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Chapter 1 - Healthy Ageing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2019

By
Rob Butler  and
Sati Sembhi
Edited by
Rob Butler  and
Cornelius Katona
Rob Butler
Affiliation:
Waitemata DHB and North Shore Hospital, Auckland
Cornelius Katona
Affiliation:
Helen Bamber Foundation
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Summary

More people are living longer. Consequently the provision of healthcare for older people is increasingly important. Central to that healthcare is to help people to make good lifestyle decisions as they get older to keep themselves as healthy and happy for as long as possible. But what are those lifestyle decisions? Are they the usual suspects (exercise, diet, socialising, avoiding cigarettes and excess alcohol)? What is the evidence that they work? How can we as healthcare professionals help our patients make these good decisions? This chapter addresses these questions. It starts with some background. There is a section on the more prominent theories of ageing. Then a summary of the evidence for how to improve the physical healthcare of people with mental health problems. Seven healthy lifestyle options are discussed. There is a box summarising the outcomes of some of the major cohort studies. We hope our readers pick up some tips for their own successful ageing as well as that of their patients.

Type
Chapter
Information
Seminars in Old Age Psychiatry , pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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