A researcher at a community pool in Cambridge finds out why so many people over 60 are finding joy and pleasure in a cold-water swim.

Charlene Schade

Background: Globally, various ageing concepts (such as healthy ageing, successful ageing, and active ageing) have emerged to promote the goal of "ageing well" and have gained widespread attention in academia, policy, and practice to change the negative narrative on ageing. However, whether and how these ageing concepts have contributed to changing the negative narratives remains unclear. Moreover, they are not clearly defined nor widely agreed upon, often creating ambiguity and confusion. Objective: This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of 16 ageing concepts, with a particular focus on how their evolution in research has contributed to shifting the narrative surrounding ageing. Methods: This study used the bibliometric software VosViewer to visualise international collaboration among countries and co-citation networks among journals, helping to identify which countries and journals play central roles in research mentioned ageing concepts, and revealing how academic contributions are distributed globally. Additionally, content analysis supported by the corpus linguistics software AntConc was conducted to examine and compare the main focuses, applications, challenges, and future research directions of these concepts. Results: The findings indicate that while all 16 ageing concepts share the common goal of improving the quality of life for older adults, they offer different perspectives, encompassing health management, social participation, mental health, and technological innovation. Key challenges to achieving the goal of each ageing concept were identified, including unequal access to healthcare resources, barriers to social participation, and difficulties in adopting technology. Conclusions: The overall impact of these ageing concepts on reshaping negative ageing narratives remains relatively limited. Future efforts should focus on advancing technology, optimising policies, enhancing social support systems, and fostering global collaboration to provide innovative and sustainable solutions that promote the overall well-being of older adults.

Stable sleep patterns boost successful aging, while inconsistent or short sleep reduces healthy aging outcomes among older Chinese adults, a new study finds.