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About This Story
When she was in her sixties, Joan experienced a major house fire. Left with almost no possessions, she worried that she was too old to start all over. However, the now 83-year-old Joan found inspiration that changed her entire outlook on aging. Now, she uses affirmations and relaxation techniques to stay vital and healthy - physically, mentally and emotionally.
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The therapies listed in the orange sidebar are not necessarily meant to treat conditions directly. Often they are used to reduce stress, therefore increasing a person’s ability to cope and/or heal.
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On Aging And Chronic Illness
Margaret Chesney, National Institutes of Health
Excerpted from The New Medicine Interviews
As we age, we will face chronic illnesses that will challenge us… This is part, unfortunately, of aging for many of us. I’ve learned wonderful lessons from patients that I’ve worked with who had congestive heart failure and knew that they had limitations on what they could do… And, there is a way of managing illness that is very positive and proactive where patients…develop a patient plan for themselves – their own treatment plan.
They would have fun activities and enjoyable activities, even within whatever constraints they might have that became part of their life plan. That means putting illness into its place... It’s important, but there’s a whole life as well – fitting illness into life rather than trying to fit life into illness.