Chapter 5.0 Getting Started
Issue 5.0 12/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Rick Cowlishaw is a semi-retired architect who lives in Colorado and enjoys sharing his experiences with friends. Rick was born in 1940, and wants to remain healthy for as long as possible. “I am learning about what works for me and I want to share what I have learned with other men. As you will note, I give credit to other authors. If you enjoyed this letter and want to share it with others, please do! Anyone may e-mail me directly, and I will add them to my e-mail list. If you have additional information you would like to contribute, please contact me by e-mail or at 303-216-9665. I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and find it useful. If you do not want to receive this letter in the future, please e-mail me, and I will take you off the list.” This health letter is for men over 65 without the disabilities that would prevent them from doing the recommendations.
Introduction
We want to jump ahead to what we can do right now to improve our health. This will get us started and moving ahead without too much trouble. A detailed explanation of the recommended items will follow in future newsletters.
Author's Note
I have made the health program fairly easy at first so you may proceed at your own pace. I hope you will adopt a program that you can live with and do every day. It is about creating a new lifestyle that you will gradually prefer. Work into these routines gradually. Remember, it is about having fun and enjoying life as well as living healthy.
Today is the Day
We are at a fork in the road. We can choose the road to the right leading to health, wellness, and feeling terrific or the road to the left of being tired, pain and chronic illness. We choose the road to the right!
This is the beginning of a new day. We can choose what we do with it. We can use it for good, or we can waste it. What we do with today is important, because we are exchanging a day of our life for what we do.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that we traded for it. We want it to be a gain, not a loss. We want it to be for good, not for evil. We want to learn something new, not just forget something old. We want today to be a success, not a failure. We pay a price for today. We do not want to regret the price we have paid for it. We want to treat every day as a new opportunity, and take advantage of it.
We believe in living each day. We are thankful for each day and our good fortune. We believe in planning for the future. What we can do today will determine our days tomorrow.
If we are happy or content with our health, then we need not do anything different. If we want things to be different, then we are the ones to make it happen.
The "sneak up on it" Approach
If we are just starting to pursue good health, we can take the "slow as it goes" approach. The nice thing about just starting is that anything we do matters. We will begin here by preparing ourselves. We will evaluate where we are now and where we want to go. We will get some of the materials that we will need. We will do it gradually. Since we are making this a lifetime program, we have time to ramp up. So get ready for the easy stuff!
Commitment
We want to enjoy our retirement to the fullest. We want to live it well. We have the desire to feel better, probably the best we have felt in 20 years.
We want quality of life now and into the future. We have the will to do this. We have the perseverance to live healthy day after day, to make this part of our life. We will do it over and over until it becomes a habit and part of who we are. We will be proactive. We will learn about health, seek out good health care, and we will be persistent.
We make this our way of life, and we will put healthy living first. The rest of our life is going to be top notch. We are going to eat healthy, exercise, sleep well, maintain connection with others and reduce stress. We are going to find ways that make life for us enjoyable as possible. So let's get going!
Taking Stock of Our Body
Let's get naked and stand in front of a mirror. Wow! The view could be improved, right? Now do one-quarter turn. Bend at the waist about 20 degrees. Shake our stomach with our hand. What do you think? Now push your hands together to tighten up your chest muscles. Check out those boobs! Just like a woman. Damn! Not much muscle left, lots of flesh. This shows that our testosterone is dropping and our estrogen is increasing.
Straighten up and fly right.
Our mother told us "Don't slouch. Straighten Up and walk right.” Well, now is the time to do it. We are collapsing in on ourselves, and if we hold our posture straight, we will collapse straight with the cartilage reducing equally between our vertebrate. Otherwise we may end up bent over and looking at our shoes and ants all the time.
Now let’s stand up straight, shoulders back and square and lean back a little. Hey, we are looking better already! We will lie on our backs on the floor and stretch our shoulders so they are flat to the floor. Hold this position while doing some stretching exercises. We will practice each day to stand up straight with our shoulders back.
For those who already bent, talk with your doctor. There are exercises you can do and even a harness you can wear.
Test Drive Ourselves
We now take a test. We want to know our health today. This will make us aware what simple things we can do that will greatly affect our health. We will take a test on the Internet by going to www.realage.com/
Here are a few startling assumptions taken from real age.
• Live 8 years longer if we floss our teeth every day.
• We will live 3 years longer if we buckle our seat belts every time we are in a car.
• We will live two years longer by exercising.
• We will live 3 years longer if we get 7 to 8 hours sleep. A good night's sleep helps us solve problems.
• We will live 6 years longer by getting the right amount of antioxidants.
• We will live one year longer by taking 400 IU of vitamin E a day.
Select a Preventive Medicine Doctor
We will select a doctor who believes in preventive medicine and treats himself as well as his patients. We will ask our doctor to create a program for us that will maintain optimum health and prevent sickness in the first place. We will tell our doctor our plan, ask for his advice, and ask what he considers as a relatively safe approach for our age and condition.
Preventive Supplements
• Continue taking medications for current specific conditions.
• Multipurpose vitamin - Buy a multi-vitamin that is balanced and covers our needs. We will begin taking vitamins now!
• Calcium plus Vitamin D - Our ability to process vitamin D diminishes with age. Need 600 to 1000 IU per day of calcium.
• Take one baby aspirin per day
• 1 gram Vitamin C for cold prevention
The Devil is in our Hands
We catch 95 percent of our colds from our hands by passing viruses through our eyes, nose or mouth. We do it to ourselves. We get the virus on our hands from touching door handles, shopping carts, and grips and grab handles on buses, equipment at the gym, handling money, public telephones, escalator rails and by shaking hands. We then touch our mouths, eyes, or nose . Colds are much less often passed by coughing and breathing in the virus.
We don’t think about shopping cart handles. The handle has been held onto by 10 to 20 people each day, day after day, and never washed. We hang on, and then we try that free yummy sample. Oops!
We need to wash our hands after working out, meeting people, riding the bus, and pushing the grocery cart around. Luckily, we can claim we have to go to the men's room most of the time. Keep on washing, washing. An alternative is carry with us a liquid alcohol based disinfectant. These can be bought in small bottles at the grocery store.
Tip: try Purell Hand Sanitizer
http://www.pfizerch.com/product.aspx?id=488
Preventing Colds and Flu
Colds and Flu greatly reduce our pleasure in life while they are occurring. Colds stress our bodies and weaken us. We can greatly reduce or eliminate colds.
• Avoid touching our face, especially nose or eyes. Use a Kleenex. If we don’t have Kleenex, use the back of our wrist if we must rub our nose or eyes.
• Rinse nose with water pick or by taking water into our sinuses during a shower. We can also do this at the sink.
• Clean your telephone mouthpiece with alcohol.
• Wash hands often especially after shaking hands with people, working out, riding the bus, and using handrails in buildings.
• Get new toothbrush each month or clean it with alcohol (preferably a martini) every month.
Strengthen Our Immune System
Down with colds, down with the flu and down with pneumonia!
• Each year we will take flu shots.
• Pneumonia shots Every 5 years.
• Vitamin C 1000 mg every day. We increase the amount to 3000 mg if we feel a cold starting.
• Get the Shingles Shot.
Rationale: The National Institute of Health recommends pneumonia shots for all over 65. The average death rate is 30 percent for those over 65 that contract pneumonia. We don’t want to get pneumonia!
Shingles
Shingles is a painful skin rash, often with blisters caused by the Herpes Zoster virus. It is the same virus that causes chickenpox. The virus lies dormant until later life. It lasts for 2 to 4 weeks, is very painful and may be accompanied with fever, headache, chills, and upset stomach. It is rare, but it can lead to pneumonia, loss of hearing, blindness, brain inflammation, and death. Shingles is common in people 50 and older, and in people whose immune system is weakened. A single dose of the shingles vaccine is recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for adults 60 and older. www.cdc.gov/vaccines/
Teeth
Our mom said, "Brush your teeth". Taking care of our teeth is a top priority for good health. It is the easiest thing we can do that produces the most effective results.
"We floss the teeth we want to keep.”
We want to keep most of our teeth. We floss morning and evening, and brush our teeth and gums in the morning. We want to toughen up our gums and have fewer deep pockets.
Tip: If we are just starting, do both flossing and brushing gently, and increase slowly over the next month. We risk passing bacteria into our blood stream if we go at it too hard.
Taking care of our teeth sustains our health dramatically. According to "Real Age," we add 8 years to our lifetime, more than any other single thing we can do. This is because several serious diseases may be passed from our mouth into our body including the staff and strep (Streptococcus) bacteria. Strep throat can lead to rheumatic fever, which in turn attacks our heart valves, artificial hips or knee joints.
Tooth Team Member
We need to learn how to brush, floss and take care of our teeth. Our dental hygienist or dentist is our best resource for this. They can teach us how to do this for the best results. We will make an appointment with our dentist for teeth cleaning. We ask the dental hygienist for the best way to floss and brush. Our dental hygienist will be thrilled to be part of our team.
As we get older, our teeth wear down, especially if we grind our teeth. We can get a plastic night guard from the dentist to reduce top teeth wear at night. This is a rather strange device to wear, but it works.
Eating less by eating more often
We will begin eating less overall by eating more frequently during the day. Eat a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack as well as breakfast, lunch and dinner. We will not stuff ourselves, but rather ‘graze” throughout the day. If we are going to be away from home, bring snacks with us. We start by eating every two hours and stopping when we are full. This means comfortable and not stuffed. We will avoid fast foods. We try to estimate our calories at about 2000 a day. This amounts to 400 calories each two hours.
Balancing Act
We balance well on our two feet, right? We do, yet we need to do exercises to retain our balance into the future. We need this, as we slowly lose our balance over time if we don’t do balancing exercises.
We have a little test to do. We stand on two feet, close our eyes, and then raise one foot. That's right! We last about 4 seconds. Try it again. We made it to 5 seconds that time. When we were 20, we could balance for 30 seconds with our eyes closed. The time dropped to 15 seconds when we were 40. Now it is down to 4 seconds. This shows the need for balance exercises.
Our ability to balance on two feet diminishes, but we don't realize it until it is too late. Each day we will balance on one foot with our eyes open for 30 seconds, then the other foot for 30 seconds. Our goal will be to practice this until we can do it for 60 seconds per foot. If we can do 60 seconds easily, take it up to 2 minutes.
Tip: Stare at a spot 10 feet away close to eye level. This will help steady us and allow standing on one foot longer.
The Shuffle
We see the shuffle, men shuffling along, sliding one foot forward after another, moving less than 10 inches at a time. This was characterized by the comedian Tim Conway on the Carol Burnett Show. These men shuffle because if they take larger steps they will be thrown off balance. The shuffle feels safe. Their balance is deteriorating. Gradually they will need a cane, then a walker to get around.
Our job is preventing our loss of balance. We will do exercises each day to accomplish this.
The Sand Man
Sleep is one of our most valuable assets. We want to get 8 hours of sleep, particularly REM deep sleep. This allows our body to rebuild each night for the following day. Further, we will live longer as we will burn up less “awake” hours at night.
Sleeping
It appears that high-excitement media inhibits drowsiness (watching late-night TV made sleep time less productive in a recent study). The light your body is exposed to via TV screens and computer monitors seems to mess up your natural sleep/wake cycles and rhythms.
Real Age Benefit: Getting 6 to 8 hours of sleep per night can make your Real Age as much as 3 years younger .
Morning exercisers might need to work out longer to experience sleep benefits work out at least 4 hours a week. Why isn't clear, but that's no reason to give up on improving your nightlife with a morning walk or jog. Just set that alarm and get yourself into a routine. It won't be long until you're falling out of bed and into your gym shoes before the alarm even goes off. And for even better sleep, add some gentle stretching to your routine -- it could make all the difference.
Walk or Swim Humming
We will begin walking or swimming for 10 minutes, with a goal of 30 minutes. We walk or swim fast enough so we can still hum a song, but with difficulty. If it is easy to hum, then we need to move faster. If we can barely hum a song, we need to slow down. We can hum on a stationary bicycle. We can hum while swimming laps. This humming method equates to about 110 heat beats per minute.
Buy a great Exercise Outfit
Spend some money to look the part of the serious workout guy. Get colorful and fun! Look on the web for workout clothes.
Rationale: If you look the part you are more likely to do the workout. We can feel good in our clothes, and look as good as we can for exercising.
Begin stretching
Start your stretching program. Stretch at least three times a week to maintain flexibility. A session should last 10 to 20 minutes, with each static stretch held at least 10 seconds (working up to 20 to 30 seconds) and usually repeated about four times. Breathe comfortably while stretching.
Join a gym
Health Managed Organizations (HMOs) are beginning to support their members in joining local gyms and will subsidize or pay for membership. We check with our provider to see if this offered. Select a gym with a pool, running/walking track, weight room, senior programs and a senior's "socializing" room. This may become part of our connection to the community.
Hire a Trainer
A good trainer is worth the expense. Hire a trainer at the gym that specializes in those over 65. We really check out the trainer’s credentials and get recommendations from older gym members. The trainer can create a special workout program for us. Get at least two sessions with the trainer, and write down the workout program.
The Key
Good health is the key to enjoying retirement. If we are chronically sick, we cannot give of ourselves to others as we would like, and we can not enjoy our retirement to the fullest. We must be in good health, and then the rest will follow.
Author's note: Walking the Talk
The trouble about writing a health letter is walking the talk. If I recommend something, then I have to do it. Dang! I know good health takes time some money, because I’m doing it.
We will not regret taking the healthy approach. We will probably regret it if we don't.
That Fabulous Day Off
We select one day a week for ourselves where we can do what we want. Yes! We may treat ourselves in moderation. We may choose to eat what we want, drink what we want and not exercise. This is our day off!
Rationale: The lifestyle we have chosen is fairly rigorous. This gives us a weekly break. Take it, we deserve it! We will still achieve our goals if we follow it the other 6 days a week, and we won't feel so deprived by taking a break. In moderation means eat anything but stay under 3000 calories and no more than 4 alcoholic drinks.
In the next health letter we will discuss sickness insurance and what we can do to keep illness at bay.
We excuse ourselves from a wonderful healthy life. We cannot do what is necessary because __________. (Fill in the blank). Will this excuse help us when we are too sick to do anything?
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Rick’s Health Letter 4.0
Chapter 4.0 General Approach to Health
Issue 4.0 11/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Introduction
From our previous news letters, we know that we can postpone having a chronic illness in our later years. We can have more years of better health through lifestyle changes. We may shorten the length of chronic illness. By studying the habits of people over 100, we find it is possible to extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes.
Now we are interested in what we must do to “make it so” (John Luke Pacard of Star Trek Enterprise). We will learn a general approach to health that will greatly improve our odds.
Author’s Note: Our Choice
Just as this health letter is about maintaining good health, we may choose to do differently. We each have free will and the right to choose. We can actually choose to the opposite. We can talk about what we may expect if we live a different way. We can smoke, drink five or more alcoholic drinks a day, eat fattening foods, be twenty or more pounds overweight, and do no physical exercise. The averages predict we will have poor health, feel terrible, shorten our life, become older than our years and need assisted care for several years before we die. It does not seem like the kind of life we will enjoy. Yet, it is our choice.
Today is the Day
This is the beginning of a new day. We can choose what we do with it. We can use it for good, or we can waste it. What we do with today is important, because we are exchanging a day of our life for what we do.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that we traded for it. We want it to be a gain, not a loss. We want it to be for good, not for evil. We want to learn something new, not just forget something old. We want today to be a success, not a failure.
We pay a price for today. We do not want to regret the price we have paid for it. We want to treat every day as a new opportunity, and take advantage of it.
We believe in living each day. We are thankful for each day and our good fortune. We believe in planning for the future. What we can do today will determine our days tomorrow.
The Classic Argument
We have heard ourselves say in the past that we do many hard jobs around the house and that’s plenty of exercise, and besides, we don’t have the time.
We have learned that as hard as the house jobs are, they are not balanced. The jobs overwork some muscle groups and do not work others. This is a sure formula for pulling some muscles so that we can’t do the jobs at all. It does take time to exercise most days, but we are going for the reward.
We maintain our health because it is in our own best interest. To choose differently is to choose to harm ourselves needlessly.
Pro-Active
We need to become proactive about our health and how we live. We begin by getting information and evaluating where we are today.
Life Extension Foundation
For $75, we can join Life Extension and receive a very detailed and complete book on the latest information in health care called “Disease Prevention and Treatment”.
http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/benefits.html
Life Extension promotes their vitamins and other products through their book and magazine, so we need to exercise care in what we accept. Yet it is one of the most complete reference books that we have seen, and life extension provides references to studies to validate their claims.
Information Approach
We prefer our information and our choices to be based on actual medical studies and tests. If the studies are not available, then we may base information on doctor’s experiences over time. We prefer this to statements or testimonials. This is not always possible, so we need to be aware if a product is being promoted or not. One of the best sources of studies is the United States National institute on Aging. It is part of the National Institute of Health. See http://www.nih.gov/
Our Goals
We need to think about what are our goals. We want to feel better and live longer.
• Feel positive about life
• Feel more energetic, alive, vibrant
• Feeling better physically
• Do more physically
• Feel better mentally
• Get better sleep
• Maintain our strength
• Live longer, enjoy our extra years
• Have a short suffering period in later life
A Balanced Approach
We choose a balanced approach between exercise, eating, taking supplements, sleeping well and reducing stress. It is better to do a little of each every day rather than one or two things. For instance, if we work out very hard, this does not make up for a poor diet. We will plan to do something every day in each category.
We will make our doctor part of our team. We will go proactive, and enlist our doctor’s help. We choose to go to the doctor once a year to get a physical, and to establish our health base lines. We will get the medical help and medicine we need. We will consult our doctor about our exercise program.
Rationale: We will benefit more by doing the minimum for all categories than by going full out in any one category, such as exercise alone. These items work together, combining synergenically to produce a greater result than any one or two things by themselves.
We excuse ourselves from a wonderful healthy life. We can not do what is necessary because __________. (Fill in the blank). Will that excuse help us when we are too sick to do anything?
Chapter 4.0 General Approach to Health
Issue 4.0 11/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Introduction
From our previous news letters, we know that we can postpone having a chronic illness in our later years. We can have more years of better health through lifestyle changes. We may shorten the length of chronic illness. By studying the habits of people over 100, we find it is possible to extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes.
Now we are interested in what we must do to “make it so” (John Luke Pacard of Star Trek Enterprise). We will learn a general approach to health that will greatly improve our odds.
Author’s Note: Our Choice
Just as this health letter is about maintaining good health, we may choose to do differently. We each have free will and the right to choose. We can actually choose to the opposite. We can talk about what we may expect if we live a different way. We can smoke, drink five or more alcoholic drinks a day, eat fattening foods, be twenty or more pounds overweight, and do no physical exercise. The averages predict we will have poor health, feel terrible, shorten our life, become older than our years and need assisted care for several years before we die. It does not seem like the kind of life we will enjoy. Yet, it is our choice.
Today is the Day
This is the beginning of a new day. We can choose what we do with it. We can use it for good, or we can waste it. What we do with today is important, because we are exchanging a day of our life for what we do.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that we traded for it. We want it to be a gain, not a loss. We want it to be for good, not for evil. We want to learn something new, not just forget something old. We want today to be a success, not a failure.
We pay a price for today. We do not want to regret the price we have paid for it. We want to treat every day as a new opportunity, and take advantage of it.
We believe in living each day. We are thankful for each day and our good fortune. We believe in planning for the future. What we can do today will determine our days tomorrow.
The Classic Argument
We have heard ourselves say in the past that we do many hard jobs around the house and that’s plenty of exercise, and besides, we don’t have the time.
We have learned that as hard as the house jobs are, they are not balanced. The jobs overwork some muscle groups and do not work others. This is a sure formula for pulling some muscles so that we can’t do the jobs at all. It does take time to exercise most days, but we are going for the reward.
We maintain our health because it is in our own best interest. To choose differently is to choose to harm ourselves needlessly.
Pro-Active
We need to become proactive about our health and how we live. We begin by getting information and evaluating where we are today.
Life Extension Foundation
For $75, we can join Life Extension and receive a very detailed and complete book on the latest information in health care called “Disease Prevention and Treatment”.
http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/benefits.html
Life Extension promotes their vitamins and other products through their book and magazine, so we need to exercise care in what we accept. Yet it is one of the most complete reference books that we have seen, and life extension provides references to studies to validate their claims.
Information Approach
We prefer our information and our choices to be based on actual medical studies and tests. If the studies are not available, then we may base information on doctor’s experiences over time. We prefer this to statements or testimonials. This is not always possible, so we need to be aware if a product is being promoted or not. One of the best sources of studies is the United States National institute on Aging. It is part of the National Institute of Health. See http://www.nih.gov/
Our Goals
We need to think about what are our goals. We want to feel better and live longer.
• Feel positive about life
• Feel more energetic, alive, vibrant
• Feeling better physically
• Do more physically
• Feel better mentally
• Get better sleep
• Maintain our strength
• Live longer, enjoy our extra years
• Have a short suffering period in later life
A Balanced Approach
We choose a balanced approach between exercise, eating, taking supplements, sleeping well and reducing stress. It is better to do a little of each every day rather than one or two things. For instance, if we work out very hard, this does not make up for a poor diet. We will plan to do something every day in each category.
We will make our doctor part of our team. We will go proactive, and enlist our doctor’s help. We choose to go to the doctor once a year to get a physical, and to establish our health base lines. We will get the medical help and medicine we need. We will consult our doctor about our exercise program.
Rationale: We will benefit more by doing the minimum for all categories than by going full out in any one category, such as exercise alone. These items work together, combining synergenically to produce a greater result than any one or two things by themselves.
We excuse ourselves from a wonderful healthy life. We can not do what is necessary because __________. (Fill in the blank). Will that excuse help us when we are too sick to do anything?
Men's Health over 60
Rick’s Health Letter 3.0
Chapter 3.0 Growing Older
Issue 3.0 10/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Rick Cowlishaw is a semi-retired architect who lives in Colorado and enjoys sharing his experiences with friends. Rick was born in 1940, and wants to remain healthy for as long as possible. “I am learning about what works for me and I want to share what I have learned with other men. As you will note, I give credit to other authors. If you enjoyed this letter and want to share it with others, please do! Anyone may e-mail me directly, and I will add them to my e-mail list. If you have additional information you would like to contribute, please contact me by e-mail or at 303 216-9665. I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and find it useful. If you do not want to receive this letter in the future, please e-mail me, and I will take you off the list.” This health letter is for men over 65 without the disabilities that would prevent them from doing the recommendations.
Introduction
From studies investigating the compression of morbidity and studies of centurions, we have learned that we can greatly reduce the odds of a chronic illness, which may put us in a nursing home for several years. We can add years of better health to our golden years though lifestyle changes. We may extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes. We can shorten the time spent in the period of morbidity (the chronic illness time period needing care) from years to months.
Now we are interested in what we can learn about growing older, and what we can expect based on the average life expectancies. We understand this may be an unpleasant discussion for some, as we tend to avoid discussion of advanced age and dying.
Author’s note:
We are trying to improve our odds of living longer and healthier. This doesn’t mean that we won’t be dropped in our tracks with a heart attack tomorrow. It means that we can greatly increase the odds that this will not happen until the end of our lives.
Life Expectancy
Leave it to the insurance companies to figure out on the average how long we will typically live. Once we men reach a certain age, then we can expect to live a certain number of years into the future. For men, when we reach 65, we are expected to live 15 years or until 80 years old. This is based on a snapshot in time, now in 2007, and doesn’t anticipate healthy lifestyle changes or medical advances.
When we reach 70, our life expectancy is 12 years, or we will live until we are 82. When we reach 75, it is 9.24 years, or about 84 years old. When we reach 80, it is 7 years or close to 87 years old. When we reach 85, it is 5.19 years or about 90 years old. We can see the upward trend. If we live to a certain age, we will live longer than our average of 78 years.
Of course, these are averages, with some men living longer and some living less. If we improve our health, we can change our own life spans in our favor. It is possible to live up to 12 years longer than the average.
Medical Advances
Medical knowledge is doubling about every 3 years. This includes medical knowledge about the elderly, which will require a more a concentrated effort as 25 percent of the population becomes retired. Fortunately, Baby Boomers have the money to pursue how to live longer and how to live longer better. We realize it is important that we stay current with medical advances.
There are a number of sites that provide excellent information.
• www.healthline.com
• www.mayoclinic.com
• www.webmd.com
• www.alz.org
• www.americanheart.org
• www.anthem.com
• http://healthresources.caremark.com
• www.cigna.com/health_money
• www.livewellcolorado.com
• www.rmhp.org/members/for_your_health/
• www.securehorizons.com/members/healthinfo.html/
• www.vsp.com/member/html/eyehealth_articles.jsp
Author's note: Medical advances
I had an arthritic hip which became so painful that I could no longer walk. Thirty years ago I would have been in constant pain and confined to a wheel chair for the rest of my life. Instead, I received a new hip on December 1, 2006. Now I have no pain, and I am as mobile as ever. I have been hiking and exercising, and I hope to ski 40 times this year. This hip should last me the rest of my life. That is just one of the differences medical advances can make.
Quality of Life
We want to know what quality of life we can expect as we reach these older ages. We will take a hard look at what exists now.
• As we grow older, we begin to slow down, lose muscle size and strength, feel tired, become sleepy during the day, gain body fat around our middles, and become less sex driven.
• Our skin loses its elasticity, becomes thinner and wrinkled.
• We do not hear or see as well.
• We are more susceptible to diseases.
• We shrink in height.
• We have more trouble keeping our balance.
• We can’t do physically what we used to do just the year before.
• We need less to eat, yet many times eat more than we need.
• We become overweight.
• We may become depressed.
• If we have a chronic illness and are in pain, we are miserable.
• We are not cheered up by what we see in others and what we are experiencing.
We talk with men older than us and we don’t like what we hear. These are aging issues, as well as chronic disorders, are what we are trying to combat.
Chronic disorders
Eighty percent of people over 65 have at least one chronic disorder, and 50 percent have some limitations in performing daily activities. About 5 percent over 65 and 15 percent over 75 need assistance, and 25 percent over 80 are homebound.
From the National Institute of Health comes the following:
“Diseases of aging continue to affect many older men and women, seriously compromising the quality of their lives. For example, more than half of all Americans over age 65 show evidence of osteoarthritis in at least one joint. Over half of Americans over age 50 have osteoporosis or low bone mass.3 Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes remain common among older Americans. And, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, as many as 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia among older persons.
At the NIA and other Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), we are working to understand factors that affect human longevity and ways to improve quality of life. We know that to prolong life we must improve diagnostic methods to ensure early and reliable detection of disease and pathology; we must encourage individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices; and we must develop effective interventions for disease and disability”.
Summary
The medical profession conquered the acute infectious diseases of the early 20th century such as measles, small pox, chicken pox, tuberculoses, yellow fever and malaria. This has allowed the life expectancy to almost double from 46 to 78 for men. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke have taking their places.
Our next health letter will discuss some of the things we may do to further improve our health.
References
Chapter 3.0 Growing Older
Issue 3.0 10/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Rick Cowlishaw is a semi-retired architect who lives in Colorado and enjoys sharing his experiences with friends. Rick was born in 1940, and wants to remain healthy for as long as possible. “I am learning about what works for me and I want to share what I have learned with other men. As you will note, I give credit to other authors. If you enjoyed this letter and want to share it with others, please do! Anyone may e-mail me directly, and I will add them to my e-mail list. If you have additional information you would like to contribute, please contact me by e-mail or at 303 216-9665. I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and find it useful. If you do not want to receive this letter in the future, please e-mail me, and I will take you off the list.” This health letter is for men over 65 without the disabilities that would prevent them from doing the recommendations.
Introduction
From studies investigating the compression of morbidity and studies of centurions, we have learned that we can greatly reduce the odds of a chronic illness, which may put us in a nursing home for several years. We can add years of better health to our golden years though lifestyle changes. We may extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes. We can shorten the time spent in the period of morbidity (the chronic illness time period needing care) from years to months.
Now we are interested in what we can learn about growing older, and what we can expect based on the average life expectancies. We understand this may be an unpleasant discussion for some, as we tend to avoid discussion of advanced age and dying.
Author’s note:
We are trying to improve our odds of living longer and healthier. This doesn’t mean that we won’t be dropped in our tracks with a heart attack tomorrow. It means that we can greatly increase the odds that this will not happen until the end of our lives.
Life Expectancy
Leave it to the insurance companies to figure out on the average how long we will typically live. Once we men reach a certain age, then we can expect to live a certain number of years into the future. For men, when we reach 65, we are expected to live 15 years or until 80 years old. This is based on a snapshot in time, now in 2007, and doesn’t anticipate healthy lifestyle changes or medical advances.
When we reach 70, our life expectancy is 12 years, or we will live until we are 82. When we reach 75, it is 9.24 years, or about 84 years old. When we reach 80, it is 7 years or close to 87 years old. When we reach 85, it is 5.19 years or about 90 years old. We can see the upward trend. If we live to a certain age, we will live longer than our average of 78 years.
Of course, these are averages, with some men living longer and some living less. If we improve our health, we can change our own life spans in our favor. It is possible to live up to 12 years longer than the average.
Medical Advances
Medical knowledge is doubling about every 3 years. This includes medical knowledge about the elderly, which will require a more a concentrated effort as 25 percent of the population becomes retired. Fortunately, Baby Boomers have the money to pursue how to live longer and how to live longer better. We realize it is important that we stay current with medical advances.
There are a number of sites that provide excellent information.
• www.healthline.com
• www.mayoclinic.com
• www.webmd.com
• www.alz.org
• www.americanheart.org
• www.anthem.com
• http://healthresources.caremark.com
• www.cigna.com/health_money
• www.livewellcolorado.com
• www.rmhp.org/members/for_your_health/
• www.securehorizons.com/members/healthinfo.html/
• www.vsp.com/member/html/eyehealth_articles.jsp
Author's note: Medical advances
I had an arthritic hip which became so painful that I could no longer walk. Thirty years ago I would have been in constant pain and confined to a wheel chair for the rest of my life. Instead, I received a new hip on December 1, 2006. Now I have no pain, and I am as mobile as ever. I have been hiking and exercising, and I hope to ski 40 times this year. This hip should last me the rest of my life. That is just one of the differences medical advances can make.
Quality of Life
We want to know what quality of life we can expect as we reach these older ages. We will take a hard look at what exists now.
• As we grow older, we begin to slow down, lose muscle size and strength, feel tired, become sleepy during the day, gain body fat around our middles, and become less sex driven.
• Our skin loses its elasticity, becomes thinner and wrinkled.
• We do not hear or see as well.
• We are more susceptible to diseases.
• We shrink in height.
• We have more trouble keeping our balance.
• We can’t do physically what we used to do just the year before.
• We need less to eat, yet many times eat more than we need.
• We become overweight.
• We may become depressed.
• If we have a chronic illness and are in pain, we are miserable.
• We are not cheered up by what we see in others and what we are experiencing.
We talk with men older than us and we don’t like what we hear. These are aging issues, as well as chronic disorders, are what we are trying to combat.
Chronic disorders
Eighty percent of people over 65 have at least one chronic disorder, and 50 percent have some limitations in performing daily activities. About 5 percent over 65 and 15 percent over 75 need assistance, and 25 percent over 80 are homebound.
From the National Institute of Health comes the following:
“Diseases of aging continue to affect many older men and women, seriously compromising the quality of their lives. For example, more than half of all Americans over age 65 show evidence of osteoarthritis in at least one joint. Over half of Americans over age 50 have osteoporosis or low bone mass.3 Cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes remain common among older Americans. And, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, as many as 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia among older persons.
At the NIA and other Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), we are working to understand factors that affect human longevity and ways to improve quality of life. We know that to prolong life we must improve diagnostic methods to ensure early and reliable detection of disease and pathology; we must encourage individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices; and we must develop effective interventions for disease and disability”.
Summary
The medical profession conquered the acute infectious diseases of the early 20th century such as measles, small pox, chicken pox, tuberculoses, yellow fever and malaria. This has allowed the life expectancy to almost double from 46 to 78 for men. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke have taking their places.
Our next health letter will discuss some of the things we may do to further improve our health.
References
Rick’s Health Letter 2.0 Chapter 2.0 Case Studies Living Longer Issue 2.0 9/2007 Rick Cowlishaw rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Rick’s Health Letter 2.0
Chapter 2.0 Case Studies Living Longer
Issue 2.0 9/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.netIntroduction
From our last news letter, we know that we can postpone having a chronic illness, which puts us in a nursing home. We can have more years of better health in our golden years through lifestyle changes. We may extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes.
Now we are interested in living longer while remaining healthy and how we might make it so.
Living Longer
We ask, “What do we know about living longer, and why do some people live longer than others?” We know that the longest anyone has lived, a French woman, is 122 years. The average age for men in 2007 in the
We may increase how long we live and can improve the quality of our life by the way we live. We may be able to increase our lives up to
We have a special advantage if we live longer. For every year we live longer, the odds are in our favor to live even longer due to future medical discoveries. Medical knowledge is doubling every three years thus increasing our odds to extend our lives further.
We certainly can improve our quality of life now and into the future. That alone is worth the effort. We want to discover a way to stay active longer, and to enjoy life as we go. Think of it as on-the-job training for living well.
If we do all these things, why do we still die? Currently our species has an outer limit beyond which we do not live. We have yet to find a way to extend this, although this too may be altered in the future.
Staying power
National Geographic[2] studied several groups of people who have an extraordinary number of people living over 100 years old. These groups are located in
The common similarities among these groups are as follows:
- non-smoking
- putting family first
- being active every day
- keeping socially engaged,
- Eating mostly fruit, vegetables and whole grains.
These populations have a high number of centenarians, suffer a fraction of the diseases that kill others; and enjoy healthier years. They seem to avoid the chronic illnesses that we get. Each of these groups had unique ways of living.
The Japanese
Japanese live longer and remain fit and trim, because the traditional Japanese diet is one of the healthiest in the world. When compared to The United States, the average Japanese are consuming fewer calories per day of 2600 verses 3400, eating fish and soybean products for protein, and are eating less fat of 15 to 20 percent. The fat they do eat contains omega-three fatty acids that protect against heart disease and cancer. They eat more vegetables and foods high in fiber. The Japanese eat snacks of vegetables and fruit high in pectin. Pectin is a carbohydrate gelling agent used in jams and jellies and may help with arthritis pain. They drink green tea at every meal which provides water intake and the antioxidants of vitamin C and E.
The average Japanese citizen lives 2600 days (7.1 years) more than a
The Sardinians
The Sardinians drink one to two glasses of red wine, which contain two to three times the amount of resveratrol that may prevent arterial clogging. Let’s hear it for the red wine!
Resveratrol and Red Wine
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring antioxidant in red wine. It decreases the "stickiness" of blood platelets, reducing the risk of blood clots and strokes. It may be involved in reducing cancer. The dose is 650 mcg daily, the amount in 8 ounce glass of red wine. The Sardinians in the study group drank 2 glasses of red wine a day. That wine was found to have three times the normal amount of Resveratrol. A Danish study of 1700 people who drank one glass of red wine a week had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Even though drinking red wine may be more enjoyable, we do not have to drink red wine to get the benefits. Health stores carry resveratrol as a supplement.
Loma Linda, the Seventh Day Adventists
The National Institute of Health funded a study of 34,000 California Adventists from 1976 to 1988 and found that the average Adventist lived 4 to 10 years longer than the average Californian. The Adventists are vegetarians, do not drink alcohol or caffeine, eat vegetables fruits and nuts, and associate with others who reinforce their way of life.
Test ourselves for biological age
We want to know how old we really are, so we begin by taking a test. This will make us aware what simple things we can do that will greatly affect our health. We will learn what we are doing that reduces our biological age and what increases our age. Go to www.realage.com. Here are a few startling assumptions taken from real age.
· Live 8 years longer if we floss our teeth every day.
· We will live 6 years longer by getting the right amount of antioxidants.
· We will live 3 years longer if we buckle our seat belts every time we are in a car.
· We will live 3 years longer if we get 6 to 8 hours sleep. A good night's sleep helps us solve problems.
· We will live 2 years longer if we exercise.
We may sign up to receive e-mails on health each day if we wish.
Summary
We know from studies of people who live the longest that they choose a healthy lifestyle. Not only do these people live longer, but they live better. We can implement these lifestyle choices.
We choose not to smoke. We put family first, we are active every day, we exercise, we keep socially engaged, and we eat mostly fruit, vegetables and whole grains. We develop a strong sense of purpose, and we do things that we enjoy.
We know from studies (Health Letter 1) that we can shorten the period that we have a chronic disability, and that this can be compressed to near the end of our lives. We can have relatively trouble-free later years by eating healthy, eliminating smoking, exercising, consuming moderate to little alcohol, and by being no more than 15 pounds overweight.
References
[2] National Geographic Magazine, November 2005, page 2 - 27.
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0511/feature1/index.html
“Retirement days are the best days of our life. Are we willing to insure that they remain the best?”
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Chapter 1 Introduction
Rick’s Health Letter 1.0
Chapter 1.0 Introduction
Issue 1.0 8/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Why the Health Letter
You may ask the question, "Why write about men's health 60 years old and older?" Simply answered; there is not much written about this age group, so we need information. I was born in 1940 and I am learning about what works for me. I want to share what I have learned with others. This is written for men over 60. Yet, there is information here that men of all ages may find useful, as well as women.
Retire at 60
We want to retire at 60 if we can afford it. We may love our work, yet we can do much the same thing as a consultant, or for a few months of the year. Otherwise, we are borrowing time from our great new retirement life, and we are spending the prime healthiest years to keep working. So if we can’t retire at 60, then we will do it as soon as we can.
Traveling the Road
Some of us say, “I'm retired now. Why shouldn't I drink and eat what I want, when I want, and as much as I want? Working out at a gym makes me tired. It’s better if I lie down until I get over it.”
Well, there is a great reason not to do this. We can live a better life, be in better health, eliminate years of suffering, and we may even live longer if we take care of ourselves. Yet we know there is a big catch. We will need to do something to earn this healthier life.
Picture a men’s club where members live a long, enjoyable and vigorous life, with a brief collapse at the end. Members of “Life is good” Club live up to 10 years longer. Members of this club do not smoke, eat healthy, exercise daily, use their knowledge and minds, drink moderately and maintain a weight no more than 15 pounds above their ideal weight. Yes, that is the catch.
This is a journey for men 60 and older in search for good health. We want to make our trip more pleasurable day-to-day by being healthy. We want to make the most of our years to come.
Think of when we have been really sick. What good are great riches or being retired if we are too sick to enjoy it? We want to be in great physical health. We want to avoid colds, the flu and pneumonia. With good health, we will enjoy life more; we want to feel vibrant and alive.
Introduction
We are the "Age Advantaged." We are old enough to have "been there and done that." We have the advantage of time, a history of experiences we can draw on. Our perspective has the benefit of many years of experience and we can take advantage of those experiences. We are retired, so we have the advantage of having time to plan, of doing what we want, and of reflecting on the past.
Retirement
I imagine that most men over 60 are getting close to retirement, and that some are already retired. Congratulations! This is something we have worked hard for all our life. And we will soon reach our goal.
"If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have the gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly." [Romans 12:6 NLT]
These are the years of choice. We can choose our paths. We can select new paths, or stay with what we have learned. We can use our gifts. Our choices are no longer governed by making a living. We are free!
We can make a choice of what to do with our gifts, and we can have fun doing it! If we maintain our health, we can stay active in things that we care about. We can use our skills to help others, to give back for our good fortune.
We have the choice to pursue better health for ourselves. This will enable us to better exercise our gifts, and we will enjoy life more while we are doing it.
Expectations of our future
I somehow expected that I would be different, that old age symptoms and problems would not apply to me. What was I thinking! I know that now they do apply. The question becomes "what can me and others do about it?"
Changes after 60
The average person after retirement with no exercise gains 2 to 3 pounds per year. In 5 years we will be 10 pounds overweight and in 10 years, 20 pounds overweight. The amount of stress on our bodies increases as our weight increases. Our joints and muscles become stiffer as we age, and we lose our flexibility. It becomes more difficult getting up from chairs because of our knees. We weigh more. This is the extra load that we carry. We load our knees, hips, our heart and our lungs.
We pull muscles easier. We actually pull shoulder muscles rolling over in bed! We begin to lose our balance from time to time. We feel tired more often, and get sleepy during the day. We probably have arthritis somewhere in our body. We are more likely to catch a cold. We are more prone to pneumonia.
The Art of the Possible
We want to consider living our remaining years to the fullest in the best possible health. We want to enjoy these later years, these years from 60 on. Then we want to see if these good years can be extended. So what is it we can do to bring about these changes?
We can greatly increase the odds in our favor. We can improve by exercise, diet, eliminating smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and being less than 15 pounds overweight. We can reduce our stress. We can protect ourselves against getting sick. We can have a positive outlook.
Age Graph
Imagine a graph, ages from 0 to 100 years on the horizontal axis, and percents of health from 0 to 100 on the vertical axis. If we optimize our health, our lifeline will be declining, but it will remain above the 70 percent mark well into our 80's. Then, we will drop through this 70 percent heath line. Our death will come quickly, in less than 6 months. For people who do not optimize their health, they will drop below this line much sooner, perhaps in their early 60's and they will remain struggling for years and years in poor health. See the graph example. This is a theory, but if correct, then we have a great reason for choosing good health. If we have our druthers, we want the period of poor health to be of short duration, and the end to come quickly.
Rationale: The reason we will live longer is partly by increasing our beneficial behaviors and partly by reducing or eliminating our undesirable behaviors. We will improve our quality of life by our beneficial behaviors. We will feel more alive, more positive as we go on our journey. Our pain will be less. Our journey will last longer, and our good years will be better. Our period of enjoyment will be longer and suffering will be much shorter.
Compression of Morbidity
At first I thought this meant to die soon. That’s not it. So, what is it?
Morbidity
We need to define morbidity. It is a time span near the end of our lives where we have continuous ill health (disability), which results in our needing help, and we continue to decline until death. Put simply, it is the time period when we begin assisted care until death.
"Happy, healthy, happy, healthy, happy, healthy ... dead".
Compression of morbidity means to compress or shorten the time period of ill health (morbidity) down to our last few months instead of over several years. Not only is our suffering greatly reduced, but the period of enjoyable time is extended. We may live the same length of time, but there will be much more quality time. We will postpone illness for as long as possible.
This greatly effects whether we need to save for long term care or need insurance for long term care. We know long term care is expensive, currently about $3000 to $5000 a month. We could burn through our savings at $60,000 a year or more. Long term care insurance is currently about $200 a month and rising. We may not have to save very much if we only need it for a few months.
Studies
In 1980 Dr. James Fries published a hypothesis of compression of morbidity in the New England Journal of Medicine[1]. The theory states that since chronic illness and disability occur in late life, that cumulative lifetime disability could be reduced by primary preventive measures. This would result in an increase in the age at the time of disability with a shorter time of disability.
University Alumni Study
In 1998 Fries reported a study of 1741 university alumni whereby they were placed in high risk, medium risk and low risk groups based on level of smoking, body mass index, and exercise patterns. Persons in the high risk group had twice the disability of the low risk group. They concluded that persons with better health habits survive longer and that disability was postponed and compressed into fewer years at the end of life[2].
Running Club Study
Fries performed another study of 537 members of a running club compared to 423 community members and found that exercising persons developed disability at the rate of one-fourth that of those that did not exercise, muscle pain was reduced by 20 percent and medical care costs were 25 percent less for the exercising group[3].
Fitness Club Study
In a study of a fitness club group, the members had postponed a major chronic illness more than 12 years compared to the normal population.
Other studies have reinforced Fries theory. A summary of Fries work may be seen at http://www.healthandfuture.org/publications/issue_briefs/pdf/Morbidty.pdf
We can shorten the time we suffer, shorten the time we are dependent, and lengthen the time we live. We can do this while making most of our remaining years enjoyable, active and independent.
The Major Choice
We will have a time period of ill health (morbidity) at the end of our life span. It is up to us whether it is a few months or several years. We choose if most of our later years are spent in relatively good health and if the end will come quickly. Several long term studies have shown we can make lifestyle choices that return huge dividends in the form of many later years of an active productive life[4].
Summary
We can have relatively trouble-free later years by eating healthy, eliminating smoking, exercising, and by maintaining a normal body/mass index (no more than 15 pounds overweight). Other studies support moderate alcohol consumption of two drinks or less a day[5].
We can combine this with reducing stress and illness as much as possible. We will cover this in future chapters. These are the years when better living habits return the dividends!
References
[1] Fries, J.F. 1980, Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity. N Engl J Med 1980 303:130–5.
[2] Fries, J.F. Compression of Morbidity, In Retrospect and in Prospect, Alliance for the Health and for the Future, Pg 3. International longevity center
[3] Wang, B.W., D.R. Ramey, J.D. Schettler, H.B. Hubert, and J.F. Fries. 2002. Postponed development of disability in elderly runners: a 13-year longitudinal study. Arch Int Med
[4] Freedman, V.A., L.G. Martin, and R.F. Schoeni. 2002. Recent trends in disability and functioning among older adults in the United States: a systematic review. JAMA
288:3137–46.
[5]http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/alcoholandhealth.html
Chapter 1.0 Introduction
Issue 1.0 8/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net
Why the Health Letter
You may ask the question, "Why write about men's health 60 years old and older?" Simply answered; there is not much written about this age group, so we need information. I was born in 1940 and I am learning about what works for me. I want to share what I have learned with others. This is written for men over 60. Yet, there is information here that men of all ages may find useful, as well as women.
Retire at 60
We want to retire at 60 if we can afford it. We may love our work, yet we can do much the same thing as a consultant, or for a few months of the year. Otherwise, we are borrowing time from our great new retirement life, and we are spending the prime healthiest years to keep working. So if we can’t retire at 60, then we will do it as soon as we can.
Traveling the Road
Some of us say, “I'm retired now. Why shouldn't I drink and eat what I want, when I want, and as much as I want? Working out at a gym makes me tired. It’s better if I lie down until I get over it.”
Well, there is a great reason not to do this. We can live a better life, be in better health, eliminate years of suffering, and we may even live longer if we take care of ourselves. Yet we know there is a big catch. We will need to do something to earn this healthier life.
Picture a men’s club where members live a long, enjoyable and vigorous life, with a brief collapse at the end. Members of “Life is good” Club live up to 10 years longer. Members of this club do not smoke, eat healthy, exercise daily, use their knowledge and minds, drink moderately and maintain a weight no more than 15 pounds above their ideal weight. Yes, that is the catch.
This is a journey for men 60 and older in search for good health. We want to make our trip more pleasurable day-to-day by being healthy. We want to make the most of our years to come.
Think of when we have been really sick. What good are great riches or being retired if we are too sick to enjoy it? We want to be in great physical health. We want to avoid colds, the flu and pneumonia. With good health, we will enjoy life more; we want to feel vibrant and alive.
Introduction
We are the "Age Advantaged." We are old enough to have "been there and done that." We have the advantage of time, a history of experiences we can draw on. Our perspective has the benefit of many years of experience and we can take advantage of those experiences. We are retired, so we have the advantage of having time to plan, of doing what we want, and of reflecting on the past.
Retirement
I imagine that most men over 60 are getting close to retirement, and that some are already retired. Congratulations! This is something we have worked hard for all our life. And we will soon reach our goal.
"If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have the gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly." [Romans 12:6 NLT]
These are the years of choice. We can choose our paths. We can select new paths, or stay with what we have learned. We can use our gifts. Our choices are no longer governed by making a living. We are free!
We can make a choice of what to do with our gifts, and we can have fun doing it! If we maintain our health, we can stay active in things that we care about. We can use our skills to help others, to give back for our good fortune.
We have the choice to pursue better health for ourselves. This will enable us to better exercise our gifts, and we will enjoy life more while we are doing it.
Expectations of our future
I somehow expected that I would be different, that old age symptoms and problems would not apply to me. What was I thinking! I know that now they do apply. The question becomes "what can me and others do about it?"
Changes after 60
The average person after retirement with no exercise gains 2 to 3 pounds per year. In 5 years we will be 10 pounds overweight and in 10 years, 20 pounds overweight. The amount of stress on our bodies increases as our weight increases. Our joints and muscles become stiffer as we age, and we lose our flexibility. It becomes more difficult getting up from chairs because of our knees. We weigh more. This is the extra load that we carry. We load our knees, hips, our heart and our lungs.
We pull muscles easier. We actually pull shoulder muscles rolling over in bed! We begin to lose our balance from time to time. We feel tired more often, and get sleepy during the day. We probably have arthritis somewhere in our body. We are more likely to catch a cold. We are more prone to pneumonia.
The Art of the Possible
We want to consider living our remaining years to the fullest in the best possible health. We want to enjoy these later years, these years from 60 on. Then we want to see if these good years can be extended. So what is it we can do to bring about these changes?
We can greatly increase the odds in our favor. We can improve by exercise, diet, eliminating smoking, limiting alcohol consumption, and being less than 15 pounds overweight. We can reduce our stress. We can protect ourselves against getting sick. We can have a positive outlook.
Age Graph
Imagine a graph, ages from 0 to 100 years on the horizontal axis, and percents of health from 0 to 100 on the vertical axis. If we optimize our health, our lifeline will be declining, but it will remain above the 70 percent mark well into our 80's. Then, we will drop through this 70 percent heath line. Our death will come quickly, in less than 6 months. For people who do not optimize their health, they will drop below this line much sooner, perhaps in their early 60's and they will remain struggling for years and years in poor health. See the graph example. This is a theory, but if correct, then we have a great reason for choosing good health. If we have our druthers, we want the period of poor health to be of short duration, and the end to come quickly.
Rationale: The reason we will live longer is partly by increasing our beneficial behaviors and partly by reducing or eliminating our undesirable behaviors. We will improve our quality of life by our beneficial behaviors. We will feel more alive, more positive as we go on our journey. Our pain will be less. Our journey will last longer, and our good years will be better. Our period of enjoyment will be longer and suffering will be much shorter.
Compression of Morbidity
At first I thought this meant to die soon. That’s not it. So, what is it?
Morbidity
We need to define morbidity. It is a time span near the end of our lives where we have continuous ill health (disability), which results in our needing help, and we continue to decline until death. Put simply, it is the time period when we begin assisted care until death.
"Happy, healthy, happy, healthy, happy, healthy ... dead".
Compression of morbidity means to compress or shorten the time period of ill health (morbidity) down to our last few months instead of over several years. Not only is our suffering greatly reduced, but the period of enjoyable time is extended. We may live the same length of time, but there will be much more quality time. We will postpone illness for as long as possible.
This greatly effects whether we need to save for long term care or need insurance for long term care. We know long term care is expensive, currently about $3000 to $5000 a month. We could burn through our savings at $60,000 a year or more. Long term care insurance is currently about $200 a month and rising. We may not have to save very much if we only need it for a few months.
Studies
In 1980 Dr. James Fries published a hypothesis of compression of morbidity in the New England Journal of Medicine[1]. The theory states that since chronic illness and disability occur in late life, that cumulative lifetime disability could be reduced by primary preventive measures. This would result in an increase in the age at the time of disability with a shorter time of disability.
University Alumni Study
In 1998 Fries reported a study of 1741 university alumni whereby they were placed in high risk, medium risk and low risk groups based on level of smoking, body mass index, and exercise patterns. Persons in the high risk group had twice the disability of the low risk group. They concluded that persons with better health habits survive longer and that disability was postponed and compressed into fewer years at the end of life[2].
Running Club Study
Fries performed another study of 537 members of a running club compared to 423 community members and found that exercising persons developed disability at the rate of one-fourth that of those that did not exercise, muscle pain was reduced by 20 percent and medical care costs were 25 percent less for the exercising group[3].
Fitness Club Study
In a study of a fitness club group, the members had postponed a major chronic illness more than 12 years compared to the normal population.
Other studies have reinforced Fries theory. A summary of Fries work may be seen at http://www.healthandfuture.org/publications/issue_briefs/pdf/Morbidty.pdf
We can shorten the time we suffer, shorten the time we are dependent, and lengthen the time we live. We can do this while making most of our remaining years enjoyable, active and independent.
The Major Choice
We will have a time period of ill health (morbidity) at the end of our life span. It is up to us whether it is a few months or several years. We choose if most of our later years are spent in relatively good health and if the end will come quickly. Several long term studies have shown we can make lifestyle choices that return huge dividends in the form of many later years of an active productive life[4].
Summary
We can have relatively trouble-free later years by eating healthy, eliminating smoking, exercising, and by maintaining a normal body/mass index (no more than 15 pounds overweight). Other studies support moderate alcohol consumption of two drinks or less a day[5].
We can combine this with reducing stress and illness as much as possible. We will cover this in future chapters. These are the years when better living habits return the dividends!
References
[1] Fries, J.F. 1980, Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity. N Engl J Med 1980 303:130–5.
[2] Fries, J.F. Compression of Morbidity, In Retrospect and in Prospect, Alliance for the Health and for the Future, Pg 3. International longevity center
[3] Wang, B.W., D.R. Ramey, J.D. Schettler, H.B. Hubert, and J.F. Fries. 2002. Postponed development of disability in elderly runners: a 13-year longitudinal study. Arch Int Med
[4] Freedman, V.A., L.G. Martin, and R.F. Schoeni. 2002. Recent trends in disability and functioning among older adults in the United States: a systematic review. JAMA
288:3137–46.
[5]http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/alcoholandhealth.html
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