Our StoryI am sure all of us experienced a time in our lives when our attitude was really an anti-attitude towards the effects of aging. Not aging itself, as the only alternative to aging is dying. It reminds me of the Kenny Chesney song, “everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now.”
My wife and I wanted to defy the effects of aging and with a pretty intense reaction to the reminders of aging. When my wife got her AARP card in the mail reminding her that she just turned 50 years old and all the benefits of membership, she had a defiant card burning ceremony! Now we smile when we look in the mirror or get those reminders in the mail of our age and realize, we are not anti-agers; we are healthy-agers embracing aging but with goals of extending our quality of life! We and millions of others have entered a healthier mindset of the aging process!
Today there are over 108 million people in the USA that are 50 years of age or older. The 65 years of age population explosion is expected to grow from 50.8 million as of 2018 to 70.4 million people in just twelve years. It is this group that is motivating our desire for a healthier way to age.
The National Council of Aging (NCOA) reported that 80% of adults aged 65 and older have at least one chronic condition; 68% have two or more according to 2015 data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I will not list the conditions but make note that the majority of the conditions are as a result of lifestyle choices! This is excellent news because, as I have said before, if lifestyle choices can make us ill, they can make us well.
With a mindset of healthy aging now at the center of so many people’s thoughts, there are shared values that are very important like independence, freedom and a healthy mind. Autonomy and freedom translate to a lifestyle that maintains mobility and self-reliance. Healthy aging is not so much about longevity but really about extending quality of life. As I have always said, a long life in diapers without the ability to respond to purpose in life is not my idea of a life worth living. It is inevitable we will all age but how we age has a lot to do with the choices we make today.
This is why at TriVita we are moving towards helping our Members understand how best to support their body systems and organs so they can make informed choices for healthy aging and the quality of life that goes with it. We have hero products with additional companion products so our members can make the decisions right for them in supporting their health goals.
Maintaining mobility throughout the aging process strengthens independence and self–reliance, and the musculoskeletal system needs proper nutrients and nurturing activities to remain strong at any age. MyoHealth is a powerful muscle and bone building formula with the nine essential amino acids developed by Dr. Robert Wolfe with over 20 million dollars of National Institute of Health and other institutional funding and with 25 human studies. Now the healthy-agers do not have to accept the accelerated muscle atrophy that causes so much human despair.
Another example of healthy aging is supporting good brain health. Until recently, the attitude about brain health was you either had a good memory, focus and function or you didn’t. A healthy brain has always been separated from lifestyle choices. But now thanks to research and especially Dale Bredesen MD, and other leading medical researchers, we know that diet, physical and mental activity along with targeted nutrition can help support a healthy brain. This is inspiring news for those of us who want to have extended quality of life. It is also why we developed NeuroShine for a better and brighter mind!
Today the healthy aging movement is looking beyond the wrinkles, the thickness of hair, and waistline, to see the whole-person wellness opportunity living with quality of life through the aging process. As I like to say, wellness is having the vitality and energy to do the things you love and need to do; having daily positive emotions of love, forgiveness, gratitude and acceptance; and developing a relationship with God knowing His purpose for your life.
Healthy aging is possible through proper lifestyle choices, and is most appealing when we look at it through the lens of whole-person wellness!
