Aging Gracefully

Along the lines of doing our part and always working towards something, I'm reminded of an older man I once knew.  In fact, the central character in the book I'm writing is based on him.  He said the secret to aging well is to stay active.  He continued to volunteer in a variety of activities and attended community classes to learn new skills well into his 70s and probably beyond (I've lost touch with him).

I've seen family members who raised children then cared for a spouse with cancer.  Once those things were complete - they did nothing but sit in their house.  I suggested they volunteer or join a social group but was told that it wasn't their style.  I really could not conceive of an existence just sitting at home every day.  But that's what they did.  It wasn't too many years before the health started to fail leading to mental decline.  Of course, there is no control group as in a science experiment so who's to know if they had stayed active if it would have helped, but I hypothesize it would have.