24 Aug Living Well to 100

Living Well to 100

By: Dr. Amber Kool, Arizona College of Nursing

We all want to know: what’s the secret to living to 100? September is Health Aging Month, so here are 10 ways to age gracefully and better your chances to achieve triple digits in age.

1. Keep Moving: Get outside and get those steps in!
2. Your body recovers when you’re asleep; 8 hours a night should be the goal.
3. Diet is important for your physical health and your emotional wellbeing. Eat greens, veggies, and water throughout the day
4. Take time to journal, reflect, meditate, or just have quiet moments throughout the day. You don’t always have to be busy. Embrace a moment of silence.
5. Work and live with a sense of purpose. Studies show that people who are engaged in life not only live longer, have stronger mental health, but they also have lower rates of Alzheimer’s and memory loss. In fact, early retirement doesn’t necessarily translate to good health. So, find a job, cause, or hobby that fulfills you.
6. Surround yourself with good friends. Stay social. Human interaction and feeling connected to others are vital for longevity and mental health. People who are isolated have a greater risk of illness and depression.
7. Don’t stress over the little things – Ask yourself, will I care about this in 1 day, 1 month, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? Stress is part of life, but we need to learn how to manage it.
8. Everything in moderation – Don’t shut yourself out from things you enjoy, but always be careful not to overindulge. For example: technology is great but can be harmful if you spend every moment behind a computer screen.
9. Live a life without regret – Life is too short (100 years in the grand scheme is a drop in the ocean). Speak your feelings, be daring, and be courageous. Try new things. Remember when you were a kid and your life was filled with new experiences, often feeling a sense of awe? Look for new experiences that can help you recapture that feeling.
10. Live a life with wonderment. Enjoy this crazy and wonderful world. There is too much beauty and wonderment to let it go unnoticed. Being positive and expressing gratitude is a practiced and learned trait.

About the Author:

Dr. Amber Kool, DNP, RN has been in the nursing profession since 2012. Her professional career started in mental health, but she quickly transitioned into pediatrics where she found her true place in clinical practice and eventually led her to work in the NICU. While in the NICU she began precepting and helping other new to service or new graduates. The work with students and new graduates inspired her to go back to school to become a nurse educator. Soon after graduation Amber began working as a clinical adjunct for Arizona College of Nursing and transitioned to a full-time faculty. In August of 2019 Amber received a promotion to Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the program. In June 2021, Dr. Kool graduated with her DNP in Educational Leadership from American Sentinel College of Nursing & Health Sciences at Post University. Her passion for innovation in higher education grew exponentially through her time in this program. She was promoted to Associate Provost for Arizona College of Nursing in January 2022, where her professional focus is to provide faculty and campus support in program effectiveness, accreditation, and utilization of experiential learning and clinical decision making in every learning opportunity. In her personal time, she loves to spend time with family and friends, staying active in sports, traveling, and finding outside activities in her home state of Arizona.