These choices turn out to be even more important than heredity in determining how well you function and for how long. Research also confirms that we need each other. Dr. Rowe talks about how we move through life in a convoy, surrounded by others whom we need and who need us. This emotional support proved to be particularly important to men as they age. All the things common sense tells you matter, do.
Nutrition is important.
There's an added bonus. This new way of thinking is also a viable way out of the Medicare problem. The hierarchy of successful aging begins with avoiding disease and disability. How long we live and how well turns out to be largely in our own hands. And life, after all, is what aging successfully is all about.