Parfenova O.A. Health-Saving Practices of Older City Dwellers in the Context of Delayed Aging. Adv. geront. 2022. Vol. 35. No 5. P. 679–685.

Abstract

The main purpose of the study: to analyze the ideas of older people about ways to influence their own health and their health promoting behavior. The study considers the elderly as an active agent that can influence their own health. Based on the materials of 25 in-depth interviews, 4 thematic blocks related to health were analyzed. It is confirmed that the modern elderly city dweller can be called an active agent in relation to his own health. Informants noted physical activity and a balanced diet as the main ways to maintain/improve health. Much less often (in isolated cases) maintenance of mental and emotional well-being, and professional and intellectual activity were named. At the same time, ideas about how to influence health correlate with the daily practices of the older people. The repertoire of practices is quite wide (all kinds of physical activity and dietary restrictions, the desire to balance it). Along with this, medicine is practically not considered by informants as a tool for preventing diseases and maintaining health; rather, it is a way to solve problems that have already arisen.