How can we age in good health?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines healthy ageing as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age”.
The functional ability consists of:
- Meeting one’s basic needs.
- Learning, growing and making decisions.
- Being mobile.
- Building and maintaining relationships.
- Contributing to society.
And it is made up of:
- The individual’s intrinsic capacity*.
- Relevant environmental characteristics**.
- The interaction between them.
Ageing is a
normal process,
not an illness
We must promote lifestyles and environments that favour healthy ageing.
Intrinsic capacity:
Walking
Thinking
Remembering
According to the WHO, it is the combination of all the mental and physical capacities that a person can use at a specific time.
Environmental characteristics:
Home
Health
Community
*They comprise all the factors from the outside world that make up a person’s life context. They include, from the micro level up to the macro level, the home, the community and society in general.
Intrinsic capacity
*According to the WHO, it is the combination of all the mental and physical capacities that a person can use at a specific time.
Walking
Thinking
Remembering
Environmental characteristics
**They comprise all the factors from the outside world that make up a person’s life context. They include, from the micro level up to the macro level, the home, the community and society in general.
Home
Health
Community
This episode explains mental health and how to take care of it, as well as its characteristics in a long-living population, with the help of José Miguel Gázquez, clinical neuropsychologist, and Esther Camacho, neuropsychologist.
Acknowledgements:
José Miguel Gázquez, Esther Camacho, Juan Carlos Soriano and Juan Fernández Vegue.