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Reply to message from [log in to unmask] of Fri, 07 Nov > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Fighting Age With Confidence, Willpower >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Hi, I am a Swedish Ameerican and while growing up that culture was instilled in me. Although I have Shy Dragers and not PD, I know for a fact that my "feistiness" and kindness towards others, midodrine,and ONLY 2 weeks of acute rehab. got me walking again. Attitude plays a signifant role in maintance and improvement in ones physical abilities, as does a excellent neurologist for which I have too:))) Nancy M. [log in to unmask] -NEW EMAIL ADDRESS >NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Sheer feistiness may help the very old overcome the >adversities of physical decline, experts say. > >Strong wills may "close the gap between personal capability and >environmental demands," concludes a joint Swedish-American study of Swedish >elderly. > >The researchers conclude that the more determined elderly use a strong >sense of personal 'mastery' to "not 'allow' disease to spiral into >disability." > >The study, led by researchers at Pennsylvania State University in >University Park, Pennsylvania, appears in the latest issue of the Journal >of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. > >The researchers conducted extensive interviews in 1987-1988 with 324 >Swedish elderly aged 84 to 90 years. Follow-up interviews were conducted in >1990 and 1992. A total of 147 individuals were still alive by the second >follow-up interview. > >At each session, interviewees were questioned as to their ability to carry >out the daily tasks of life (eating, washing, dressing, etc.), their sense >of their own health, and their sense of mastery over their lives. Routine >health examinations were also completed. > >The investigators discovered three factors common in those elderly who >managed to maintain mobility and daily functioning ability over the course >of the study: independent living, a subjective belief in their own good >health, and a sense of 'mastery'. > >The three may be interlinked. Although some physical decline is inevitable >with age, a personal determination to remain independent "may enable a >person to compensate for increasing frailty," speculates study co-author >Dr. Elia Femia. > >Living independently in one's own home or apartment may reinforce that >sense of independence, the authors say. > >Nursing homes, on the other hand, may encourage "people to give up control >over some areas of their lives, inadvertently promoting decline," they say. > >However, the study authors point out that the psyche, unlike the physical >body, does not necessarily decline with age. > >In fact, they say one's wits "often exhibit surprising stability or even >gains in functioning over time." > >But psychological assertiveness in the face of increasing frailty does have >its limits. > >"Eventually," Femia says, "there may come a time when the physical problems >just can't be compensated for (any more)." > >The study authors agree that there is no "single recipe for successful aging." > >But they say good old-fashioned feistiness could "play an important role in >the maintenance or improvement of performance." > > >SOURCE: Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences (November, 1997) >1997, Reuters Health eLine] ><http://www.medscape.com/reuters/fri/t1106-8f.html> >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >janet [log in to unmask] > > --