healthy aging

Older adults may worry about their memory and other thinking abilities, such as taking longer to learn something new. These changes are usually signs of mild forgetfulness — or age-related forgetfulness — and are often a normal part of aging. However, more serious memory problems could be due to mild cognitive impairment, dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, or other factors beyond normal aging. Many older adults can become more forgetful as they age, which is why it is important to learn the differences between age-related forgetfulness and signs of dementia. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) recently released an infographic to help differentiate between age-related forgetfulness and signs of dementia.

“Aging in place" refers to living independently, safely, and comfortably in one’s home for as long as possible. In order to do so, home modifications and additional support are often needed to ensure that older adults are safe and have their needs met over the course of their aging. During January and February 2022, the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging asked a national sample of adults age 50–80 about their perspectives on aging in place and how they feel about home modifications and available social supports.

USAging and the Eldercare Locator have launched the 2021 Home for the Holidays campaign. The campaign brochure, Healthy Aging in a Pandemic World: What Older Adults and Caregivers Need to Know Now, describes the changes that families, friends and caregivers may notice among themselves and the older adults in their lives. The brochure poses questions readers should ask themselves and their loved ones as we all navigate this stage of the pandemic. It also and provides information on how older adults, caregivers and families can connect to services that agencies provide to address these changes.

This paper discusses the role of the public health field in promoting the health of older adults. It summarizes a meeting of aging stakeholders in Fall 2017 and analyzes the document developed at the meeting, called the Framework for an Age-Friendly Public Health System. This framework outlines the potential for the further involvement of public health in aging by presenting five major directions the field can take to make a positive impact on the aging process.

The White House released the final report from the White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA). President Barack Obama hosted the sixth WHCOA on July 13, 2015. Prior to the conference, events were hosted all over the United States to allow stakeholders to provide their input. The final report summarizes the work done both at the WHCOA and during the pre-conference activities and feedback elicited throughout the process.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), ADvancing States, and ODPHP, hosted a State Healthy Aging Workshop. State officials developed action plans for healthy aging that achieve shared goals of the state public health agency and the state aging agency. This report provides an overview of the state team planning outcomes and an evaluation of the workshop activities and presentations.

This is the official White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) Toolkit that organizations and individuals can use to host their own events and submit to the official 2015 White House Conference. The four focus areas of the 2015 WHCOA include retirement security, healthy aging, long-term services and supports, and elder justice.

This report is a write-up of priorities and recommendations developed from a pre-White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) event hosted by the Washington Association of AAAs (W4A) and the Washington State Council on Aging in October 2014. All four WHCOA issue areas were discussed with a group of about 125 people made up mostly by State Council on Aging members, AAA Advisory Council members and staff invited from all of the AAAs.