You are never too young or
too old to be healthier. Becoming
healthier is often about simple
choices. It’s easy to find time for
a short walk, to put a few more
vegetables and fruits on your plate,
and to decide to drink sugary
Age is more than a matter
of years
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beverages and alcohol in moderation.
Your health will also benefit greatly
from making (and keeping) friends
and from broadening your horizons
through reading, travelling and
interesting hobbies.
Looking after your health is
something I encourage people to
do at every age, but it’s especially
important as you age. How you live
in the first decades of your life sets
the tone for how you’ll live in the
later decades. Being active in your
younger years means you’re more
likely to be active in your later years.
In this special reprint edition of
Apple, we look at healthy aging. The
stories in this special issue apply to
people of all ages, because we’re all
aging. How we age is more than a
matter of our years. It can also be a
matter of how we prepare for those
years: setting goals, planning our
finances and making arrangements
for how we would like to be cared for
(see Conversations About Aging on
page 21).
Our relationships also affect how
we age. Having a network of close
friends can extend our lives and a
close, intimate relationship can take
on a new lustre with time (see Sex
After 60 on page 14).
As we age, we often come to the
realization that we can’t control
everything in our lives, but I believe
that when we make simple, positive
choices, we can make our lives
healthier, happier and longer.
— Dr. James Silvius
James Silvius is the provincial medical
director of Seniors Health for Alberta
Health Services.