Lea Stark

Two extra years with your grandparents – how physical resilience shapes aging

Most people have heard the term ”resilience” in relation to mental health, but fewer are familiar with physical resilience, a relatively new idea in my field. Physical resilience is the ability to bounce back after health challenges, like fractures from falls or infections. As we age, developing diseases becomes common because our bodily systems gradually wear down. So, when we talk about healthy aging, we don’t mean avoiding disease entirely, but rather maintaining key functions, like walking or spending time actively with grandchildren.

This is where physical resilience plays an important role, helping explain why some people age better than others. My colleagues and I found that older adults with higher physical resilience live, on average, nearly two years longer and have a lower risk of death compared to those with lower resilience. It also helps protect partly against genetic risks for early death. Simply put, higher physical resilience means more time to spend with loved ones.

Kontakt

Lea Stark
Karolinska Institutet

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