Well-being is a state characterized by contentment with one’s emotional, physical, and social circumstances that is undermined by the presence of depression, dementia, and frailty. Numerous potentially modifiable risk factors have been associated with these common conditions of later life, and there is growing evidence that multidomain interventions that target them in a systematic fashion hold potential to reduce the incidence and prevalence of frailty, dementia, and depression in older age. Some of the potential targets for interventions include physical inactivity, suboptimal education or cognitive activity, smoking, harmful alcohol use, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, high plasma homocysteine, low vitamin D, and testosterone. These interventions are still in their infancy, but preliminary data offer hope that an increasing number of people will be able to enjoy good health and well-being in their later years.
In Sickness and in Health: Dyadic Perspectives on Health and Well-Being Among Older Couples
