Living Well: Health and wellbeing for a
better quality of life
In 2019 the SPC and University of Winchester joint seminar explored what is meant by ‘living well.’ Lord Geoffrey Filkin from the Centre for Ageing Better, put it very simply: longer lives are a great opportunity, but what will make those extra years good? That is the question our seminar addressed. Lord Filkin highlighted five factors which make for a better life as we age: good enough health, good enough finances, sustaining identity and independence, living in a suitable home, and feeling socially connected and valued. So healthy lifestyles – keeping mentally and physically active, eating well and maintaining a sense of meaning in our lives – matter.
The University and SPC aimed to encourage a discussion about what living well means for all members of our community. This briefing paper provided some background information to stimulate thinking in advance of the seminar. It is not intended to be a full statistical analysis of health and other data for the area, rather it uses key statistics to highlight some of the challenges we face.