The practices of bioascesis and the constitution of active elderly - DOI: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v8i1.7789

Abstract

Discourses on aging are still strongly related to biomedicine, which favors the adoption of healthy behaviors and the continuous surveillance on the bodies. The purpose of this discussion is question the discourses in the society on the active elderly, which may reflect in the daily actions in health focused on these subjects. As theoretical contribution, the concept of bioascesis in discussions about the constitution of active elderly was used. In health, the concept of the active subject is present in other obligations, interweaving new relationships, not only with the experts, but also within themselves and the community. The active elderly should take the perspective of healthism, and adopt healthy practices to postpone physical disabilities in their old age. However, the invention of active elderly from body ascesis, may empty out other dimensions of life, prioritizing only the body, as the principal component in the formation of its subjectivity.