Successful Aging

What aspects of our being change as we age, and what aspects of our lives stay the same during the aging process? Indeed, this question is not a simple one to answer. Not only do people witness biological hurdles as they age, but there are a multitude of psycho-social events that also play on the aspect of aging. Moreover, the transition through a life course brings about numerous instances where aging itself can either be a benefit or a hindrance to a person. The realization of one’s life satisfaction plays a pivotal role in the perception of successful aging. This researcher believes life satisfaction and quality of life is attained through the self-direction of one’s life into successful aging.

But what is successful aging? The word “success” is ambiguous itself and can mean many things to many people. But, when gerontologists apply it to the concept discussed in this study, one may more capably comprehend and understand that successful aging is attainable by most people.

Rowe and Kahn (1997) explained the difference between usual aging and successful aging. Usual aging is the continuum one advances through without the attentive interrelationship of actively guiding one’s own life course. On the other hand, successful aging is the active engagement of directing one’s life so as not to endure the potentially debilitating circumstances associated with the predictable cause and effect of usual aging.

Rowe and Kahn (1997) conceptualized successful aging as they clearly articulated that the three major components to successfully age include the low probability of disease and interrelated disability, high cognitive and physical capability, and the active engagement with life. Rowe and Kahn contend that this final component of active engagement most clearly represents the concept of successful aging. Rowe and Kahn, who are the pioneers of research into successful aging, posit that successful aging involves more than the potential of successfully aging. Successful aging must involve the physical activities necessary for such manifestation to appear.

We begin the aging process at the cellular level upon conception. From that moment on our destiny has been set. We will age, provided we don’t succumb to a fatal accident or the contraction of a serious disease. Disease may be a pathological manifestation of either our environment or genealogy. Successful aging portends that one will make the right choices during life ensuring one’s trajectory into a functional and capable older person. This then leads to a new question: what lifetime trajectories lead to successful aging (Alkema & Alley, 2006), and can one self-direct such a course of action to lead into successfully aging?

While many may believe that successful aging is dependent on one’s functional performance, it also must include aspects of social connectivity and socio-economic resourcefulness. The premise is that successful aging is interrelated to the holarchy. The universe as a whole is an example of a holarchy, or holarchical system. The ability to have an interrelated horizontal structure of all aspects in our lives bodes well for the future success in the progression of successfully aging into later years of life.

To engage in the components defined by Rowe and Kahn (1997) through a life course may predict the ability to age successfully. However, to actively participate in all aspects of one’s life suggests strong organization. Successful aging relies on the ability of a person to live life with the same tenacity and resolve demonstrated by the CEO running a multi-billion dollar corporation. All facets of the operations must be in unison for the greatest productivity and efficiency to emerge. So it is with life. People must pay close attention to the many varying and transitional aspects in life. The lifestyle one chooses to live, the behaviors one tends to produce, even the relationships one has, all point towards the ability and capacity to achieve life satisfaction, and therefore successfully age.

Whether the process of aging is satisfying or not, one cannot ignore the fact that more people are living longer today than any time in previous recorded history. With the added decades to life expectancy since the turn of the nineteenth century, the expectation of living into the later years of life today becomes discouraging when physical restrictions and limitations preclude functional and cognitive performance. Moreover, life satisfaction becomes negative when the relationships between spouses, friends, and even between one’s God is not fulfilling. Hence, the importance and significance related to achieving increased life satisfaction and a higher degree in the quality of life is that positive life course behavior can manifest itself into ones perception that he or she is successfully aging.

There are many biological factors that can either help one age or, contrarily, impede the ability to thrive and succeed during a life course. Many have discussed the social aspects of relationships as a means for attaining and realizing the ability to age successfully. Psychological discoveries of human behavior have also suggested the essence and real meaning of successful aging.