A study reported in the “Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences” find there are six factors that make it likely elderly people will thrive. A positive outlook, low stress, moderate consumption of alcohol, avoiding tobacco, an income of over $30,000, and a lack of chronic health conditions are the keys to a healthy old age.
“Many of these factors can be modified when you are young or middle-aged,” said David Feeny, Ph.D., study co-author. “While these findings may seem like common sense, now we have evidence about which factors contribute to exceptional health during retirement years.”
In a first study of its kind, researchers from Portland State University, the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Oregon Health & Science University and Statistics Canada, studied 2,432 Canadians about the quality of their life. They filled out questionnaires every two years for ten years, a total of six surveys. They were asked to rate themselves in eight categories: speech, hearing, vision, emotion, cognition, ambulation, dexterity and pain.
“Thrivers” rated themselves as having little or no disability in all eight categories on at least five of the six surveys. If they rated themselves as having moderate or severe disability on any of the surveys, they were classified as not having excellent health or a high quality of life.
At the beginning of the surveys, over half of the participants were rated as “thrivers,” but only eight percent were considered thrivers at the end of ten years. At that time, 47 percent were classified as not having excellent health or a high quality of life, 36 percent had died, and nine percent were institutionalized.
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