Initiative focuses on healthy aging
A non-profit initiative based in Nova Scotia aims to help people enjoy a long, healthy life by raising awareness of the science of healthy aging.
Dr. Keri-Leigh Cassidy, associate professor of geriatric psychiatry and clinical academic director of Dalhousie Geriatric Psychiatry, is the leader of the Fountain of Health Initiative for Optimal Aging.
Started in 2010, the heart of the project is spreading public education and clinician awareness about modifiable risk factors, and the most recent science to promote better health outcomes and long-term wellness, Cassidy said.
It’s sometimes hard for new science to break into practise in the Canadian medical model, which is pathology-focused and less about health promotion, she said.
“But there is a movement now toward more inclusion of health promotion within usual care,” Cassidy said.
“And it’s part of a longer-standing movement around resilience, recovery models of how it’s been used in our field of psychiatry and other parts of medicine.
“It’s part of a larger emerging of a new branch within the field of psychology called ‘positive psychiatry.’” As part of the goal of educating people on what they can do to enjoy a healthy, long life, the initiative offers a wealth of information at fountainofhealth.ca.
The strategy is broken down into five key domains: positive thinking, physical activity, social activity, brain challenge and mental health.
“It’s not about just all positive attitude; it’s more of a balanced outlook,” Cassidy said.
“It allows us to be adaptive in the face of difficulty if we can say, ‘Well, this really is bad but there are these things I can do about it. These other things I can’t really change and therefore I’m not going to focus on that, I’m going to focus on the part that I have influence on or I can do something about.’ “That tends to make a difference on being overwhelmed by a health setback or loss, or being able to manage through it. So outlook is a very key component.”
Physical activity and exercise have increasingly been shown in recent years to have enormous health benefits, she said.
“So, when people are young, they tend to think about exercise a bit more and then they get busy, they’re raising their kids, and sometimes it will be the thing that falls away and is hard to get back to. But if you’re able to pay attention to the importance of this for your long-term health, including your brain health, including cardiovascular, emotional health, that awareness can help increase the motivation to keep it part of one’s lifestyle.”
Social activity also can be hard to maintain as time goes on and people have less contact with the good friends they made in university, for example.
“Knowing that that’s actually a key component to long-term health resilience across the lifespan might help people prioritize that more,” Cassidy said.
“The strongest evidence around social has to do with deep, attached connections to people. Having at least one or two people who you know you can confide in completely, who have your back, is highly protective for long-term wellness.”
As for challenging your brain, she said lifelong learning, such as when people strive for higher education, tends to add protection and lessen the risk of developing dementia. The bigger the challenge, the more beneficial it is to brain health, she said.