Source NJ.com Health
Don’t bother asking Dot Riley how old she is. Not because she won’t tell you. But because it doesn’t matter.
Riley is the definition of successful aging, an octogenarian who remains healthy, active and mentally sharp. If she’s not at the gym or on the golf course, she’s busy keeping up with her 26 grandchildren.
Riley is the definition of successful aging, an octogenarian who remains healthy, active and mentally sharp. If she’s not at the gym or on the golf course, she’s busy keeping up with her 26 grandchildren.
Recent research shows a significant number of older adults continue to enjoy good health and quality of life well into their 80s and beyond. Some decline occurs as we age; that’s inevitable.
But research is showing that the decline can be less acute than previously thought, less tied to chronological age and well within the ability of all of us to slow down the decline, based on the lifestyle choices we make.
“People can age well,” says Dr. Thomas Cavalieri, a founder of the New Jersey Institute for Successful Aging at Rowan University. “People can live into their 80s and 90s and beyond and be active and functional.” And according to Dot Riley:
“My health is wonderful — I never envisioned I would be like this. My grandkids are amazed at the things I can do. I still get out there and play ball with them.” Not bad for an 83-year-old woman.
And not at all the picture of decrepitude that’s often associated with one’s later years in life.
Experts are re-examining everything we know about growing old, and what’s emerging is a new, more encouraging picture of aging — one that looks a lot like Dot Riley.