Live Better, Live Longer

Philip Selby

Description

The first edition of this book, entitled "A Guide to Successful Aging" was published in English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese, and tens of thousands of copies were sold. It has now been completely revised.

People today live longer than ever before. This increasing longevity is of vital importance – a unique opportunity to plan constructively for one's later years. This book can help you to do so.

• Have you thought seriously about preparing for the later part of your life?

• Do you know how to cope with disabilities which may occur as you grow older?

• Are you caring for, or considering caring for, an elderly person? If so, do you know what is involved, and how to manage?

This book provides detailed practical advice which can help you and someone you care for to "live better, live longer".

Sujets

• Médecine
• Spécialités médicales
• Healthy Living
• Health
• Fitness

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456601195
• Langue: English

Extrait

Live Better, Live Longer
A practical guide to successful aging
 
by
Philip Selby
Drawings by Peter Davies
 
Copyright 2011 Philip Selby,
All rights reserved.
 
 
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0119-5
 
Preface
This book is essentially a new edition of A Guide to Successful Aging: preparing, coping, and caring , by Philip Selby and Adrian Griffiths. The original work was published in English, German, Spanish, French, and Japanese, with total sales of over 50,000 copies.
 
The success of A Guide to Successful Aging encouraged the book’s principal author, some years after it first appeared, to produce this new edition. The original work has been revised, the text has been clarified where necessary, and new material has been added, notably chapters on memory problems and on the menopause.
 
The new book has been enriched with original drawings by Peter Davies.
 
The author acknowledges the valuable contribution to the first edition by Adrian Griffiths, who made many helpful suggestions and was mainly responsible for the chapter on Money. He also thanks the International Health Foundation, which commissioned the original work, for granting him the copyright, thereby enabling him to produce this new edition. The author gives special thanks to Professor Jean-Pierre Michel, director of the geriatric hospital in Geneva, who reviewed the entire manuscript of the French edition, published in 2003, and made many helpful suggestions for bringing the book up to date.
 
Introduction
Today, people live longer than ever before, as a result of better hygiene, food, and medical care. This fact provides a double challenge — an opportunity to make the most of the added years, and a greater need to cope with the disabilities of later life.
 
The International Health Foundation, which commissioned the work on which this book is based, thought it would be useful to provide the ordinary person with a simple guide to help meet these challenges. The book is not intended to be a textbook, but a practical guide for anyone interested in successful aging. As such it requires no specialized knowledge on the part of the reader. It is written in everyday language, and where technical terms are used they are explained.
 
Aging, in the strict sense, is a continuous process from cradle to grave. However, for children and most young adults middle age and old age tend to be rather remote, and eclipsed by the present. Most readers of this book are therefore likely to be people of mature years who have begun to think about preparing for the next phase of their lives, and how to achieve successful aging.
 
The term “successful aging”, used in this book, requires explanation. It implies preparing constructively for one’s later years in order to ensure happiness, self-fulfillment, and usefulness to others. It may be achieved in many ways: through preventing disease; being and staying physically and mentally active; coping with disabilities should they occur, and living as full a life as possible despite them; planning for economic and social well-being; and playing a meaningful role in society. Of course each of us must decide on our own goals and roles. This book does not presume to take over such decisions, but offers practical advice and guidelines which may help each person to find his or her own solutions according to individual needs and circumstances.
 
A guide such as this, intended for anyone interested in successful aging, must cover a wide range of circumstances. To those who are healthy, active, and economically and socially secure, certain parts may seem unduly pessimistic. To others, less fortunate, they may appear over-optimistic. For many people, growing old starts at the age of retirement. But while retirement age has remained the same for decades (or has even been lowered), life expectancy has been steadily increasing, and with it the age at which physical and mental decline might be expected to occur. At retirement you will still be relatively young and, barring ill fortune, able to plan for anything from a decade to a quarter of a century or more of active life.
 
The book is in three parts.
 
Part One is intended for everyone, since preparation for “successful aging” should start early and be a lifelong process.
 
Part Two offers suggestions for coping with various disabilities which are more likely to occur as you grow older. Where such a disability cannot be cured, “successful aging” means adapting to it and making the most of life in spite of it.
 
Part Three is written for those of any age who care for, or are considering caring for, an elderly person at home. Whether or not they undertake the caring role, and how well they carry it out, can have a great influence on the quality of life of an elderly person — enabling him or her to enjoy a measure of “successful aging” right up to the end of life, despite ill health or even some degree of incapacity.
 
This practical guide to successful aging is, in a sense, a guide on how to get the most out of life. It deals with preventing problems, but also with coping with them if they arise. This does not mean that all the problems will occur, indeed the chances are that they will not. The message is therefore one of hope and optimism. Old age can be a good age, but you must strive to make it so.
 
Part One: Preparing for Later Life and Retirement
Chapter 1: Preparing for later life and retirement
 
ASPECTS TO THINK ABOUT
 
Childhood and adolescence are above all a time of growing up and learning, a great deal of which is structured by formal schooling. Adulthood and independence ar above all a period of work. For most people this means paid employment outside the home, which again imposes a structure. Even the housewife is affected by this through the structure imposed on the rest of the family by work and schooling. Later life and particularly retirement are in some ways the least structured period in life, free from the constraints of learning and working. However, whereas it is considered normal and logical to prepare for independent adulthood and work, many people do little or nothing to prepare for later life and retirement, which is an equally important and major change in life. Proper preparation can go a long way to making the transition a smooth one.
 
How can it be done?
 
There is no blueprint, as we each have our own desires and priorities. But a number of basic rules and questions need to be considered.
 
THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES
 
1) Prepare in good time.
 
2) Discuss your plans with those most closely involved, particularly your spouse or partner, and your family and friends if you think it appropriate.
 
3) Make sure you get the necessary information and advice, which may be anything from pre-retirement courses to explicit advice on specialized matters such as health, taxes, pensions, or housing.
 
Specifically, try to list the questions you consider important concerning all aspects of retirement, and then look for answers that can suit your own needs. Some of the more important questions are listed below to give you a start. Each is dealt with in more detail in the chapter shown in brackets.
 
IMAGES AND ATTITUDES
(Chapter 2)
A positive attitude to life is a great advantage at any age, and different ages bring different qualities, roles, and pleasures. Consider your own images and attitudes concerning later life.
 
A positive attitude to later life is particularly important in preparing for a successful retirement — one which provides such opportunities as:
• achieving unfulfilled ambitions,
• continuing your personal development,
• starting new activities,
• serving others.
 
Look on retirement as the first day of the rest of your life, rather than the beginning of the end. After all, it may amount to another twenty or thirty years. With effective preparation, the chances are that you will retire in good health. These years are yours to spend as you wish, and they can be enormously satisfying.
 
FITNESS AND EXERCISE
(Chapter 3)
 
How fit are you — with regard to strength, stamina, suppleness, coordination, balance — and how does this affect your physical capacity to cope with everyday activities?
 
• Do you (can you) look after yourself adequately?
• Do you take enough exercise to keep in shape?
• Are you underweight or obese?
• Do you smoke or drink a lot?
• Do you pay adequate attention to personal hygiene and body care?
 
MENTAL HEALTH
(Chapter 4)
 
• What mental stimulation do you have? — where does it come from (work, hobbies, friends, etc.)? — is it enough?
 
• Are you lonely, or satisfied with the number and quality of your personal contacts?
 
• Do you feel involved in your community?
 
• Do you often visit and help others?
 
• Do others often visit and help you?
 
•Do you suffer from depression or anxiety? — if so, what things depress you or make you anxious?
 
•What makes you feel stressed? — how well do you cope?
 
PREVENTION
(Chapter 5)
Good physical and mental health are enormous assets at any age. Prevention is better than cure, and becomes more important as we grow older.
 
• How is your health at present? — how does it affect your capacity to live an independent life?
 
• Do you have a regular check-up (including your eyes, hearing, and blood pressure)?
 
• If you have an illness or disability, is it being adequately cared for, and how is it likely to develop?
 
NUTRITION
(Chapter 6)
Good nutrition is enormously important at all ages. It is easy to fall into bad habits — eating too little or too much, or the wrong things. For a number of reasons (such as smell or taste impairment, problems of dentition, or difficulty in shopping) dietary problems may increase in later life, and it is useful to review your eating habits.
 
• Do you have regular, balanced, and varied meals?