Aging causes many changes, namely in personality, abilities and lifestyle. However, these changes do not need to be negative. In the book Successful aging, Daniel J. Levitin teaches how to live life to its full potential. The book is divided into three parts, part one: developing brain, part two: choices we make and part three: the new longevity.

Developing Brain

This part of the book delves into the individual differences between us, as well as the relationships between our senses, memory, emotions, pain and the aging brain.

Our differences in personality, agreeability, openness and many more factors end up affecting the way we cope with aging, as well as the effects of aging itself. For example, a child that might have a high sense of adventure seeking, which could cause them to get into trouble. This behavior carries through adulthood, putting the child at risk for many larger risks such as substance abuse or other dangerous situations. Such subtle behaviors caused by differences in personality can cause immensely difference outcomes in the future. Inversely however, newer research has shown that there are ways for people at any age to make meaningful changes in themselves at any point in life. Although genes and environment can be a good predictor of future outcomes, it is still only a piece in the puzzle of one’s life.

Our five senses help us make sense of the world we live in, so what happens when we lose sharpness, and these senses fall into decline as we age? Luckily, we new technology, there is a fix for almost all of these concerns, some are more popular like glasses for visual impairments, however for senses like touch or taste, there are a lot less options. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any, new gels along with research have come out in recent years- in the near future such impairments can help older adults live more robust lives.

• individuality
• memory
• senses
• emotions
• social factors
• pain
• individuality
• memory
• senses
• emotions
• social factors
• pain

Choices we make

Just like in all those lifestyle vlogs, diet, exercise and sleep are all highly important in living longer and more productive lives. However, how do these activities look different when our main goal isn’t- for example- weight loss, but to live longer? The answer lies in our internal clock.

The internal clock is a product of our evolution to adapt to the Earth’s 24 hour rotational period. This clock helps us predict events such as: when the sun will rise so our brains can release chemicals to wake us up. Through more studies on biological clocks, researchers have found that when you eat, sleep, and exercise, is all the more important to older adults. However, as we age, gradually our biological clocks also go through stark changes. Malleability of our clocks decreases as we age, a barrier to travel. Another difficulty would be the declining amount and quality of sleep, due to the changes in biological clock. These changes effect more than just our sleep itself, it also changes alertness throughout the day. For adults aged above 60, there is a large disparity in alertness and clear thinking from the morning to the afternoon, with the far majority performing better in the morning (244). The best thing to do about this is to stay away from caffeine, and have a consistent schedule.

Diets have always been a controversial topic. In this book the final verdict is that the most important thing is a balance of foods, and minimizing processed foods and sweets.

Exercise for older adults may look like walks in nature, but also walks in museums or malls. While being mentally fit is important, physical exercise is also important to maintain health.

Sleep strengthens memory and helps to preserve mental fitness, which is why it is so important to have a sleep schedule.

• internal clock
• diet
• exercise
• sleep

The New Longevity

Lifespan is still extremely unpredictable. You could avoid all unhealthy foods, alcohol, cigarettes and have a consistent schedule- and still not live as long as Jeanne Calment (the oldest person to ever live) who lived to 122 smoking and drinking until she was 117. However, there are still predictors such as telomere length that can give us hints as to how long one will live.

Long life ≠ Quality of life. Instead of evaluating living long as just an age, just a number, we must consider the quality of the time that we live that long. Mental health is such a big factor in determining our lives that good relationships with family, friends and general community is a good predictor of how long we live. By the age of 50, good relationships become a bigger factor in determining longevity than cholesterol (376).

• living longer (years)
• living smarter (cognitive)
• living better ( life and happiness)

The main takeaway from this book is that although we can try to eat healthy, sleep well, control other factors of our wellbeing; genetics still play a huge role in our longevity. Despite this however, we can still focus on learning new things, forming good relationship and understanding our own body and its needs to reach our own full potential in life.