I quit smoking cigarettes in 1969, five years after the U.S. Surgeon General’s first report said that smoking causes lung cancer. I was convinced the report was right when it came out, but it took me five years to develop the willpower to give up my Marlboros.

The initial conversation with many of my older patients often starts with what challenges they face, their commitment to change and what activities exactly do they want to return to doing without feeling limited.