Flushing Hospital Offers Tips on Successful Aging

In many cases, how we age has as much to do with our mental attitude as it does our physical well-being. September has been designated Healthy Aging Month, an observance designed to focus our attention on the positive aspects of growing older.

Flushing Hospital understands the importance of successful aging and wants to provide you with the following practical tips to help you improve your physical, mental, and social well-being.

  • Try to remain positive in your daily interactions and distance yourself from the negative influences in your life. When you catch yourself complaining, look to change the conversation to something more positive.
  • If you find yourself bored or lonely, do something about it! Pick up the telephone and make plans to meet someone for lunch. You can also try a new hobby, volunteer your time with a local organization or take a class and learn something new.
  • Don’t comply with social norms and act how society expects you to act. Instead, think back to the age when you were at your happiest and be it.  This is not denial; it’s a way of staying positive, which can help you feel better about yourself.
  • A simple act like standing up straight can make you look and feel younger. Look at yourself in the mirror. Are you holding your stomach in, have your shoulders back, chin up? Fix your stance and practice it every day, all day until it is natural. You will look great and feel better.
  • Make an appointment to schedule your annual physical or other health screenings. By doing so, you can address any potential health concerns and end unnecessary worrying about some of your nagging ailments.

Flushing Hospital encourages the older members of our community to use September as the motivation to use these tools and others in their quest for successful aging.

All content of this newsletter is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult a medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions on this page. You must never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment based upon any content of this newsletter. PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR CALL 911 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

Flushing Hospital Offers Tips For Successful Aging

September is Successful Aging Month and Flushing Hospital Medical Center recommends creating and following a longevity program for those who want to live a long and healthy life.  Your longevity program should incorporate the following components:

 

  • Eating a healthy diet is considered the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. By following a balanced diet and eating within your recommended calorie allowance, you can take an important first step in your successful aging plan.
  • Dedication to a daily exercise plan is another foundation of a healthy lifestyle. The US Center for Disease Control recommends daily moderate to intense exercise as part of a longevity program.
  • Pursuing mental challenges is another key when developing a longevity program. You can keep your mind sharp through reading, crossword puzzles, or games like chess or checkers. Mastering any new skill is also beneficial.
  • Staying social is also important. Being involved with other people who depend on you and who you depend on goes a long way in living longer. Interacting with people in different age groups throughout your life cycle will help you feel and be younger.
  • Finding meaning in your life is another important factor in living a long a healthy life. Do something that permits you to see yourself as being part of something larger than simply yourself and you will be filled with greater peace.

Following these tips are easier said than done. Believing in yourself, having self-control against negative impulse and outlining a vision for your future are all necessary for success. Flushing Hospital suggests practicing these tips just a few minutes a day and adding just a few more minutes a day every two weeks you will find that you have become a master of successful aging.

All content of this newsletter is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult a medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions on this page. You must never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment based upon any content of this newsletter. PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR CALL 911 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

What Are the Keys to Successful Aging?

Understanding Physical and Mental Health: Depression
Ira Frankel, PhD, LCSW, Administrator of Psychiatry and Addiction Services

“Just as long as we have our health,” is something that I’ve said and have heard others say very frequently in the past few months. And, by health, we mean both physical and mental health.

Portrait of a senior man in a tuxedo showing the thumbs up

In a very basic way, health can be thought of as the absence of disease. A reason that our doctors ask us how we’re feeling when we go to see him or her is because he or she wants to know about our comfort or our absence of pain or trouble. Each one of us knows best what our physical or mental pain or trouble consists of because we feel it directly.

Another way to think of the issue of health is to describe the path to achieve it over the long course of our lives. Studies1 have shown that a path to health is achieved with a behavioral prescription for successful aging that includes diet, exercise, the pursuit of mental challenges, self-efficacy, and social support. The more we are able to follow this behavioral prescription, the more we will be free from physical or mental pain or trouble.

Let’s look at this a little more closely. Most of us already know that if we maintain a healthy diet and exercise frequently, then we will tend to be healthier. In fact, exercise is now considered a “magic bullet” in modern medicine. But, maintaining a good diet and exercising frequently is a mental challenge of self-mastery. And, most of us know how difficult it is to master ourselves to maintain both activities. There are many other mental challenges. For example, each one of us is a mental challenge to other people. In fact, getting along with others is one of the most difficult mental challenges that we will ever have to face.

The fourth successful aging ingredient is self-efficacy. Those of us who believe that we can achieve a particular goal, for example, health and longevity, will continue to do the things, such as diet, exercise, and the pursuit of mental challenges, which will help us achieve the goal. We can build up self-efficacy by taking small, rather than giant steps, towards diet, exercise, and the pursuit of mental challenges

The final successful aging ingredient is social support. If we help each other take the steps described in the previous paragraphs, then each one of us will be more likely to feel at ease, that is, without disease, successfully age, and live longer.

Self-mastery is necessary for both physical and mental health. The behavioral prescription for successful aging in the previous paragraphs are just a general outline of self-mastery steps. Self-mastery is a mental challenge.

Many things get in the way of self-mastery. One of these things is depression. If we are depressed, then we have a hard time maintaining a good diet, exercising as we should, thinking well about self-mastery, feeling self-efficacy, or being with and getting along with other people. There is a fairly simple way to ask ourselves whether we are depressed. It is called the PHQ-2, which stands for the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 because it has two questions.

Ask yourself: Over the past 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by any of the following symptoms: 1) Little interest or pleasure in doing things; and, 2) Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless. Answers are either (0) not at all, (1) several days, (2) more than half the days, or (3) nearly every day. Bring your answers to your primary care doctor the next time you see him or her.

Taking the self-mastery steps towards successful aging and longevity is a main task of modern medicine. Taking the self-mastery steps is a very important mental challenge. If you are experiencing any difficulties taking these steps, such as depression or any other difficulty on your path to ease and comfort, then speak with your primary care doctor in the community or one at Flushing Hospital’s Ambulatory Care Center at 718-670-8939

All content of this newsletter is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult a medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions on this page. You must never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment based upon any content of this newsletter. PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR CALL 911 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.