Aging Naturally

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In the following pages, I will share some of my recommendations for what you can do to experience healthy aging. They are not intended to help you grow younger, to extend life beyond its reasonable limits or to make it easier for you to deny the fact of aging. The goal is to adapt to the changes that time brings and to arrive at old age with minimal deficits and discomforts--in technical terms, to compress morbidity. I hope that you will discover and enjoy the benefits that aging can bring: wisdom, depth of character, the smoothing out of what is rough and harsh, the evaporation of what is inconsequential and the concentration of true worth.

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION

Taking care of the body means different things at different stages in life. For example, accidents are major causes of death and disability in people in their teens and 20s, often the result of thoughtless or reckless behavior, such as riding motorcycles without helmets, diving headfirst into murky bodies of water and using drugs and alcohol unwisely.

Habits acquired in those years--notably addiction to tobacco--can markedly increase the risk of chronic disease in later life. Men in their 30s and 40s often injure themselves by engaging in contact sports or exercising improperly, while men in their 50s and 60s are often too sedentary. One of the secrets of healthy aging is knowing how to evaluate the riskiness of your behavior. Another is being willing to let go of behaviors more suited to younger bodies.

Obviously you will not have a chance to experience healthy aging if you succumb to one of the common diseases that strike people in midlife, such as a heart attack or a tobacco-related cancer. To avoid these, you must be aware of your personal health risks, as suggested by your medical history, your family history and your medical examinations. You also need to know how to take advantage of modern preventive medicine--for example, how to make the best use of diagnostic screening tests that are now available (and to avoid tests that are not accurate or sensitive enough to justify their use).

There is much you can do to prevent illness, including having a complete physical exam and regular checkups. But there are two specific points of preventive health care that I feel need emphasis:

Don't smoke. Tobacco addiction is the single greatest cause of preventable illness. Exposure to tobacco smoke not only increases the odds of developing many kinds of cancer but also raises the risks of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Inhalation of vaporized nicotine is as addictive as the smoking of crack cocaine or crystal methamphetamine. Almost all cases of tobacco addiction begin in the teenage years or earlier; therefore, I address this message to young readers. Do not experiment with smoking: the chance of becoming addicted is too great, and this is one of the hardest of all addictions to break.