Avoiding disease, maintaining physical and cognitive function, and continuing social engagement in late life are considered to be key factors associated with what some gerontologists call “successful aging.”
First and foremost, let me strongly disagree here with those gerontologists. I believe the term “successful aging” is absolutely intolerable. Just think about it. How on Earth can aging be somewhat successful? Aging brings diseases, mental incapacity and other deteriorating effects on the human body. We cannot call that successful under any circumstances. So for the purpose of this article, we have replaced the term “successful aging” with “less destructive aging.”
While conducting studies of Amish families in Indiana and Ohio, a group of researchers led by William K. Scott, PhD, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, began to notice that a significant number of people over age 80 in these communities demonstrated the three main factors associated with less destructive aging.
Maria Konovalenko 