Aging has a Deeper and Brighter Dimension

Aging is breaking away from the cultural norms of the 19th and 20th centuries. We are challenging and discarding long held opinions and beliefs about aging. Fading from popular culture is the notion that our vitality has a limit.

Better medical care, changing diets, and exercise have extended people’s vitality. After age 50, some complete their first marathon or hike the Appalachian trail. Others ski mountains or attend cooking classes in Oaxaca. Eighty percent of luxury tourism is done by people over the age of 55.

People over the age of 50 start one-third of all new businesses.

Whether you are an adventurer or gardener, aging has a deeper and brighter dimension. Never before have so many people, advanced in years with such a high level of health and wealth, been alive.

Life expectancy in the United States is now 79. In Western Europe it is 84.

Granted, there are millions in need for whom this is not an accurate scenario. But people around the world are living longer and healthier lives.

Retirement With More Vitality

Healthy longevity and falling birthrates create cultural, economic, and political shifts. Populations around the world are aging and this is a trend that is not going to reverse for generations.

The notion of “old age” mirrors one’s mindset. Age is an attitude. A 27 year old could be old. A 72 year old could embrace life with an attitude and energy and joy that would exhaust a 30 year old. There is so much to appreciate as we advance in years. People are embracing each turn that they take around the sun with a sweet wisdom that has them come more alive.

Life and usefulness do not come to a screaming halt when kids leave the nest or when one retires. This time of retirement is a new beginning, founded on a wealth of experience and reinvention. It is for many a time of transition, a renewal.

Retirement is Changing, When Will Products?

The current generation of retirees has rejected stereotypical marketing ploys. Business has been slow to respond to the needs and desires of retirees. Older adults have resisted classifications such as “old” and on the “decline.”

Products sold as helpful prove to be insulting and condescending. These include hearing aids, personal emergency systems, and cell phones with limited features. In his book, The Longevity Economy: Unlocking the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market, Joseph Coughlin writes, “geriatric technology lavishes far more attention on basic needs like health and safety than higher-level needs like the desire for human connection, personal or professional ambition, contemplation, and yes, fun.”

Big business lacks imagination when designing products for retirees. Few meet the needs of the elderly in a way that doesn’t exclude them from living fully.

As Coughlin writes: “it’s easy to see why this approach has prevailed for so long. The alternative—favoring high-level desires like fun over physiological needs like medicine—seems frivolous, even dangerous. (You can’t eat ice cream if you’re dead, after all.)”

One great example of a company that gets it right is OXO. The company started with one product, a potato peeler for arthritic hands. The result is an extensive line of cookware that is intuitive and a complete game changer. It is a type of product that anyone who has peeled anything would want to use and own. It makes a simple chore easier for everyone despite your age. These are the sort of products that work. They are inclusive and transcend age.

A Cultural Reshaping of Retirement

We shouldn’t be so fast to believe what the media is offering us, that people over 50 are on a downward spiral. The media neglects us. Marketers still create a culture of eternal youth and ageism. Watch in the coming years how that begins to turn around. Those who now think of aging as a disease will embrace it as a privileged journey.
And on this journey, by the way, we spend a little money.

People over 50 outspend those in the 30-44 age range.

According to Coughlin, “The spending of the 50-plus, combined with downstream effects, accounted for nearly $8 trillion dollars’ worth of economic activity—nearly half of… gross domestic product (GDP).”

Those of us who have been around the block a few times are going back to school. We are starting second or third professions. We invest time in our spiritual, physical, and social lives. We are politically active and engaged. We volunteer. We have a voice and we are not afraid to use it; even if the over-arching media machine fails to listen. We are here and we are real.

A cultural reshaping of retirement is emerging.

Retirement is a passage to another vital and meaningful stage in life.

It supports us in meeting the realities of aging. This is a new time. Business is slowly waking up to us. We refuse to be set aside.

So, do that thing that is poking at you. Take that risk. Savor that trip. Embrace that person. Live and love on!

Barcelona, Spain

New Hampshire, USA

Pulandaga, Paracale, CNorte Philippines

JP Philippines

Resources:

AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Longevity Economy

Our editor recommends another essay by Audrey Meinertzhagen:

Creating Authentic Rituals During the Journey of Life

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Audrey Meinertzhagen

As a Volunteer Caregiver to the Zen Hospice Project and a Course Manager at the

CareGivers Project, Audrey is passionate about improving the standards of care for 

older adults and education.

The Impact Loneliness & Isolation has on Our Brains

In his hit “Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel),” legendary crooner Roy Orbison hits close to home regarding the heartache of being and feeling alone: “Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight…only the lonely know this feeling ain’t right.”

Yes, it’s true — feeling alone is no fun. But the fact remains that many seniors spend most their lives lonely and isolated from the outside world. Sure, everyone enjoys a little alone time. However, for too many seniors, remaining isolated does more than diminish joie de vivre. It can actually increase the risk of disease — and may even precipitate an early death.

The Science Behind Excess Alone Time on Senior Brains

A 2010 survey sponsored by AARP, referenced in the Harvard Health blog, revealed that 35% of American adults aged 45 and up felt lonely. ¹  What’s more, their sense of isolation increased over time — 56% of the lonely respondents “had fewer friends at the time of the survey than five years earlier.”

The evidence is mounting that loneliness and social isolation actually affect the way our brains function. In the same article, Christopher Bullock, MD writes that when it comes to loneliness, “we now know it is not just a feeling, but a condition that has a very real effect on the body.”

A study conducted in the United Kingdom found “that hundreds of thousands of people had not spoken to a friend or a relative in a month — that’s a lot of silence in your life.

“Humans are social creatures,” Bullock goes on. “Among ourselves we form all kinds of complex alliances, affiliations, attachments, loves, and hates. If those connections break down, an individual risks health impacts throughout the body.”

A Clear Connection to Senior Health Issues

According to Dr. Bullock, recent research demonstrates the potentially serious impact of isolation on health, including:

• Increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• Decreased cognitive and executive function (there is initial evidence of increased amyloid burden in the brains of the lonely)
• A 26% increase in the risk of premature death from all causes
• Decrease in the quality of sleep
• Increased chronic inflammation and decreased inflammatory control (linked to the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia)
• Decreased immune function leading to vulnerability to many types of disease
• Increased depressive symptoms
• Increased fearfulness of social situations (sometimes resulting in paranoia)
• Increased severity of strokes (with shortened survival)
• An overall decrease in the subjective sense of well-being

The Loneliness, Disease Connection is Nothing New

Studies began documenting the correlation between loneliness and illness some thirty years ago. Bullock reports that “social isolation was a major risk factor for mortality, illness, and injury, and in fact was as significant a risk factor as smoking, obesity, or high blood pressure.”

Other studies link loneliness with inflammation and neurological changes. For instance, lonely people experience dementia more frequently and risk premature death. ² And in a paper shared at the American Psychological Association meeting, Brigham Young University professor Julianne Holt-Lunstead suggested that “loneliness is a bigger health risk than obesity.”

Conquering the Isolation Curse

While loneliness is very common, treating it is often challenging. But seeing as how a recent University of Chicago study concludes that “loneliness can make you sick,” researchers are increasingly drawn to figuring out this “invisible epidemic.” ³

Here are six ways to help lonely seniors (and their aging brains) cope:

1.    Get moving. The longer someone has felt lonely the more difficult it can be to do something as simple as smiling and saying hello. But finding connections with other people is absolutely essential to alleviating a sense of isolation.

2.    A common cure. Feeling disconnected with other people and telling ourselves we have nothing in common pretty much guarantees loneliness will continue. Taking a risk and reaching out “may lead you to a connection or commonality that will make you feel less alone.” ⁴ Strong relationships can help build your health.

3.    Think outside your box. A major consequence of isolation is that we think too much about our personal plight. Switching our frame of reference to what others might be going through can help lighten our own loneliness.

4.    Hunt down a new hobby. Those of us who feel cut off from the outside world can easily fall prey to inertia. So get up and get out there and just do something. Whether it’s an exercise program or a pottery class, becoming engaged with a new pastime just might make you happier. Crafting can be one easy and engaging way to advance your cognitive skills and participate in a new activity.

5.    Show up. People who spend extended periods of time on their own often shy away from social functions. Try accepting an invitation to meet for lunch or coffee. If not, even sitting in a public place and reading can be surprisingly stimulating.

6.    Feed your brain. From crossword puzzles to jigsaw puzzles to enrolling in a course at a community college or even online, active brains are more likely to be happy, healthy brains.

The People Prescription

Dr. Bullock believes “that people are anxiety relievers.” He says that people are good for you and that finding ways to be around people is a smart way to go through life. His final thought is that “it is only within the complex and gratifying and sometimes challenging ecology of human relationships that we can truly thrive.” All of which sounds like an intelligent way to use your brain.