Massachusetts has been tracking healthy aging trends since 2012, and the principal investigator, Beth Dugan, makes her home in Newton Highlands. So I turned to her for some local insight on our older adult population.
As I spoke with Dugan about the 2025 Healthy Aging Data Report, I was intrigued to learn that Newton stands out as a place where people flourish as they age.
“Older adults here have higher rates compared to the rest of the Commonwealth for being active, for getting recommended screenings, for staying up to date on vaccinations, all of that,” said Dugan, a professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The data show that Newtonians understand the value of preventive health, she said.
An important factor in Newton’s high marks is a long-standing commitment from municipal leadership. Most visibly, the Cooper Center for Active Living, which opened last December, is a beehive of daily activity.
And the city continues to invest, with increased funding in the coming year for the Department of Older Adult Services. That’s notable in an era when municipal budgets everywhere are shrinking.
“That City Hall is willing to support a big center like that and all the programming is just an asset that people who live in other places do not have to the same extent,” Dugan suggested.
Mignonne Murray, the department’s director, has boosted her staff from eight to 25 employees over the past three years. They’ve ushered in a steady march of programs that create physical and cognitive stimulus, enable social connection, give residents purpose and meaning, and reduce the stressors of daily life.
“It’s a lifetime achievement, for sure,” Murray said about the Cooper Center’s opening. “But more exciting to me is having infrastructure in place. I love that our staff can run with new ideas and know they’ll have the space and resources to see their visions through.”
Still, I wondered: Is there some intrinsic quality that has Newton attuned to staying healthy, an x-factor that goes beyond economic and educational advantages?
For clues, I was drawn to one revelation from the 2024 community needs assessment: A majority of Newtonians over the age of 70 say it is very important that they keep living in Newton as they get older.
To be sure, Newton’s proximity to high quality health care is a plus.The city has green spaces. It is easy for residents to get downtown and to the airport, and to points west, north, or south.
But motivation to stay is only half the picture. How, then, do we explain our population’s penchant to age well?
“You see everyone practicing positive health behaviors, on the Comm. Ave. carriage lane or in Cold Spring Park or wherever. People here seem to be mindful of what we need to do on an individual level to give ourselves the best chance to age optimally,” said Dugan.
The Healthy Aging Data Report puts Newtonians ahead of the curve on CDC guidelines for strength and aerobic activity, and, in fact, for doing any type of physical activity at all. That helps keep at bay chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, COPD, and high cholesterol.
Here is where the bond between place and health comes clear for me. A recent New Yorker piece exploring America’s willfully malignant manhandling of landscape, alludes to so many “developments that are called parks and gardens where it is miserable to do the one thing people like to do in parks and gardens: walk.” Not so in Newton. Our city, our neighborhoods and streets, and now the Cooper Center, inspire getting out and moving.
Landscape master Frederick Law Olmstead strengthens my theory: “Gracefully-curved lines, generous spaces, and the absence of sharp corners [lead to a state of] contemplativeness and happy tranquillity.” Is it reasonable to say that Newton’s development aesthetic gives rise to healthy emotions, whenever we’re out there moving?
Finally, let us not discount an undercurrent of peer pressure. People may be more prone to take their health seriously when a neighbor may work at one of the nation’s leading medical institutions.
In case you’re wondering, the Healthy Aging Data Report does reveal some surprising vulnerabilities for Newton residents. I’ll discuss them in a future column.
Rob Skinner is a Newton resident who works as a group fitness coach and personal trainer. He can be reached at robbyskinner@gmail.com.