The Secret To Living A Longer, Healthier Life （的秘密生活更长、更健康的生活）.pdf

The Secret To Living A Longer, Healthier Life Richard Eisenberg, Contributor 5/11/2016 After attending the Milken Center for the Future of Aging’s Purposeful Aging Summit last week, I came away with this: There’s a growing body of scientific research proving that aging with purpose is really, really good for your health. The relatively small AARP Experience Corps (where 2,200 people over age 50 tutor inner-city kids) and the three federal Senior Corps programs (a total of 270,000 volunteers 55 and older in Foster Grandparents, RSVP and Senior Companions) have doubled as labs demonstrating the beneficial effects — ranging from lower mortality and depression rates to reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s. It’s the “relatively small” part that led Purposeful Aging Summit participant John Gomperts, president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance and former director of AmeriCorps, to refer to such programs as “curiously and frustratingly subscale.” He asked the group: “If we have such powerful evidence of the benefit of successful programs, why has this not taken off in the way one would expect?” Good question, and one that the 34 attendees wrestled with for the better part of the day. The Health Benefits of Purposeful Aging “The conversation we’re having is not just a group of do-gooders trying to save the world,” said the Summit’s leader, Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. “Evidence- based research demonstrates that purposeful aging improves the lives of older adults and the beneficiaries of their service.” A few examples of the evidence, much of which was conducted by researchers including Summit participants Dr. Linda Fried (dean of the