We're all getting older, all the time, but too often our culture defines the aging process negatively instead of embracing it as a natural part of life. Nowhere is this problem more pronounced than in our health care system, where ageist medicine often serves to worsen our medical issues instead of helping us figure out how to address or avoid them.

Whether we're 40 or 80, what we need is an insider's guide to staying healthy, including choosing the right doctor, learning to play a role in managing our own care, and figuring out how to plan financially for our own future or a parent's.

In this book, renowned geriatrician Mark Lachs takes listeners on a grand tour of adult medicine, showing how we can navigate a complex and confusing system so as to make the best choices for ourselves and our loved ones. With gentle humor and great wisdom, Lachs explains how being proactive and making smart decisions about health care can lay the groundwork for a satisfying, active lifestyle that lasts well into the golden years. You'll find out:

• How to identify a great primary care doctor, specialist, or care facility
• Why the hospital is no place for sick people
• How to make home improvements that will keep the nursing home at bay
• Why small life changes in your 40s can lead to extra decades of good health later on