[How to remain healthy in a society of increasing numbers of senior citizens].
After the second World War, Japan made surprising economical progress reaching the second highest level in the world. Health care systems, including medical treatment for the elderly, also improved remarkably. As a result, the average life span of the Japanese has increased rapidly and, by the early twenty-first century, Japan is expected to become a Society with the highest number of senior citizens than any other country in the world. Still, the fact that many people are reaching a good old age does not necessarily mean that they are healthy. To live a healthy life in such a Society, effective measures against the diseases of adulthood are very important. The causes of such diseases are not always simple and are extensively combined with a large number of different factors which include a wrong life style. Early discovery and treatment of disease through group physical examinations (secondary prevention) are valuable, but more important than these is the prevention of disease (primary prevention). In order to grow old healthy, it is necessary to maintain a correct life style and, from youth on, an effort should be made to increase one's own health. It is important to be aware of the fact that one's own healthy life is created by one's own health care, and that keeping healthy while growing old is the duty of every individual living in a Society with a growing number of senior citizens.
Koide
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D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008019:Life Style; D011322:Primary Prevention