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January 21, 2013
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Your HealthTips to Promote Successful Aging

CSU researcher aims to optimize aging experience for graying population.

How does a person know when he or she is old? The answer is more complicated than one might think. Manfred Diehl, a Colorado State University (CSU) researcher in human development and family studies, is working to unravel the complicated interaction between how young or old a person feels — self-perceived age — and his or her actual age, and the impacts of both on health, well-being and quality of life as we age.

In a project funded by the National Institutes of Health, CSU is developing a measurement of self-perceived age that could lead eventually to an educational intervention to counteract negative perceptions about growing older.

Diehl offers his top tips to optimize the positives of aging.

Top 10 tips to promote successful aging

  1. 1. Stay physically active: Exercise daily. Avoid impairment and disability due to becoming physically inactive. If you don’t use it, you will lose it.
  2. 2. Stay mentally active: Learn something new every day. Exercise your mind with daily “brain jogging,” such as reading books, newspapers and magazines. Again: Use it or lose it.
  3. 3. Stay connected to other people: Treasure and nurture the relationships you have with your spouse/partner, your family, friends and neighbors. Reach out to others, including younger people. Stay involved in your community.
  4. 4. Don’t sweat the small stuff: Don’t worry too much. Be flexible and go with the flow. Don’t lose sight of what really matters in life.
  5. 5. Set yourself goals and take control: It is important to have meaningful goals in life and to take control in achieving them. Being in control of things gives us a sense of mastery and usually leads to positive accomplishments.
  6. 6. Create positive feelings for yourself: Experiencing positive feelings is good for our body, our mental health, and for how we relate to the world around us. Feeling good about our own age is part of this.
  7. 7. Minimize life stress: Many illnesses are related to life stress, especially chronic stress. Stress has a tendency to “get under our skin,” whether we notice it or not. Try to minimize stress and learn to unwind and “smell the roses.”
  8. 8. Adopt healthy habits: Maintain optimal body weight. Eat healthy food in small portions. Drink alcohol in moderation. Quit smoking. Floss your teeth. Adopt good sleeping habits.
  9. 9. Have regular medical check-ups: Take advantage of health screenings and engage in preventive health behavior. Many symptoms and illnesses can be successfully managed if you take charge and if you partner with your health-care providers.
  10. 10. It is never too late to start working on Tips 1 through 9: Change is possible at any age.

Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from a release from Colorado State University Department of Public Relations News & Information.

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