The article is devoted to understanding a healthy lifestyle in old age, significant limitations and differences that arise with age and redefine many basic ideas about health. The article begins by identifying basic ideas about healthy aging, which are questioned and clarified through an analytical analysis of dense interviews (the author’s terminology for qualitative interviews, the closest analogue of which in the Russian-speaking environment is in-depth interviews) with old people. Field work took place in the Republic of Khakassia in three cities: Abakan, Chernogorsk and Abaza. A total of 12 interviews were conducted with older people receiving long-term care services. Based on the received narratives, five conditions accompanying aging were identified: living in illness; accepting limitations; loneliness; support and withdrawal from others; emotional depression. Through a critical understanding of the life world of aging, four signs of a healthy lifestyle in old age are identified: attention to the old man, the need for the old man, the value of aging and the presence of a goal in life for the old man. Modern social policy in Russia is based on only one component of “attention to the elderly” (although other components are also declared by law), through the organization of long-term care, the development and implementation of rehabilitation means, and the creation of an accessible environment. But the most important elements remain the formation of the need for the old man among significant loved ones (relatives and others), joint agreement, the formation of goal-setting in the old man in life and the promotion of the value of aging as such. The article proposes an agenda for further research to more accurately shape domestic policies in the field of aging.

Keywords: diseases, dense interview, health of the elderly, healthy lifestyle, internal policy, criticism of the client-oriented approach, medical care, loneliness, long-term care system, sociology of aging