Aging in Good Health

With advances in medicine and preventive healthcare measures, more and more Americans are living to advanced old age while remaining productive and experiencing relatively good health and vitality. Unfortunately, a significant number of the elderly still succumb to various serious maladies, many of them preventable or treatable, whether physical or psychological. This excellent interdisciplinary collection of articles on aging, by a wide range of experts, is designed to make available to the general public the best recent research on the many facets of successful aging.Divided into four main parts, the contributors discuss the psychological, sociological, and biomedical aspects of aging and conclude with a focus on service provisions for the elderly. Among the specific issues discussed are the role of negative life events in late-life adaptation, spiritual needs of those near the end of life, emotional health and maturity, family relational ethics and caregiving, planning and consequences of retirement, elder abuse, overmedication, alcohol abuse, nutritional recommendations, physical activity, physician-patient communication, exemplary services in the community, and volunteerism.By combining multiple perspectives this accessible collection develops an overall picture of the needs of the aging individual and offers successful approaches to treating the diverse problems of later years.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591020263
• ISBN13: 9781591020264
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 385 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Good summary of research on aging

This is a good summary of current knowledge about the problems of the aged. It reads like a master's thesis but is clear and easily understood. The 46 pages of bibliography provide lots of academic studies to go after if you like statistics. Of most interest to me are the chapters on life review, whereby persons try to discern the pattern and value of their lives; spirituality; and emotional health. Also, the role of medication in the elderly, exercise and nutrition, falling and fear of falling, and geriatric rehabilitation held new information for me. An overall sense I get from this book is that even though being old is largely a sedentary occupation, it should be less so, and that in order for one to keep from becoming prematurely disabled, some physical training is in order as soon as possible. If this idea were acted upon more in retirement communities, and everywhere, for that matter, residents might postpone their loss of physical ability, especially ability to stand and walk. For many, physical conditioning could be as ambitious as tai-chi and weight training or swimming. This would strengthen them and preserve their body control, as well as providing the other physical and psychological benefits of exercise. Retirement communities could keep their residents mobile longer and perhaps require fewer wheelchairs if their apartment-dwellers spent an hour or so a day doing something more physical than watching TV.