We define successful aging as taking full advantage of your potential and reducing the negative effects of getting older, such as the weakening of mental and physical abilities.
Genetics is certainly one key to successful aging. If your parents and grandparents lived long and healthy lives, the odds are you can expect to do the same. However, there's a lot more to aging successfully than just genetics. Eating right and exercising, making sure you get regular check-ups and screenings, and focusing on preventive care are very important to how well you age.
Aging successfully will be added as a feature to Healthy Horizons in our next issue. We will explore topics about the major health issues that seniors are faced with today, the new Medicare bill, other insurance issues and profile seniors that exemplify successful aging. If there are specific topics that you are interested in reading about in this column, please feel free to email them to us at editor@healthyh.com.