Whether you’re already retired or preparing for it, your love of books is likely to grow. With extra time on your hands, reading a good book is the perfect pastime, especially when it’s combined with a cuppa and a comfy chair. Especially books to help you stay healthy as you age.
So what should you be reading?
As well as good novels (think the Swann Family Saga and Earth Abides), it’s great to read informative books that will help you through the journey of ageing. Some will help you plan and survive retirement (How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free), some will help you with the processes of aged care (Aged Care, Who Cares) and some books will help you stay healthy as the ageing process takes hold.
If staying healthy is your key goal, we recommend the following three books:
Healthy Ageing: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being
By Andrew Weil, M.D.
Dr. Andrew Weil is an American medical practitioner, teacher and bestselling author on holistic health. He is founder, professor and director of the Arizona Centre for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and is widely known for establishing the field of integrative medicine (the blending of conventional and natural/complementary medicines and/or therapies).
Dr. Weil’s eleventh publication, Healthy Ageing: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Beingis a book about ageing unlike any other. Exploring the uniquely effective combination of traditional and nontraditional approaches to health and healthy living, Healthy Ageing draws on the new science of biogerontology.
Biogerontology is a sub-field of gerontology, studying the biological processes of ageing.The field is composed of research on the cause of ageing, its effects and mechanisms for better understanding human senescence.
In Healthy Ageing, Dr. Weil discusses how diet, activity and attitude can affect the ageing process. The book is full of practical advice and ideas for keeping the body and mind in good working order, and is uplifting, using engaging candour and common sense.
Healthy Ageing provides detailed information on:
- Eating right
- Separating fact from fiction when it comes to herbs, hormones and anti-ageing, life-extending elixirs
- Breathing, learning and stress management techniques
- The science behind the ageing process
- Recording your life lessons to be passed onto loved ones
The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully
By Joan Chittister
Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B. is a Benedictine nun, speaker and author of over 50 books. Her book The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefullyexplores the great adventure of growing older and becoming “an elder”. It shuns the stereotypical frail, bumbling old person.
Using inspiration as her tool, Chittister helps you to understand that old age is a time of celebration and a time of constant developing. Just because you’re ageing, doesn’t mean your life should become static.
For Chittister, the “capstone years” are about being more alive than ever before and in this energetically presented book, she shows you how it can be done. You’ll learn about:
- Active ageing
- Continued learning ideas
- Making sense of your life so far
- Dealing with regret
- Coping with a fear of weakness
- Immersing yourself in the present moment
- Harvesting your memories
Ageing Wisely: Strategies for Baby Boomers and Seniors
By Dr. Robert Levine
Dr. Levine is the former chief of neurology at azithromycin.net and Norwalk Hospital in Connecticut and a retired clinical professor at Yale University. He believes that through responsibility, we can be in control of our own lives, and that includes the ageing process and its effects.
The core idea behind Ageing Wisely: Strategies for Baby Boomers and Seniorsis that positive attitude can better control how well we age. Dr. Levine believes healthy ageing is up to us, and his clear and precise way of writing explains that much of what happens to our minds and bodies as we grow older depends on approach to life, attitude and feelings.
Ageing Wisely provides readers with the knowledge needed to fight back and maximise their relevance and independence. It points out that quality of life is what really counts, not longevity. It explains that in order to age successfully, we must find satisfaction and pleasure in our daily lives and the anecdotes and real stories make for a good read.
