Diana McIntyre approaches her 80th birthday later this year with the same energy and zest for life of friends decades her junior. Aside from back surgery years ago, she's never been sick and, through a busy volunteer schedule, never seems to slow down.
McIntyre's good health feels normalat least to heralthough she recognizes not all seniors are so fortunate. But when it comes to terms like "normal," "healthy" or "successful" aging, she shakes her head.
"I don't know what would be considered normal aging," said McIntyre, past president of the Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton. "What's normal for a 45-year-old? What's normal for an 80-year-old? Those are really irrelevant terms as far as I'm concerned. My own philosophy is I would like to do as much as I can, for as long as I can, as well as I can."
Hannah O'Rourke, a PhD student and Vanier scholar in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, says terms such as normal or healthy aging are commonly used by health-care professionals to describe or influence how seniors should age. Often they emphasize personal lifestyle choices in staying healthy, such as eating well, staying active and not smoking.
Chronic disease might be the norm, but doesn't have to be the focus
But those terms can fall short of the experiences of most older Canadians, and how they're used affects how a society views older generationsespecially seniors living with chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease, says O'Rourke.
"Normal aging is not something we can easily define," she says. "There are many older adults with chronic disease who report they still enjoy life. When aging is just defined as 'healthy' and 'devoid of disease,' it doesn't leave a place for what to do with all of these older adults who are still aging with chronic illnesses.
"Cures for chronic illnesses are not always around the corner, and health-care teams have patients t
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| Contact: Bryan Alary bryan.alary@ualberta.ca 780-492-0436 University of Alberta Source:Eurekalert |