Foundation of Successful Retirement:
3 Keys to Healthy Aging

What does it take to have a successful retirement? Start with a definition of "success." In the stage of life we traditionally call retirement, it has two elements. The first and primary success involves having a purpose – a passion or valued pursuit that offers the fulfillment you want from life, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Second – the foundation – consists of health sufficient to enable you to do and enjoy whatever pursuits you choose for your next phase. Good health represents the single most important foundation in the quality of life for aging adults.

So what promotes healthy aging? The Alzheimer's Association summarizes three of the most important keys to health in maturity this way: "Stay physically, mentally, and socially active." Research shows that health – and the quality of life – during traditional years of retirement hinge directly on these three ingredients.

Key #1: Regular, Physical Exercise

The first key to healthy aging, physical activity, translates this way: Get regular, physical exercise! Open practically any book about health at any age and you'll see this simple advice, because the evidence leaves no doubts at all. Good health depends on regular exercise. Period. And with advancing age, exercise becomes even more important. Natural processes of aging degrade circulatory systems, muscles, bones, and other systems much more slowly among those who do some form of regular exercise.

Research links regular exercise with both the quality of life and its length. For example, one recent study found that walking for 30 minutes per day, five times a week, can add one year of life. The same study found that more vigorous, aerobic exercise, like running or swimming an hour four times per week, can add an average of 3 or 4 years of life-span. Andrew Weil's new book, Healthy Aging, also recommends regular strength training, two or three times per week, to maintain muscle tone. Aging isn't for the faint-hearted! Get up off that couch!

Key #2: Mental Challenge
The second key to healthy aging, mental challenge, consists of difficult, engaging pursuits that call for focusing the mind, concentrating, learning new things, solving problems, and thinking with agility. Examples include learning a foreign language, mastering a musical instrument, attending college, writing professionally, litigating, doing crossword puzzles, and playing competitive bridge or chess. One study shows that elders who play musical instruments for symphony orchestras live longer than their peers – and usually don't develop Alzheimer's disease. Those who pursue challenging mental activity as they age may, according to some experts, develop a kind of "cognitive reserve" that protects against the ravages of Alzheimer's.

Elders increasingly choose to stay mentally active by continuing to work in their professions. Some research shows that professionals, who keep working beyond the traditional age of retirement – like doctors, dentists, professors, reporters, and writers – even part-time, tend to remain healthy as they age. Bottom line; find something to do in your next phase that keeps your mind active!

Key #3: Social Connection
The third key to healthy aging, social connection, involves active ties with friends, family, and community. The most important social ties involve friends who voluntarily choose to maintain relationships with you. Research shows that those with close networks of friends, who spend time together, tend to live longer and stay healthier. Some research demonstrates that having a supportive network of friends can buffer the adverse effects of stress and may even reduce the risks of illness and speed recovery when illness does occur.  

Relationships with family can also offer valuable social support, though of course we don't voluntarily choose any relatives besides a husband or wife. Because family ties can mix both support and conflict, they might not always prove as beneficial as friendships. 

Greater benefits can occur from membership in a supportive community, a group of people who depend on one another from day to day. Community connection often means going regularly to a place where the "regulars" greet you by name, acknowledge you without prompting, and miss you if you don't show up – like a coffee house, church, gymnasium or community center. The TV program, Cheers, depicts such a place, "...where everyone knows your name” and some of your story.  Recent research found belonging to a close-knit community, like a religious group or volunteer organization, correlated with health among elders. 
Incorporating the Three Keys into your Next Phase: A Plan That Suits Your Personality
Ask yourself: How will you build your foundation of success in retirement on the three keys to a healthy aging? One answer depends on your personality. For example, if you have a highly structured personality – if you like things organized and orderly – you'll probably find it easy to adopt a regimen of regular exercise. If, on the other hand, you have a more flexible, spontaneous personality – and you resist planned, repetitive activity – you'll probably find it difficult to sustain a habit of exercise. For a sustainable exercise regimen that suits your personality and comes naturally, you'll need to find ways to make exercise interesting, like walking in new, different places, at different times of day. Or maybe you can join an interesting group of people who do a stimulating activity that involves exercise, like a cycling club.

Building the foundation for a successful retirement through the 3 keys to healthy aging won't happen by accident! You'll need a plan – one that fits your personality! Start now. Take time to understand your personality and make a sustainable plan that suits your personal traits, and incorporates the 3 keys to healthy aging: physical activity, mental challenge, and social connection.

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My Next Phase offers groundbreaking interactive tools that help people retire their way.  It assists people in working through the important aspects of non-financial retirement planning.  Using a patent-pending personality-tailored process, My Next Phase guides members through the retirement transition helping them achieve a meaningful next phase in life. For more information, pricing, or to plan for your retirement, visit www.mynextphase.com


Got a question about non-financial retirement planning?  Simply email Michael Burnham at MatureResources@mynextphase.com