Successful aging is a psychological feat. Fear for __1__ death, for example, may sometimes oppress you.
Even when this is successfully overcome, there is still something for you to deal with-loneliness. Loneliness
can speed your demise no matter conscientiously __2__ you care for your body. “We go through life surrounded by protective convoys of others,” says Robert Kahn, a psychologist of the University of Michigan
who studied the health effects of companionship. “People __3__ who manage to maintain a network of social support do best.”
One study of elderly heart-attack patients found that those with two or more close associations __4__ enjoyed twice the one-year survival rate of those who were completely alone.
Companionship aside, healthy oldsters seem to share a knack for managing stress, poison that contributes __5__ measurably to heart disease, cancer and accidents.
Researchers have also been kinked successful aging __6__ to mental stimulation.
An idle brain will deteriorate just as sure as an unused leg, notes Dr. Gene Cohen, __7__ Head of the gerontology center at George Washington University.
But just as exercise can prevent muscle __8__ atrophy, mental challenges seem to preserve both the mind and the immune system.
But what most impresses researchers who study the oldest old is his simple drive and resilience. “People who reach 100 __9__ are not quitters,” says Adler of the National Centenarian Awareness Project.
“They share a remarkable ability to renegotiate life in every turn, to accept the inevitable losses __10__ And move on.”