Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Healthy Living After 50

Lifestyle recommendations to help you maintain your health and wellness, and prevent many of the diseases which commonly occur as we age

Older Americans are remarkably healthy these days. Once you make it past your 65th birthday, the average life expectancy for a man is 81 years and a woman, 84 years.

Healthy aging cannot be taken for granted, however. Nearly half of older Americans suffer from arthritis, about one-third have high blood pressure or heart disease, and more than one-tenth have diabetes. Cancer and osteoporosis are also prevalent as we age.

Fortunately, these disorders, and the disabilities that can accompany them, can often be prevented or delayed until much later in life. Extensive research has shown that genes account for only about one third of the health problems associated with aging. Lifestyle factors, which have a greater impact on health during middle and late life than in early adulthood, account for the rest.

So what can you do right NOW, at your current age—to adjust your lifestyle and live longer? And do so with your health, your mind, your mobility, and your spirit intact?

This area of Johns Hopkins Health Alerts provides you with current options for healthy living from Johns Hopkins longevity experts—including the latest lifestyle recommendations on diet, exercise, proper medical care (including the safe and effective use of medications), and other measures aimed at disease prevention that can help you maintain your health.

Healthy Living Related Articles:

Cancer

• Healthy Living Alert: Breast Cancer Screening Gets Better
• Healthy Living Alert: Exercise and Cancer Update
• Healthy Living Reports: How Vitamin C Stops The Big "C"
• Disease Prevention Alert: Cancer Prevention -- Protecting Your Bladder
• Disease Prevention Report: Disease Prevention and Genetic Testing – Can You Benefit?
  • Colon Cancer
  • Breast Cancer
  • Heart Disease
  • Diabetes

Exercise and Fitness

• Healthy Living Report: Questions on Resistance Training and the Diet Pill Alli
• Healthy Living Report: Will a Pedometer Help Me Stay Fit?
• Healthy Living Report: Try Tai Chi for Your Health
• Healthy Living Report: Exercise and Cancer Update
• Healthy Living Report: Starting a Walking Program
• Disease Prevention Alert: Exercise and Cancer Update
• Healthy Living Alert: 4 Healthy Living Updates
• Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease
• Exercise and dementia
• Women, cola, caffeine and high blood pressure
• The dangers of breathlessness and your heart health

Heart

• Disease Prevention Report: Disease Prevention and Genetic Testing – Can You Benefit?
  • Colon Cancer
  • Breast Cancer
  • Heart Disease
  • Diabetes

• Healthy Living Report: Screening Tests After Age 50
• Healthy Living Report: Healthy Teeth, Healthy Heart?
• Healthy Living Alert: 4 Healthy Living Updates
• Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease
• Exercise and dementia
• Women, cola, caffeine and high blood pressure
• The dangers of breathlessness and your heart health

Cholesterol

• Disease Prevention Alert: Ask the Doctor About Flaxseed and Triglycerides
• Disease Prevention Alert: Living Longer Through HDL Cholesterol

• Healthy Living Alert: Did You Know? Here Are Some Healthy Living Short Takes To Help You Maintain Your Health:
  • Saving your tooth enamel
  • Alternative therapy for stress incontinence
  • Overactive bladder
  • Statin drug alternative

Kidneys

• Disease Prevention Alert: What You Should Know About Kidney Disease
• Healthy Living Alert: Therapy for Kidney Stones

Other Common Age-Related Health Issues:

• Healthy Living Alert: Screening Tests After Age 50
• Healthy Living Alert: The Hospitalist – A New Model of Patient Care
• Healthy Living Alert: How Safe Are Sleeping Pills?
• Healthy Living Alert: Avoiding Hepatitis When You Travel
• Healthy Living Alert: What Works for Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss?
• Healthy Living Alert: Is It Time To See a Geriatrician?
• Healthy Living Alert: Snoring Remedies
• Healthy Living Alert: Do Commercial Weight-Loss Programs Actually Work?
• Healthy Living Alert: Stretching Away Plantar Fasciitis
• Healthy Living Report: Good Nutrition in a Hurry
• Healthy Living Report: Uncovering the Benefits of Aspirin
• Disease Prevention Alert: Taking Control of Vertigo
• Disease Prevention Report: How to Double the Odds You’ll Quit Smoking

• Healthy Living Alert: Ask the Doctor about Constipation
• Healthy Living Alert: Should Your Doctor Be Board Certified?
• Healthy Living Alert: Unraveling the Mystery of Frailty
• Healthy Living Alert: Being a "Good" Patient
• Healthy Living Alert: Relief for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Healthy Living Alert: Don't Underestimate Anemia
• Healthy Living Alert: The Ins and Outs of Outpatient Surgery
• Healthy Living Alert: Is It Dangerous to Cook with Plastics?
• Healthy Living Alert: Are You Thirsty Yet?
• Healthy Living Report: Are the New Sleeping Pills Right For You?

Sexual Health

• Healthy Living Alert: Testosterone for Women
• Healthy Living Report: The Uses and Misuses of Testosterone Therapy
• Healthy Living Alert: 4 Healthy Living Updates
• Erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular disease
• Exercise and dementia
• Women, cola, caffeine and high blood pressure
• The dangers of breathlessness and your heart health

Skin Disorders and Skin Care

• Disease Prevention Alert: New Weapon Against Psoriasis
• Disease Prevention Alert: Sunscreen Protection Basics

Tooth Care:

• Healthy Living Alert: Did You Know? Here Are Some Healthy Living Short Takes To Help You Maintain Your Health:
  • Saving your tooth enamel
  • Alternative therapy for stress incontinence
  • Overactive bladder
  • Statin drug alternative

• Healthy Living Alert: Varicose Veins—Now You See Them, Now You Don't

• Healthy Living Alert: Using Acetaminophen: A Fine Line Between Safe and Harmful

Johns Hopkins Symptoms and Remedies on Healthy Living

• Hyperlipidemia (High Cholesterol and High Triglycerides)

• Obesity

• Chronic Pain

Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Healthy Living After 50