Gerontologist Sally Duplantier joins Senior Anchor Theresa Lindsey Chase from the National Library for Patient Rights & Advocacy to discuss how lifestyle choices improve healthy aging. Sally provides advice and encouragement to listeners on gracefully growing older, and aging with style.
Sally’s professional work focuses on Healthspan—the number of years we are free of chronic disease and disability. Her mission is to help older adults “live their best life longer” through better choices related to nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, and social engagement. Collectively, these lifestyle factors contribute to 80% of chronic disease in the US and 90% of healthcare costs.
Sally discusses how the education she provides through free Wellness Wednesday webinars has helped women and men become better advocates for their personal healthcare. These webinars feature cutting-edge researchers, medical professionals, authors, and thought leaders on topics related to healthy aging. A key feature of the Wellness Wednesday program is its emphasis on scientific research vs. the blog-of-the-day tip. Sally’s mantra is “show me the evidence” vs. simply accepting what is served up in the blogosphere.
Sally also acknowledges that there are entire populations of people who can’t make better choices about lifestyle factors such as food and movement because they live in environments without access to nutritious food or safe places to walk outdoors. Sally discusses work she is doing related to those in underserved communities, including a study focused on increasing participation of under-represented and underserved community members in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s patients.
Sally ends the interview with a discussion about why “mindset matters,” particularly when it comes to how we view ourselves as older adults. Sally cites the research by Dr. Becca Levy from Yale University and others, whose studies have demonstrated that negative self-perception of aging can trim 7.5 years off our lives.