grow older better

Tag: human interest

  • Who, or what, is considered “old” these days?

    Is this an activity for "old" people? Sure is! Is this an activity for "old" people?

    Why not ??

     
     
     
    40 used to be old; then it was 50 or 60; now it is over 75 [ish].

    Textbooks on lifespan human development have been adding new chapters to the end of the books and re-categorizing and re-labeling the ages between 35-75. 

    The cohort of "75 to death" is now sometimes called “very old age.”  [But at least over 75 is included in newer textbooks – older ages used to be entirely left out.] 

    And just so older persons don’t feel singled out; adding in chapters about ages 30, 40 and 50 took a long time too.  Developmental Psychology, as a field of study, is still growing – as is the human lifespan.

    We all get old but we need not sit around and wait for death to happen.

    Death is psychologically as important as birth… Shrinking away from it is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose. Jung

    However you define this later age of maturity – it is important to keep yourself and our increasingly longer later age[s] of life in super condition.

    How do you do this so you are not robbing yourself of the purpose which Jung mentions?

    Here are three suggestions:
    • keep your body in the best shape possible
    • keep your brain active
    • socialiize

    Your body

    It’s the only one you have and you need to take care of it. Yes, these days parts can be replaced – but you still then need to take care of the new parts.

    The best time to start this body care is now! It doesn’t matter how old you are, taking care of that body can begin today! [Even if you are in your “youth” and reading this.]

    Exercise daily. It can be as simple as walking to more complicated exercise routines. Just start now!

    Your brain

    Like your body, the brain too needs exercise. They thrive on challenge – so keep doing harder and harder mental tasks. Don’t settle for the easy puzzle – stretch and go for the harder one. Make that brain really work! 

    Your social life

    Socializing keeps you in shape too. It makes you think, react and use your brain. Be a friend. Make new friends. You’ll feel better.

    And best of all one can combine all of the above by finding a friend to exercise with and or go to a discussion group or book club. Your body brain and social being will feel so good. You’ll have a super later age of maturity.
     
    what's you take on "old"  let's chat via comments below

  • Who Experiences The Most Stress?

    stress
     
     
    I'm not sure there is a "correct" answer – but one might guess that at any given time, some age group will say "MINE WINS."
    And this may not a good thing to "win" as stress is not good for our bodies…[well lots of stress is not good – some stress can be energizing.]
    According to a few psychological theories, such as Erikson's, each age or stage has tasks to manage and how one manages those tasks may, or may not, cause stress.
    A young child who has homework to do may say: " I can't wait until I am a grown-up and I have no more homework to do. Then I can play!"
    A teenager [and this is a whole other culture] may be stressed out by most anything and everything.
    A young adult just about to graduate from college was heard saying: " I can't wait til graduation is over. Then the most stressful part of life will be behind me."
    Young adults with young children will say they are the most stressed. "We have to work, find day care or baby sitters, get the kids to their activities and still find time for ourselves and our friends. It's stressful."
    Working adults with school-aged children will say they are more stressed than anyone. "We need to save more for our retirement and what if the kids need financial help as they age? We need a new car; the kids need braces; my kid wants a computer, etc."
    Older adults in their 60's may say, "It's hard for us; we still worry about our kids [and maybe grandkids,] and we worry about our own housing and finances as we plan for our retirement."
    And even older adults, in say their 70's 80's or even 90's, may say they are now stressed about any or all the above mentioned stressors, plus their own current or potential health issues.
    So which age is the most stressed?
    Probably most will say it is the age they now are! Because that is the age you are living and know best.
    You can look back and see that you survived the earlier ages you thought were the most stressful at the time.

    And although you might look ahead and think about your own aging – no one really plans to have a stressful future –

    And – so we tend to not want to project our current stress too far into our future.

    This article, a bit modified, is also available at:

    Age and Stress

  • 5 Misconceptions About People Over 65

    "old" lady with beer after a 36 mile bike ride"OLD" lady with a beer after biking 36+ miles over 10 PDX bridges!

     

     

     

     

    The 5 most common misconceptions about older people:

    1- Older people always get fat

    They can get fat – but so can a 3 year old! Do they have to get fat? Of course not. Metabolisms change but the changing of one's eating habits and the increasing of exercise will do wonders about weight.

    [I'll let you in on a secret – this works for all ages!]

    2- Older people are fragile and hunched over

    I hear people say this and I am not sure what they mean by fragile. Do they think bones just break, that older people fall all the time or are so weak they can't move around?

    Bones lose density; especially for post-menopausal women but there are ways to help that not happen. Now that we know more about osteoporosis I expect we will see fewer older persons who develop the hunched over position.

    As for fragility? Ski areas on Mt. Hood in Oregon offer free skiing for those over 71 or 72 depending on the area.  I've met skiers over 80 skiing away there.  Fragile?  Nope.  Maybe the regular skiing keeps them strong?

    3- Older people are poor and subsist on social security checks

    4- Older people are inactive

    5 – Older people are unhealthy

    I teach lifespan human development and many in my classes are nurses. A student once said that he never realized that older people could be healthy – his entire experience with persons over 65 was in a hospital. It was an "AHA" moment for him to learn that he [and we] know little about healthy persons as they age – precisely because they are not in hospitals or assisted living homes where studies can easily be done.

    Read the full article about these 5 myths and then please come back here to chat about them.

    Comment below – thank you muchly

     

  • Musings upon hitting the big seven-zero [70]


    I muse and I also just turned 70 – so this is a new [and very strange] topic for my musings….

    1 –  70 is an age I never thought about when I was “younger” because it seemed so “old.”  But then when I was in my 20’s I used to think 30 was old.  The mantra of the time being “don’t trust anyone over 30.”

    2 – Being 70 is still an odd thought.  I’ve been 70 for almost 2 months and I still feel strange about it and I’m not sure why; me, the developmental psychologist, who has been teaching about the lifespan since the 1970’s.

    3 – I’m still too new at this age to have deeper thoughts about MY being 70 – I can tell you more about those other persons who are 70 than I can tell you about myself.

    4 – I do wake up each day with the thought that I am 70 but happy I am still here and am very healthy.  I don’t remember having these kinds of thoughts when I turned 50 or 60.

    5 – I often stand at the mirror and see my various ages flying by – but then I’m very imaginative and do a lot work with photographs so I have 70 years of me available for viewing.

    To read more of my musings go to the full article musings on being 70