contribute to unhealthy aging are anything in excess (excess eating, inactivity, alcohol use, etc) and leading an unhappy life. If you are more satisfied with life, you are more likely to find the good in a bad situation and not put yourself under too much stress regarding the situation.
Overall, I feel that healthy aging involves leading a life you love and enjoy. While we are all human, and aging is inevitable, we can all choose whether our aging is healthy or unhealthy by the little choices in life.
Thanks for your thoughtful blog post. I like your blog design/background :)
ReplyDeleteThere are so many aspects to aging. I agree that anything in excess usually leads to problems and that our lifestyle choices are important! While genetically we may have inherited qualities that lead to differences in aging between the population, how you take care of your body can affect how gracefully you age. To me it's like destiny vs. choice. You can either choose to keep yourself healthy by taking care of yourself, or leave your health all to chance.
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