Successful Aging

1. What is your personal definition of succesful aging? How has this definition changed from the beginning of the semester?

-My personal definition of successful aging is being satisfied both physically and mentally with oneself. Being satisfied includes not only the mental and physical aspects but also social class, economic status, family, friends, relationship status, physical appearance, ability to exercise, etc.

-My definition has changed since the beginning of the semester by at first my own personal definition of successful aging was really short and vague and now it is more detailed and takes into account different factors.

2. What was one topic or fact that you found to be the most interesting throughout the semester?

-My favorite class and the things I found most interesting was today in class when Dr. Peter Martin came in and spoke to our class. I found his presentation very intriguing, relevant, informative, and I learned a lot from it.  
3. What is one aspect of successful aging that you would like to continue learning about?

-I would like to learn more about the genetics aspect of successful aging.

4. Has any of the information that we've discussed in class change your perspective about successful aging?  (i.e. Are there any behaviors that you will or will not do as a result of learning about aging?)

-Yeah a lot of things we discussed in class have definitely made me think twice about my own lifestyle and habits. But what I keep telling myself is aging and dying are both inevitable so I'm not going to go crazy or go ridiculously out of my way if it means giving up more important things.

What's in the news?

I found a rather different article from WebMD that was published last month on March 8th. Researchers conducted a survey that included six different categories: life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and basic access. 352, 840 adults from all 50 states and Washington D.C. were randomly interviewed in 2010. The questions they were asked were of a wide range. Interviewees were asked about their current situations and then 5 years from then. In the survey a score of 100 represents ideal conditions of well-being and as a nation we scored a 66.8.

Top Ranks: 

1) Hawaii                  71

2) Wyoming              69.2

3) North Dakota       68.4

4)Alaska                   68.3

5) Colorado              68

6) Minnesota             68

Bottom Ranks:

46) Alabama             63.7

47) Arkansas            63.7

48) Mississippi          63

49) Kentucky            61.9

50) West Virginia      61.7

I found the results of this survey to be very interesting how they compared overall well-being to geographic region within the United States. I thought this article coincided with what we have been talking about lately and a little bit to the Blue Zones video as well.

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20110308/survey-reveals-the-nations-happiest-states