Good News/Bad News
In a recent “Time” magazine there was a lot of information on aging. The first part was good in that it gave many ways to increase our years. It said that centenarians born in the late 1800s are growing in numbers. They went through the flu pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression, both world wars and are still here and are keeping up with current events. Health officials think that by 2050, more than 800,000 Americans would be going into their second century of life. These centenarians are not what you’d expect. They’re not sick and housebound; they’re still mentally alert, not disabled and active members of their communities. Why can’t we all be like they are? Only about 30% of aging for most people is genetically based. So that means we have to do something about the 70% which would mean exercising, eating well, not smoking, keeping your mind active – in other words, stop lying around and getting busy on staying healthy if you plan to live to 100. There isn’t going to be a “youth” pill anytime soon, so we should get back what we lose when we live a modern, overfed, overstressed and underactive lifestyle. That’s easier said than done.
And then comes the second article on aging by Jeffrey Kluger. The title is “Be careful what you wish for. We’d all like an extra decade of life. But there are reasons to think we already hang around long enough.” What a downer! The U.S. has 39 million people over 65 – just about 13% of the population. In 2011, the leading edge of the 76 million baby-boom generation – born from 1946 to 1964 – will become 65, and they won’t stop coming until 2029. If we think Medicare is in bad shape now, think what it will be like then. And just because you may stick around until age 90 doesn’t mean you’ll be in good shape. A Rand study made in 2005 took four risk factors for health – hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking – and tried to figure the cost effect if these conditions were eliminated or partly eliminated among the elderly. They found that eradicating hypertension and cutting obesity would save Medicare much money. However, completely controlling diabetes would increase spending by $246 billion, and eliminating smoking would boost costs by $293 billion. You don’t even need to ask why as the answer is simple: Because diabetes and smoking cut off more years of life than hypertension or obesity. So I guess if we don’t take care of diabetes and keep on smoking, we’re helping the economy.
Another aspect of living longer is the fact that more aging people are now moving in with their baby boomer kids. This is what is called “boomerang seniors.” That group has risen 50%. The baby boomers may still be taking care of their own kids which doesn’t make for a pretty picture. And also, if these aging people are still healthy, they may still be working and keeping baby boomers and young people from getting jobs. If the healthy oldsters are working at fast food places or Wal Mart, they could be keeping high school kids from jobs and saving for college. Scientists are also thinking that possibly eating less food and getting our caloric content down might help. It works in animals – I don’t know just which animals, but mice are always scurrying around with tumors or dementia and then fixed with some new medication. I think mice are used in experiments 24 hours a day. Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen any mice lately – they’re all at the lab someplace.
I don’t know how they would get the majority of the population on some sort of diet when they can’t seem to stop obesity.
After reading all the articles, I was encouraged and then depressed which is what I usually go through in a day - it’s nothing new for me. So I decided to go for a walk and get some exercise. I wish it were something I could do maybe once a week instead of every day. I never liked exercising.
In a recent “Time” magazine there was a lot of information on aging. The first part was good in that it gave many ways to increase our years. It said that centenarians born in the late 1800s are growing in numbers. They went through the flu pandemic of 1918, the Great Depression, both world wars and are still here and are keeping up with current events. Health officials think that by 2050, more than 800,000 Americans would be going into their second century of life. These centenarians are not what you’d expect. They’re not sick and housebound; they’re still mentally alert, not disabled and active members of their communities. Why can’t we all be like they are? Only about 30% of aging for most people is genetically based. So that means we have to do something about the 70% which would mean exercising, eating well, not smoking, keeping your mind active – in other words, stop lying around and getting busy on staying healthy if you plan to live to 100. There isn’t going to be a “youth” pill anytime soon, so we should get back what we lose when we live a modern, overfed, overstressed and underactive lifestyle. That’s easier said than done.
And then comes the second article on aging by Jeffrey Kluger. The title is “Be careful what you wish for. We’d all like an extra decade of life. But there are reasons to think we already hang around long enough.” What a downer! The U.S. has 39 million people over 65 – just about 13% of the population. In 2011, the leading edge of the 76 million baby-boom generation – born from 1946 to 1964 – will become 65, and they won’t stop coming until 2029. If we think Medicare is in bad shape now, think what it will be like then. And just because you may stick around until age 90 doesn’t mean you’ll be in good shape. A Rand study made in 2005 took four risk factors for health – hypertension, obesity, diabetes and smoking – and tried to figure the cost effect if these conditions were eliminated or partly eliminated among the elderly. They found that eradicating hypertension and cutting obesity would save Medicare much money. However, completely controlling diabetes would increase spending by $246 billion, and eliminating smoking would boost costs by $293 billion. You don’t even need to ask why as the answer is simple: Because diabetes and smoking cut off more years of life than hypertension or obesity. So I guess if we don’t take care of diabetes and keep on smoking, we’re helping the economy.
Another aspect of living longer is the fact that more aging people are now moving in with their baby boomer kids. This is what is called “boomerang seniors.” That group has risen 50%. The baby boomers may still be taking care of their own kids which doesn’t make for a pretty picture. And also, if these aging people are still healthy, they may still be working and keeping baby boomers and young people from getting jobs. If the healthy oldsters are working at fast food places or Wal Mart, they could be keeping high school kids from jobs and saving for college. Scientists are also thinking that possibly eating less food and getting our caloric content down might help. It works in animals – I don’t know just which animals, but mice are always scurrying around with tumors or dementia and then fixed with some new medication. I think mice are used in experiments 24 hours a day. Maybe that’s why I haven’t seen any mice lately – they’re all at the lab someplace.
I don’t know how they would get the majority of the population on some sort of diet when they can’t seem to stop obesity.
After reading all the articles, I was encouraged and then depressed which is what I usually go through in a day - it’s nothing new for me. So I decided to go for a walk and get some exercise. I wish it were something I could do maybe once a week instead of every day. I never liked exercising.
posted by I'm A Patsy - Gotta Problem With That? at
2:31 PM
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