How can we prepare people for old age?

And with it, possibly dementia? We know the older people of tomorrow will have different needs, expectations and understanding of what they want from life.

But I also believe that if a person is better 'prepared' (whatever that may entail) for the later time in life they many be able to cope with things better.

Default Settings
I feel, through my limited experiences of working with people I have a theory of the 'default setting' - the state that people are in the most; the background scenery behind the every day thoughts. This setting could be stressed, worried, chatty or just incredably polite. When dementia develops, a person reverts more and more to this 'default setting' and their health and general well-being is linked to where their 'emotional lever' got stuck on.

Now I didn't know these people before they had dementia, so couldn't couldn't really prove this little idea of mine. But of those that I have known (or the small snippets their relatives have told me) personally, like my Grandma - this holds true.

I wonder if this default setting then can be programmed within our every day before anything happens. Through general good mental well-being we can make our lives easier today and tomorrow.