Aging is inevitable; the secret is to do so as healthily as possible and to learn to manage the changes aging brings. “Aging Matters: Healthy Aging,” the sixth documentary in Nashville Public Television’s NPT Reports: Aging Matters series, explores the pursuit of health and well-being as we age.
“Aging Matters: Healthy Aging” premieres Thursday, November 19, at 8 p.m. and will be followed by a discussion recorded earlier in our studio with panelists Janet Jernigan, executive director of FiftyForward; Carol Orsborn, co-author of The Spirituality of Age: A Seeker’s Guide to Growing Older; and William M. Petrie, M.D., director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Program. All three panelists are featured in the documentary.
“In general, quality of life increases with age with two important provisos: No. 1, you don’t get sick; and No. 2, you retain your cognitive abilities,” Dr. Petrie says in the documentary.
Janet Jernigan concurs. “There is a very close connection between health status and quality of life,” she says in the film. “In fact, the research shows that people don’t consider themselves as old until their health starts to fail, whatever age that is.”
“Aging Matters: Healthy Aging” features Middle Tennesseans who are trying to stay fit, manage chronic conditions and remain socially engaged in their senior years. We hear from a 64-year old runner for whom the benefits of training outweigh the pain and possibility of injury, and from a man who found a renewed sense of purpose as a foster grandparent through a FiftyForward program. Medical and other experts interviewed in the film discuss the challenges of managing one’s health when the effects of the habits and circumstances of a lifetime start to compound with age.
“Aging Matters: Healthy Aging” was produced by Will Pedigo, who produced the previous documentary in the series – “Aging Matters: Aging in Place” – as well as programs in NPT’s “Children’s Health Crisis” and “Next Door Neighbors” series.
Additional broadcast times for Aging Matters: Healthy Aging” are below; the documentary will also be available for online viewing on our website, wnpt.org, immediately after the premiere.
- Tuesday, November 24, at 11 p.m. on NPT
- Saturday, December 26, at 9 p.m. on NPT2
- Sunday, December 27, at 5 p.m. on NPT2
- Sunday, December 27, at 10:30 p.m. on NPT
The NPT Reports: Aging Matters series is hosted by Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Kathy Mattea. “Aging Matters: Healthy Aging” is made possible by the generous support of Cigna-HealthSpring, the West End Home Foundation, the HCA Foundation and the Jeanette Travis Foundation and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.