March 1, 2010
View Full PaperSuccessful Aging: Focus on Cognitive and Emotional Health
Key Points
- The research aims to define successful aging and explore its predictors and interventions for enhancing cognitive and emotional health.
- Review of definitions, predictors, and interventions related to successful aging.
- Analysis of genetic, lifestyle, and social determinants through studies and qualitative examinations.
- Evaluation of clinical trials involving caloric restriction, physical activity, and cognitive interventions.
- Studies reveal a lack of consensus on the definition of successful aging across various perspectives.
- Interventions like physical activity and stress reduction demonstrate potential in improving cognitive and emotional health.
- Clinical trials indicate that selected strategies may significantly enhance the quality of aging.
Abstract
We review the definitions, predictors, and biobehavioral determinants of successful aging, as well as the evidence for and mechanisms of underlying selected interventions to enhance cognitive and emotional health in older adults. Defining successful aging has proven difficult, with discrepancies seen among biomedical, psychological, and lay perspectives. Although consensus is lacking, a number of studies have examined the genetic, lifestyle, and social determinants of operationalized determinants of successful aging; qualitative examinations of the meaning of the construct have also been conducted. The determinants coincide with fundamental aspects of aging. Recent clinical trials suggest that caloric restriction, physical activity, cognitive intervention, stress reduction, and social programs may enhance cognitive and emotional health in older people.