Healthy Ageing

We were given a thorough review of ageing, by Dick Sainsbury, Emeritus Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He did his M.A. thesis on Older People and Ageing in the fiction of Thomas Hardy.

Dick started with a quote from Henry Ford: Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. This was encouraging for his audience who were there because they want to keep learning. He said that older years are a bonus, and can be considered a time of productivity, rather than being in the departure lounge of life. It’s important to maintain physical, psychological, and social functions in old age. There are several forces that can affect older people:

Chronological – the number of years lived
Biological – genetics and disease
Sociological – you may be as old as others (society) make you
Psychological – as old as you make yourself

To age healthily (or to be healthy at any time) requires the maintenance of good health, and the reduction of risks, but there are no cast iron guarantees. There are some myths about old age which can lead to a tendency not to seek help, because we think problems are caused by age. Dick told of the 99 year old who had a bad knee, and whose doctor said it could be expected at his age. The man replied that his other knee was also 99 but fit and well.

Ageing well requires a positive attitude to ageing, which can improve health outcomes. We need to eat well and maintain a healthy body weight. Regular physical exercise is important, e.g resistance exercise. (I detest those sit to stand exercises, but do them at least weekly.) It’s important to remain socially connected, to get plenty of sleep, and to find meaning and joy in your life. Dick suggested writing your memoirs as a way of doing the latter. He didn’t specifically mention the Five Ways to Wellbeing, but they would fit in here too.

Tennyson wrote: Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done . . .

Memory loss is not an inevitable consequence of ageing. 65% of 85 year olds have no memory loss. Some of us may have Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) which is different from dementia. Personally, I have for years been inclined to write things down rather than rely solely on my memory – not sure if that counts as MCI? MCI is a self-reported lapse of memory, whereas dementia is often reported by others. 50% of those with MCI will not progress to dementia, but it is important to have early assessment to enable future planning, and to maintain physical and mental activity. There is active research on MCI in Aotearoa, and more info on this can be obtained from Alzheimer’s Canterbury.

An interesting article on ageing in Aotearoa was published in the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2015. So, why are populations ageing? In 1850, 50% of people in Manchester, England died before the age of 12. During the later Victorian period people started to live longer because of improved sanitation, housing, and food, together with less disease. Although we are living longer, the age to which we are likely to live in good health without disability is not increasing at the same rate as life expectancy.

As well as having a regular medical review, it’s important to plan ahead, and have an Enduring Power of Attorney and Advance Care Plan.

Asked about whether Joe Biden reflects the United States’ attitude to ageing, Dick said he hopes Joe is being carefully assessed, and that his gait can sometimes be worrying. Recommended readings are In Sickness and in Power by David Owen, and The Pathology of Leadership by Hugh L’Etang, both of which consider medical problems in leadership.

Asked whether romance is okay in the late 80s, Dick said it’s important at any age, and too good to be wasted on the young. He quoted Alex Comfort who said: The things that stop you having sex with age are exactly the same as those that stop you riding a bicycle.

This was a comprehensive talk which affirmed for me that although I live more slowly these days I’m doing plenty of things that will help me stay healthy as I age. I hope you are too?

I like this card sent to me by an ‘old’ friend