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The article explores the concept of quality of life, nature of aging and factors affecting it. The definition of health by the World Health Organization (WHO) is used to explain wellness in all facets of life. The increase of the elderly population necessitates a new approach to healthcare including the promotion of socially active lifestyle. The role of physical and rehabilitation medicine in contributing to a good quality of life is also discussed.

The current global financial crisis inevitably alters the quality of life (QoL) of many individuals, mainly (but not exclusively) concerning its fourth -- after Guelfi -- dimension: the economic one (a deeply intricate component). Under these conditions, we can only hope that the holistic and idealistic definition of health, adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) almost 70 years ago, will keep its topicality and applicability -- as before the recession -- at least in the more developed countries/ economies. This work presents a synthetic overview on some basic issues regarding health and related QoL, focusing on their connections with the specialties of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine and respectively, Gerontology & Geriatrics: the presence/ absence of risk factors, (especially) the ones associated to the "civilization pathology", wellness, the current thinking/ paradigm (integrating the medical and social models) of the WHO on human functioning, (di)stress -- including its relationship to premature/ pathologic ageing -- and the active prophylactic (relaxing, fitness/"mise en forme"/ anti-stress, maintaining/ re-performing of the work capacity, rejuvenation/ anti-ageing/ gero-prophylaxis) balneo-climatic courses. The construct and content of this work are framed within the very actual, leading specific concepts and outcome measurement indicators of the European Union, regarding the major global challenge represented by the accelerated demographic ageing process [and consequent endeavors, such as the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPAHA), and also a most recent project/ surveys -- for doctors and for 60+ older adult patients -- of the main author and some colleagues -- endorsed by the Comité Permanent/ Standing Committee of the European Doctors (CPME) -- regarding "Health Literacy on Functional Decline and Frailty Related to Ageing" and respectively, the Healthy Life Years (HLY) and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) -- synthetic health state (macro-)indicators. Considering all above, this work documents/ ratiocinate and advocates for Romania's huge capabilities of health tourism -- its balneo-geriatric, consistent dimension -- too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]