• Trinity College Dublin

Strategies for Successful Ageing

Find out how staying happy, healthy, socially-connected and active can help you age successfully, with this free online course.

37,053 enrolled on this course

A variety of adults of varying ages
  • Duration

    5 weeks
  • Weekly study

    2 hours

How do you feel about ageing? What choices are you making to stay happy, healthy, socially-connected and active as you age?

During this five-week course, distinguished academics and physicians at Trinity College Dublin will present world-leading research in successful ageing, which may challenge many of the assumptions you have about growing old.

Learn strategies and tips for healthy, active ageing

As a community of learners, we will discuss what you’re doing to maintain your health, increase your wellbeing, maintain friendships and navigate life’s challenges.

Together, we will discover the many opportunities for personal growth and community-building by exploring the skills, talents and dreams of older adults.

Each week, we will investigate strategies for successful ageing:

• Week 1 explores your perceptions and attitudes about ageing;

• Week 2 focusses on improving your happiness and wellbeing, by defining what quality of life means to you;

• Week 3 places a spotlight on health and presents tips for increasing physical fitness, improving nutrition, and maintaining brain health through the years;

• Week 4 celebrates opportunities for staying connected by investigating the expectations you have set for yourself and by sharing your personal strategies for staying involved;

• and Week 5 is all about creative ageing, in which we explore the talents and contributions of older adults and share your accomplishments with the world.

Choose your approach to successful ageing

The knowledge that you gain from this free online course will inspire you to choose activities and behaviours that improve your quality of life. Through this course, we hope you will think differently about ageing and recognise the many contributions that older adults make every day.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 22 seconds How do you feel about ageing? What choices are you making to stay happy, healthy, socially connected, and active as you age? Hello. I’m Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Director of Ageing Research at Trinity College Dublin and a physician at St. James’s Hospital here in Ireland. Within the next 15 years, there will be approximately 1.4 billion people over the age of 60. Too often, we focus on the burdens of ageing rather than the enormous benefits and bounty that this demography will bring. Over the next five weeks, I will be joined by leading researchers here at Trinity who are investigating many aspects of ageing. They will share their findings with you. Many of them will challenge your assumption of growing old.

Skip to 1 minute and 17 seconds For example, did you know that your perceptions of ageing influence your ageing process? Have you defined what successful ageing means for you? What is old age anyway? This free online course is for all adults who want strategies for managing their health, developing their skills, and staying involved in their communities. You will watch videos, read articles, take part in discussions, and share your experiences with a community of learners. Along with other participants, you will learn how to increase physical fitness, improve function, improve nutrition, nurture your relationships, and maintain brain health throughout the years. You will meet artists, volunteers, and inspirational achievers who are making a difference by following their dreams. The course highlights the diversity of ageing experiences.

Skip to 2 minutes and 23 seconds And by the end of this course, you should have tools and resources to better understand what successful ageing will mean for you.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

This course is relevant for adults who wish to acquire strategies for successful ageing. No previous experience or qualifications are required.

Who will you learn with?

Rose Anne Kenny is the Principal Investigator and founder of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and Professor of Medical Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin.
www.tilda.ie

Professor of Old Age Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin; Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of the Memory Clinic at St. James's Hospital, Dublin.

Postgraduate Research Assistant at TILDA, interested in dietary patterns & effects on health in ageing. Deirdre has a BSc in Nutritional Sciences and Masters of Public Health Nutrition.
www.tilda.ie

Deirdre Robertson is a post-doctoral researcher based in in Columbia University in New York. She is interested in how psychology affects physical changes in the body, particularly in later life.

Composer, artist and curator
Consultant Artist in Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing, St.James Hospital, Dublin and Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.

Academic geriatrician with >500 publications, Prof O'Neill is also a writer/commentator in national media, has received national and international awards for advocacy & research, Twitter @Age_Matters

Post-doc researcher based in Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Working on modelling the consequences of stroke-related cognitive impairment as part of the StrokeCog study.

Professor in Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience. Fiona's research is based on investigating how the brain merges information from the different senses into a coherent perception of the world.

Associate Professor in Nutrition & Principal Investigator at Trinity College Dublin. Interested in diet, lifestyle & inflammation in healthy ageing. Diet facts v fiction.
http://people.tcd.ie/mosulli5

I am an Academic Clinical Fellow in Geriatric Medicine, based in South London. I completed my medical studies at Trinity College Dublin, qualifying in 2014.

Project Manager on The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Current research focuses on the factors influencing gait, mobility and falls in older adults.

Richard Layte is Professor of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin

Educator: Strategies for Successful Ageing
Psychologist, Neuroscientist and Author '100 Days to a Younger Brain'
Twitter @Sabina_Brennan
Website www.sabinabrennan.ie

Professor in Social Policy and Ageing

Who developed the course?

Trinity College Dublin

Founded in 1592, Trinity College Dublin is Ireland’s highest ranked university. It promotes a diverse, interdisciplinary environment to nurture ground-breaking research, innovation, and creativity.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

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Get a taste of this course

Find out what this course is like by previewing some of the course steps before you join:

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