By Dr. Jesper Brickley, Grace Cottage Family Health
As originally appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer’s Graceful Health column October 21, 2016
Fall is a time to reflect on transitions in life. In the words of Albert Camus, “autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.” It is a time of transition and reflection. The measure of time bears little importance compared to what fills the time being measured. We pass through time like rays of light through crisp autumn trees. We are enriched by the process of aging and reflect that which we absorb and find meaning in.
Grace Cottage’s Healthy Aging Conference, to be held Nov. 15-16 in Grafton, Vermont, will give us time to reflect on these ideas and to share a wealth of information about how to celebrate the accumulation of years and to age healthfully.
The conference presentations will focus on mental outlook, nutrition and exercise, strength and balance, medications management, advance planning, finances, and housing. Also, free massage, Reiki, Zero Balancing, Yoga and Tai Chi are being offered. There will be important offerings for aging individuals as well as for the family members supporting them.
My presentation, scheduled for Tuesday morning, is titled “Feeling Good Never Grows Old.” The main themes I will be focused on are the importance of having a positive outlook as we age and having active engagement in one’s health. Being positive and staying hopeful about aging can not only make each day more enjoyable, but can also have tangible health benefits and can increase longevity. Researchers at Yale studied a group of people age 70 and above over the course of ten years and found that those with positive attitudes experienced less illness and debility. Positive individuals also responded better to stress and tended to live longer, by an average of 7.6 years. We will explore how a positive outlook coupled with a daily awareness of gratitude has proven time and again to influence health in many positive ways.
How do you stay positive in the later stages of life? Staying physically active and socially engaged are two key elements to maintaining positivity. Finding new hobbies, serving as mentors, joining clubs, or volunteering to help those who are less fortunate are helpful things elders can do to stay engaged and positive. Such active community engagement also helps to maintain mental clarity, a sense of connection, and a feeling that your long-life experiences have value to the communities in which you live. As a physician, my approach to health care for both aging and younger populations includes promoting active involvement in activities beyond just physical and social pursuits; I try to engender in my patients a broader understanding of, and connection to, our own bodies, minds and spirits.
We know that disease is caused not only by genetic make-up and environmental factors, but also by one’s lifestyle choices and personal disposition. I like to engage patients in an active dialogue about all aspects of their lives to try to uncover all of the things that could be triggering their symptoms and promoting a state of less than optimal health. I view my patients as partners on the same team, working together to identify patterns, tendencies, and connections to promote a more comprehensive and rewarding sense of healthfulness.
If a person truly wants to remain healthy for as long as possible, it’s not enough to diagnose a disease and prescribe a medicine to suppress and manage the symptoms. A better, long-term approach is to look for underlying causes. This systematic approach means the provider and patient may talk about nutrition, physical activity, stress and worries, household resources, mental and spiritual outlook, and the status of relationships in order to see how these may be influencing health.
Because each patient’s circumstances are unique, decisions about how to maintain or improve health will also be different for each person. All of the information gathered will be used to design a care plan that suits that particular individual. Just as each person’s circumstances are unique, so are there particular issues at each stage of life.
There’s no denying that aging has its own special challenges. The older we get, the more likely it is that some physical function will be lost. Energy levels change. And there is a greater tendency to think about the end of life. Anticipating and planning for end of life stages requires an openness to and acceptance of change and a willingness for self-exploration.
When patients approach changes in health status with openness and have an awareness about their health and illness tendencies, strategies for prevention and early detection can be more effective. Modest lifestyle changes can have dramatic effects – there are hundreds of studies that have shown that small changes in diet, exercise, nutrition, and response to stress can improve day-to-day function in old age and extend lifespan. According to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, longevity can be improved by as much as 20 to 800%.
Aging is not optional. Sooner or later it happens to all of us who are lucky enough to reach the later stages of life. But aging well is optional. You can take charge of your journey through aging by taking an active role and never giving up on being a student of life. I’m happy to share more about this at Grace Cottage’s Healthy Aging Conference, as well as with patients at my clinic at Grace Cottage Family Health and Hospital in Townshend, Vermont.
Bio: Dr. Jesper Brickley is a graduate of The Evergreen State College in Washington State and of the Western University of Health Science in California. He completed his residency at Rose Family Medicine in Colorado. He joined the staff of Grace Cottage Family Health in 2015.
