Almost everyone has parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts who are beginning to get along in years. If you are one of my younger readers, you can learn how to make the later years good ones for the old people you love. The best way to rob the prospect of retirement and old age of its terrors is by seeing elderly people who are well and happy.
Remarkable progress has been made in adding years to life. This tremendous increase in life expectancy is due in great part to the fact that such diseases as cholera, typhoid fever, smallpox, diphtheria, and yellow fever have been practically eliminated. The greatest reduction in mortality has been in infants. However, the mortality of people over 75 was reduced by one fifth during the first half of this century.
I am frequently impressed by the great mental and physical differences between patients of the same age. Old age does not arrive suddenly when you reach 65. Like other periods, it depends on what went before. For this reason, gerontology, which is the scientific study of the process of ageing, does not limit its studies to a single age group.
Many of us are accustomed to think only of the limitations and liabilities of old age. We tend to overlook the physical, mental, and emotional assets of this stage of life.
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