In chapter 10 – ‘Future Health’ of “Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing” Professor Cassandra Szoeke summarises six key things for future health
“No period in your life can ‘protect you’ from later ageing…you have the chance to make a change each and every day of your life; it is never too late…” Professor Cassandra Szoeke, from “Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing”.
The six key things you should aim to do, always, are as follows:
– Move as much as possible each day
– Engage with other people in your own way
– Be mindful of what you eat and eat well
– Challenge your brain
– Sleep well
– Don’t smoke, drink to excess or take non-prescription drugs
Invest a little time daily – ideally, incorporate these into your daily life – to extend by years what public health professionals call your DALYSs: ‘disability-adjusted life years’ – I.e. the years of your life you’ll live without disease-associated disability.
Poor health in old age is not inevitable, it’s the risk factors you’ve been exposed to during your life that determine your ‘bio-age’. “Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened”, Terry Pratchet, ‘Moving Pictures’.
Understanding your body as a system
“A lot of medical advice comes in disease-specific or organ-specific packets” and because we still don’t know everything about the body, “we are not quite ready to pull it all together.” Your GP is probably the best person to decipher all of these pieces of information and is best placed to help you with your overall health picture.
The author notes that participants in medical research have better health outcomes, as the findings lead to better medical advices and people are naturally more inclined to want to improve their health.
Future of medical research
The author hopes that Women’s Healthy Ageing Project will continue for another 30 years, and will celebrate one participants turning 100! They’re also hoping to study whole families, men (especially with regards to mental health and suicide prevention) and children. One such study called “ageHAPPY” is online and anyone can get involved.
