Recent studies in England have shown that there is an increase in healthy aging over the last couple decades. This is positive news because not only does it reflect that people are living longer, but it shows that people are having higher quality lives for longer, too.
For the purpose of this study, healthy aging referred to the number of years spent without cognitive impairment, or severe physical disability. This study compared two other studies to find out whether or not the longer lives that people all over the world are living are of a higher quality than before. The first study took place in 1991 and the second in 2011. For all intents and purposes, these studies were identical. What they found was that people are staying healthy for longer, increasing the proportion of the number of healthy years that people live. Men that were age 65 for these studies sayw an average rise in life expectancy of 4.5 years while women of the same age gained 3.6 years. The number of quality years of life increased, too. For men, this number increased by 4.2 years, while in women it increased by 4.4 years.
The gains in healthy aging were also seen by those that were already in excellent perceived health. The healthiest individuals in this study saw that their number of healthy years went up; men saw an increase of 3.8 years while women saw a rise of 3.1 years.
Looking not just at keeping people at a minimum level of health, but helping them to live even healthier, more enjoyable lives is what the primary aim should be for us and our families. In the end, this should be a huge goal for senior care specialists everywhere, as well. Living longer is great, but living better at the same time is the far superior choice. If we can help our elderly loved ones to achieve this in some fashion, the dependency of the senior community upon things like nursing homes will disappear. Senior care can be very expensive, and if cheaper alternatives like in-home care can be used with more regularity, then all the better. Not only does this help people to have a more fulfilling lifestyle during their senior years, it helps keep families together, helps save money, and it puts less stress upon family members.
For our elderly loved ones, all of this is encouraging news, but it’s only helpful if we do something with it. For example, we should look at the factors that are helping to contribute to an increase in quality years and seize upon the key points. We have a better understanding today of how diet, smoking, and exercise influence health, for starters. It’s important that while we help plan out our loved one’s senior care, we also take it upon ourselves to do the little things that can make their retirement years of a higher quality. Research projects like this make finding that information so much easier for us.
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