Prime Time: A New Look At Aging

The future for assisted living

A lot of powerful groups have every incentive to make assisted living work for you, the American senior citizen.

Take hospitals. They have just spent the last decade building and refurbishing hospitals in a manner not seen since the 1950s, modernizing, refitting and refurbishing, making hospitals modern and hooked up to all kinds of new equipment. But at the end of this massive renovation and rebuilding program, there are now 88,000 fewer available beds then there were a decade ago. Hospitals want assisted living to work.

Or take politicians. The new healthcare patterns being debated or decided in Washington today depend for their success on pushing more responsibility onto the patient. Their programs will fall apart unless they can get us all to take more care of ourselves. Hopefully better, but crucially, more. Politicians don't want the taxpayer to support you in the hospital any longer than necessary--nor do they want to spend on long term care facilities. They need assisted living to work.

And then there's business. A lot of business. The U.S. and Canada spent $6 billion on home medical equipment two years ago, and it's growing by almost 9% per year. Most of it goes on wheelchairs and equipment to treat diabetes, but they cannot survive without assisted living being a good option.

So you're not alone.

Going for the big One-double-0

“Is getting older slowing down?” Dr. Walter M. Bortz asks. Then he urges, “Don’t slow down.”

If you keep active in mind, body and spirit, “you can defy the so-called effects of aging,” he declares in his book DARE to Be 100. He provides a good example of the message. He runs at least one marathon a year, and he is now 79.

Here’s a capsule review of the DARE elements:

Diet—Eat a varied diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Attitude—If you want to do something, you must first believe you can.
Renewal—Recharge, keep working, and stay in the mainstream.
Exercise—Be strong, stay loose, and stay balanced.

He provides 99 tips divided among these four categories, and he regards attitude as the most important element. Research shows the natural lifespan of humans is more than 30 years above current expectations, he notes.

In an earlier book called We Live Too Short and Die Too Long, he offers these steps for a long, healthy life:

1. Do at least 30 minutes of sustained, rhythmic, vigorous exercise four times a week. Make it as much a part of your day as eating and sleeping.
2. Eat like a bushman. This means whole grains and lean meat, along with the fruits and veggies.
3. Get as much sleep and rest as you need. Make quiet time a major priority.
4. Maintain your sense of humor and deflect anger. A positive mind-set creates the expectation that something good is about to happen, and opens the door to new options for success.
5. Set goals and accept challenges that force you to be as alive and creative as possible. Growth and living are nearly synonymous. When one stops, so does the other.
6. Don’t depend on anyone else for well-being. Maintain mastery, autonomy and independence in your daily life.
7. Be necessary and responsible. See each day as a chance to help someone or something. Associate with other active, involved individuals.
8. Don’t slow down. Stick with the mainstream. Maintaining your energy flow is the antidote to the perceived losses of aging.

 

Recipe for aging, plus some insights

  Ruth Bernhard, a highly regarded photographer and a senior, offers this “Recipe for a long and happy life”:
    1. Never get used to anything.
    2. Hold on to the child in you.
    3. Keep your curiosity alive.
    4. Trust your intuition.
    5. Delight in simple things.
    6. Say “yes” to life with passion.
    7. Fall madly in love with the world.
    8. Remember: Today is the day!
 
 According to Eric Tainter, “A person is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” He also said, “Happiness is that peculiar feeling when you're too busy to be miserable."

 From the Internet comes these thoughts about things people have learned as they aged:
 I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. (Age 82)
 I’ve learned if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the best you can, happiness will find you. (Age 65)
 I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. (Age 62)
 I’ve learned that it pays to believe in miracles. And to tell the truth, I’ve seen several. (Age 73)
 I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch—holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. (Age 85)
 I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn (Age 92)
 
While on their fishing boat, the husband, concerned about a possible emergency, said to his wife, “Please take the wheel, dear. Pretend I’m having a heart attack and you must get the boat safely to shore” She did so.
That evening, she walked into the living room where he sat watching the tube, switched the TV channel and said, “Please go into the kitchen, dear. Pretend I’m having a heart attack. You must set the table, cook the dinner, and wash the dishes.”
 
Don’t worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
Despite the cost of living, it’s still quite popular.
The aging process could be slowed if it had to work its way through Congress.
Don’t take life so seriously—it’s not permanent.
The age of some folks is like the speedometer on a used car—you know it’s set back but you don’t know how far.
 
From a senior center newsletter story about staff changes: “Please bare with us as we acclimate and move forward for a better future.”
 Bumper sticker:  Friends may come and go, but aches and pains accumulate
 “Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.”—Redd Foxx
 “When men reach their 60s and retire, they go to pieces. Women go right on cooking.”—Gail Sheehy
 “Age is a high price to pay for maturity.”—Tom Stoppard
 T-shirt message: At my age I’ve got an achy breaky everything.
 Another T-shirt: The older I get the better I was.
 
 And here’s Ashleigh Brilliant’s slant:
 “Life has been very confusing, because I’ve been different ages at different times.
 “I still have many of my old dreams, but some of the colors have faded.
 “Inside every older person there’s a younger person wondering what happened.
 “No wonder I feel so tired—I’m older now than I’ve ever been before.”
  * *
 Cicero put it this way: “Life is a play with a badly written last act.”
 “It is time to be old, to take in sail.”— Emerson
 But, says E.B. Skinner, “It is not a time to be wholly adrift.”