Aging: What's Your "Age of Potential"?

There have been many revaluations over the last century, however none as significant as the Longevity Revolution. This past week was my birthday, which got me reflecting on that thing called, life.

In America, we are living on average 38 years longer than our great grandfathers*. That’s an entire second adult lifetime, added on to our lifespan. Yet, our culture has not yet come to let go of stereotypical slangs like, “blue hair”, “geezer” or “BOOF”. We’re still living with the old perspective of age as an arch; you’re born, you peak at midlife, then you decline into decrepitation.  This view stems from the notion that age is merely pathology.

The Longevity Revolution however, has shed light on these last three added decades, some calling it the “third act of life”. Slowly scientists, doctors, and researchers are coming to the realization that this is actually a developmental stage of life with its own significance. As different as midlife is to adolescence, and adolescence to childhood. So what about the average person? What about you?

We should all be asking, how do we make good use of three more decades of life?  How do we live the third act successfully?

As you may know one of the fundamental laws of the world is the second Law of Thermodynamics; entropy. Entropy means that everything in the world is in a constant state of decline and decay. There’s only exception to this universal law and that is the human spirit. Take instances of joy: the fall of the Berlin wall, Armstrong walking on the moon, Jackie Robinson joining the major leagues. Now take instances of sorrow: Nine-eleven, fall solders from the invasion of Iraq, the Vietnam War. Both bear stories of heroism, growth, and unity.   

Likewise, your spirit can continue to evolve with age into wholeness, authenticity, and wisdom.

So I propose a slight twist in the way we view age. Instead of thinking, “I’ve lived so many years”, look at how many years you have left to make a difference, learn a new skill, or contribute to your community. A 75-years-old female now has 16 more years to do great things. A 60-year-old male now has 24 more years to do great things. Age then turns from pathology, into potential.

What is your "Age of Potential"? You may just have an entire lifetime ahead of you to do and be great.

*Average life expectancy according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):

In 2013: 86 female, 84 males

In 1900: 46 female, 48 males

Home-Based Healthcare: The Rise of Aging in Place

William Jackson is in his third year of medical school at Stanford, doing his first clinical rotation. He is told to look into the case of an elderly man with advanced lymphoma. The patient is weak and near death; his bone marrow overtaken by cancer. The supervising oncologist has ordered a course of chemotherapy using a very toxic drug. Jackson feels certain that the treatment will kill the patient though it does not appear that the family understands this as they continue to insist on treatment. Like a buck from minor league challenging a professional athlete, Jackson appeals the decision, but a panel of doctors declines to intervene. Well, Jackson thinks, if it has to be done, I will do it myself. He mixes the drug and administers it. The patient cries, “That hurts!” A few days later, the man’s bed is empty. Jackson leaves the room with his fists clenched.

Years later, he still believes he killed that patient. Reflecting on the experience, he commented, “I was appalled by how we care for—more like, fail to care about—people who are near the end of life. We literally treat them to death.”

Here are the facts: from 1970 to 2009, spending on health care in the U.S. rose by just over 9 percent annually, creating fiscal havoc. Then in 2009, 2010, and 2011, health-care spending increased by less than 4 percent a year. Sure, the recession  had something to do with it, though several recent studies have found that the recession is not the whole story. One such study, by the Harvard University economists David Cutler and Nikhil Sahni, estimates that “structural changes” in our health-care system account for more than half of the slowdown.

In a sense, William Jackson is one of those changes. He is a leader in a growing movement of individuals who advocate for home-based care, which represents a fundamental change in the way we care for people who are chronically ill. The idea is simple: rather than wait until people get sick and need hospitalization, a multidisciplinary team visits them at home, coordinates health-related services, and tries to nip problems early.

For years, many people in medicine have understood that late-life care for the chronically sick is not only expensive but also ineffective or inhumane. For years, the system seemed impervious to change. Recently, however, health-care providers have begun to realize that the status quo is what Jackson calls a “burning platform”: a system that is expensive and inefficient. As a result, new home-based programs have started popping up in the market. Such companies and organizations have created new vocabulary in healthcare such as, “age in place” or “die with dignity”.

With his 65th birthday coming up, Jackson will soon qualify for Medicare himself. His wife wishes he would slow down, though fe refuses. “That would be like spiritual suicide right now,” he told me, “because there is so much going on. I’m more hopeful all the time. We’ve rolled the rock all the way to the top of the hill, and now we have to run to keep up as it rolls down the other side.”

Tell me: What is your perception of "aging in place" or to "die with dignity"? 

Population Aging Research Redefined

Fairly often I hear people say, "You're as old as you feel" or "45 is the new 35".

Turns out, they might actually be true. 

In a groundbreaking study published in the journal Population and Development Review in 2013 population researchers Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov redefines the way demographers study population aging. 

Previously, studies on aging highlighted one characteristic: chronological age. However with the rising average age of athletes, new mothers, and ultimately end of life, Sanderson and Scherbov sought to go beyond the number. 

“Your true age is not just the number of years you have lived,” said researcher Sergei Scherbov, Ph.D., of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. It also includes characteristics such as health, cognitive function, and disability rates.

The new study provides a framework for measuring aging based on characteristics of people that change with age, including life expectancy, health, cognitive function and other measures. These measures can be used by demographers to better understanding aging societies.

Demographers have traditionally not used such measures in studies of population and society, leading to strangely different research findings by country for each age group.

However, as lifespans get longer the same age no longer correlates with the same level of health and other such characteristics. The same is true in countries and cultures around the world.

“We used to consider people old at age 65,” said Scherbov. “Today, someone who is 65 may be more like someone who was 55, forty-fifty years ago in terms of many important aspects of their lives.”

Sherbov points out that, "aging is multidimentional", therefore by incorporate how people actually function, the study seeks to provide the foundation of a much richer and more realistic view of population aging.

This holistic approach may bring to light diets, lifestyles, and/or environments ideal for healthy aging, maintaining high quality of life, and perhaps longer lifespans. 

Reference: 

Sanderson, W. C., Scherbov, S. (2013). The characteristics approach to the measurement of population aging. Population and Development Review. 39: 673–685. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00633.x