What are some things I can do to age well?

Aging well starts with choices we make when we are young. Actually it starts before we are born, with the genes we inherit. But since you can't do anything about that, focus on what you can affect.

Staying healthy by eating properly, getting plenty of physical activity and taking medicines if they are prescribed are all important ways to make sure your senior days are as healthy as possible. Maintaining brain health is also important, and two things that can help with that are having a good social network where you interact with people and doing activities like reading that require mental energy. There is some evidence that certain types of mind exercises and games may also help maintain brain health.

Unfortunately, the list of what not to do is longer than the list of what to do. Things to avoid include drinking more than one to two glasses of alcohol a day, using tobacco, using illicit drugs, eating too much, sitting too much and other things that our grandmothers warned us about.

Researchers at the University of California surveyed 205 elderly people who were still living in the community about successful aging. They defined successful aging as being able to live independently, readily adapt to changes, be engaged with others, be healthy, and have a strong sense of well-being and life satisfaction. Four factors were strongly linked to successful aging:

• Having more close friends

• Spending more days each week reading

• Spending more days each week listening to the radio

• Spending more days each week visiting family

This study shows that "staying connected" with the world, through reading, listening to the radio, and being engaged with friends and family, is what keeps us both mentally and physically strong as we age.