Optimizing well-being into old age
Healthy ageing, well-being in later life, quality of life, and disability-free life are ideas that drive policy and practice in our ageing society. Their meanings overlap in sometimes confusing ways, but there is consensus that the postponement or containment of disability is a necessary but insufficient precondition of healthy ageing and the optimization of well-being in later life. Psychological factors like self-efficacy and sense of coherence also seem necessary for healthy ageing, but may be difficult to work with for many clinicians trained in a more medical model of healthy ageing. Primary promotion of healthy ageing through the avoidance of disability has had some success, especially through its impact on cardiovascular disease, but we have much to learn about influencing diet and physical activity across the life course for well-being in later life.