What is the Secret of a Good Life as We Age?

Brian Taylor, Au.D.

You don’t have to be a news junkie to know that age is at the forefront of many conversations these days. There is simply no way to escape it during this election year. For audiologists whose core client base is typically over 70, age, and all its manifestations, has always been top-of-mind, and for good reason: Many of us spend several hours per week identifying hearing loss and developing treatment strategies that help aging adults stay active and reconnected with others. Regardless of the individual circumstances, our primary role as clinical audiologists is to help people lead their best life as they age. Hence, any data that sheds light on the question, what is the secret of a good life as we age?, is immensely helpful.

The answer to this question has been on the mind of researchers for more than 80 years. I was fascinated to recently learn there are seven longitudinal studies, conducted all over the world on a range of diverse populations that help us answer this question. All seven of these studies are summarized below; surprisingly, all find the same general conclusion. First, let’s review these seven studies.

Study 1 British Cohort Studies

• 5 large nationally representative groups, started in the 1960s
• 17,000 individuals per group
• Followed from birth throughout their lives collecting information on education and employment, family and parenting, physical and mental health, and social attitudes, as well as applying cognitive tests at various ages

Study 2 Cal Berkeley Mills Longitudinal Study

• A 50-year investigation of adult development that has followed a group of women since they graduated from Mills College
• Currently engaged in their sixth follow-up assessment with the women, who are now in their early 70s
• Study is evaluating aging process on personality types, personality change and development, work and retirement, relationships, health, social and political attitudes, emotional expression and regulation, and wisdom

Study 3 Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study, New Zealand

• Following the lives of 1037 babies born between in 1972 and 1973
• Seeks to answer questions about how people’s early years impact mental and physical health as they age
• Data is used to inform New Zealand’s national government policy decisions on aging

Study 4 Kauai Longitudinal Study

• Following the lives of a multi-racial cohort of 698 children born on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1955
• Examining differences in vulnerability and resilience and a goal to identify protective factors within the children, the family, and the cultural and caregiving environment across the lifespan

Study 5 Chicago Health, Aging & Social Relations Study

• A study of 229 Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic men and women who ranged from 50-68 years of age at baseline, beginning in 2002
• Analyses of demographic factors, health, cognitive function, loneliness, and social contacts

Study 6 The Baltimore Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Lifespan

• An interdisciplinary, community-based, longitudinal epidemiologic study examining the influences of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on the development of age-related health disparities among socioeconomically diverse African Americans and whites in Baltimore.
• Adults aged 35-64, followed since 2004.

Study 7 Harvard Grant Study

• Study began in 1938 by following 238 men enrolled at Harvard, since then the study has expanded to include thousands of individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Still following the original 238 men through college graduation, marriage, war, parenthood, life crises, and old age – and collected a wide range of data about the men’s physical and mental well-being

Now to the unifying conclusion of these seven longitudinal studies. Although eschewing alcohol and cigarettes, eating a healthy diet, staying physically active, and emotional and financial security are important components of a good life, they are not the main factors. Rather, the answer can be summarized in three words: Relationships, relationships, relationships! It is the power and need for human connection that helps us live a good life as we grow older. As the current director of the Harvard Grant Study, Robert Waldinger, MD, says, “Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.” In other words, it is the absence of these human connections that often leads to social isolation, depression, poor quality of life, and even premature death. What profession is better equipped to help an aging population (re)discover, and then lead, their best life than audiology? You can think of each patient seen in the clinic as having their own red dot like the one shown in Figure 1. The job of the audiologist, through their in-take interview and assessment process, is to understand what goes inside that person’s red dot.

By virtue of the time we spend with patients, trying to understand what is inside their own red dot, audiologists are uniquely equipped to be a driving force behind healthy and successful aging. As Figure 2 illustrates, the kernel inside the red dot are all the components of thriving relationships: human connections, communicating, interacting and conversing with others. Things that audiologists restore through their assessment and treatment approaches.

As the research suggests, the secret of a good life as we age really is as simple as having and maintaining relationships with other people. No doubt age will remain a hot topic throughout 2024 – as it has in our clinics for decades. Audiologists certainly don’t add years to people’s lives, but we sure can add life to the years that people have left. ■