Media release

From: PLOS

Older adults can regain optimal well-being

Declining well-being is not inevitable in older age; many older adults can bounce back to flourishing, per Canadian study

Nearly one-quarter of older adults aged 60 or older, who initially reported poor well-being, had regained optimal well-being within three years, according to a study published September 24, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Mabel Ho and Esme Fuller-Thomson from the University of Toronto, Canada. The study highlights the potential value of an active and healthy lifestyle, including maintaining healthy body weight, not smoking, becoming physically active, tackling sleeping problems, and preventing and managing chronic diseases, as well as the value of fostering psychological, emotional and social wellness.

There is a burgeoning interest in understanding the factors associated with resilience and lifelong flourishing. Many modifiable lifestyle factors can preserve optimal well-being, which is defined as achieving a sense of physical, psychological and emotional, social, and self-rated well-being, regardless of chronic health conditions. However, relatively few studies have examined factors associated with regaining optimal well-being in later life after a period of struggling.

By analyzing data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Ho and Fuller-Thomson examined the characteristics of 8,332 older adults who did not meet the criteria for optimal well-being at baseline, and assessed them again three years later, when they were at least 60 years old.

The authors found that nearly one-quarter of these individuals had regained optimal well-being over the three-year period. Respondents with baseline psychological and emotional wellness were most likely to regain optimal well-being: they were almost five times more likely to achieve optimal well-being by the end of the three-year period than were those who did not have psychological and emotional wellness at baseline.

The prevalence of regaining optimal well-being was also higher among respondents who, at baseline, were younger (under 70 years old), were married, and had incomes above the poverty line. In terms of health characteristics, being physically active, non-smoking, not having sleeping problems, and not having chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, arthritis, or osteoporosis, were all associated with increased odds of regaining optimal well-being.

Since all Canadian citizens and permanent residents have free access to medically necessary services, the study’s findings may not fully apply to settings where patients must pay for healthcare services and so may experience reduced access to this help. It is also unclear if the findings can be generalized to low- and middle-income countries.

If future research establishes that the associations observed in the current study are causal, policies and interventions that support physical, psychological, emotional, social, and self-rated wellness might help older adults to regain optimal well-being. For example, programs and services can be provided to encourage older adults to engage in an active and healthy lifestyle, to manage chronic conditions, and to prevent social isolation. According to the authors, these interventions might play an important role in enhancing older adults' resilience and enabling them to regain optimal well-being in later life.

“What’s powerful about this research is the reminder that later life can still be fulfilling, even after difficult periods. Good health is important, but so are the people, meaning, and joy we have in our lives,” says first author Mabel Ho, a recent doctoral graduate at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) and the Institute of Life Course and Aging.

“This is a clear call to invest in prevention, financial stability, and accessible wellness supports—because these aren’t just smart policies, they can potentially improve the trajectory of aging for older adults who are struggling," says senior author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Director of the Institute for Life Course & Aging and Professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.