How Do We Grow Old?
How old are you, if you don’t know how old you are?…Satchel Paige
– Chronological Age
Chronological age measures the number of years, hours, minutes and seconds we have lived. If these were the only criteria for healthy aging, we would feel older and older every year we lived. We will feel less energetic, less passionate, less flexible, and less alive with each passing day. Fortunately, this is only one of many measures of healthy aging.
– Biological Age
Biological age is determined by outward physical appearance and critical life signs such as thinning and gray hair, wrinkled and sagging skin, brown, white and red spots, blurring, puffy eyes with bags underneath, and a weak and fragile body. Many of these signs can be corrected by leading a healthy lifestyle or disguised with makeup or cosmetic surgery. Some signs of biological aging can actually be reversed through proper diet, exercise, positive thinking, creativity, and enjoyable life experiences.
– Functional Age
Functional age is measured by our level of physical fitness, including respiratory capacity, cardiovascular efficiency, muscle strength, flexibility, vitality, energy, recovery rate from injury and disease, and immune system strength. High energy symptoms, freedom from neuromuscular aches and pains, ability to participate in and enjoy strenuous physical activity in addition to being able to adequately handle the basic needs of daily living.
– Psychological Age
Psychological age is subjective, determined by how old we feel. It is a measure of our enthusiasm and desire for life, our interest in life activities including sexuality, and our willingness to explore new activities and learn new skills. The more we experience joy and passion, the happier our minds are, the more people want to spend time with us, the more we can enjoy sharing our being with others.
– Emotional Age
Emotional age is a quality of our emotional stability and maturity. It is a measure of how we respond to other people, interact with them and deal with conflict, especially when we don’t get what we want. It is also a measure of whether we are following our dreams, pursuing our stated goals, handling our responsibilities and commitments appropriately, and how we feel about ourselves and others. It is determined by how we adjust to changing circumstances and to the normal ups and downs of life.
– Intellectual Age
Intellectual age is determined by the strength of our memory, our ability to concentrate, think critically about the world around us, solve problems, and remain curious, creative, intellectually sharp, open-minded, and flexible in our thoughts and attitudes. .
– Social Age
Social Age is determined by how we share our time with others, whether we are truly attached to others like a newborn baby with its mother, or completely defiant, distant and aloof from others like an abandoned child, or whether we are capable giving and receiving. , share and enjoy the company of others and also alone.
– Sexual Age
Sexual age is not only determined by how we behave sexually but also by how we think about sex, sexuality, men, women, our own bodies, other people’s bodies, and actual sexual acts. Sexual maturity is determined by our awareness, appreciation, and attraction to people who are very real in our social environment with whom we share intimate relationships.
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